Now in its 18th year, the Tokyo Game Show has seen out many revolutions in the games industry. Once, this event was the centrepiece of the gaming year. In the mid-nineties, the industry was dominated by Japanese publishers like Namco, Sega, Nintendo, Capcom, Konami, Square, Enix and Taito. Arcade conversions made or broke a new home console, and the Tokyo Game Show was where we’d first glimpse them.
But in the 2000s, global gaming tastes changed; new flavours like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty drew attention away from Japan’s idiosyncratic survival horror adventures and arcane brawlers. Staid and stately, the Japanese publishing giants failed to keep up; genres stagnated, studios and brands broke down. E3 took over as the key gaming convention.
But now interest is returning. The organisers of TGS claim this is the biggest show for years – over 400 exhibitors from 32 countries and regions. The intriguing work of studios like Platinum, From Software and Grasshopper Manufacture is drawing worldwide interest again. While western publishers obsess over widening the appeal of games, mainstreaming design, ironing out the atavistic wrinkles, it seems many Japanese companies are doubling down on rich traditions and conventions.
Beyond the major titles, the floor will be jammed with lesser-known Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs), mech brawlers and offbeat indie titles, both from Japan’s own dōjin scene of hobbyist coders and western developers. There is copious cos-play and a vast merchandising area where you can buy everything from Dragon Quest pillows to arcade joystick components.
Here though are some of the games that are likely to do well on the vast, crowded floors of the Makuhari Messe exhibition centre in 2014.
Warning: these trailers contain horror imagery and violence
Deep Down (Capcom, PS4)
Set in both medieval Europe and a distant future New York, Capcom’s free-to-play PlayStation 4 title is a classic “dungeon crawler”. Players explore a series of dynamically generated subterranean lairs, battling giant monsters and looting treasure; there’s also emergent co-op play so combatants can whizz into each others worlds to help out in major skirmishes. It’s being co-produced by Yoshinori Ono, who looked after Street Fighter for many years, so expect gorgeous combat. It’s out sometime in 2015.
Yakuza Zero (Sega, PS3/PS4)
Sega’s Yakuza series of cinematic crime adventures has only ever gained cult fandom in the West, but it is huge in Japan, shifting almost 10m units. The latest instalment is a prequel, taking place in 1988, and judging by the trailer it’s a familiar mix of narrative intrigue, clubbing and ultraviolence. Its coming to PS3 and PS4, but there are no release details yet and no word on Western localisation, which has been missing for the last couple of titles.
Silent Hills (Konami, PS4)
The latest title in Konami’s psychological horror series drew huge amounts of attention at Gamescom, thanks to its terrifying “P.T” interactive teaser. Taking control are Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro, and they’re not messing about, as this hair-raising new trailer attests. There are few story details as yet, and we won’t see it (probably from behind the sofa) until 2016.
Bloodborne (Sony, PS4)
The new goth punk adventure from Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, is set in a mythical city beset with plague – and giant terrifying monsters. Expect intense unforgiving combat and gore hitting the paving stones like torrential rain. Also, the protagonist looks like a cross between Red Dead Redemption’s John Marston and the Witchfinder General. It’s due out next February.
Scalebound (Xbox One)
The latest from Bayonetta and Vanquish developer Platinum Games has players slaying monsters on a forest world – with the help of a dragon. Apparently, the working relationship you form with this fire-breathing beast is the mechanic at the heart of the game. It all sounds... familiar, but director Hideki Kamiya says the studio has never made anything like it before. There’s no release date for this Xbox One exclusive just yet.
Evil Within (Bethesda, PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One)
An ornate yet terrifying building, a disillusioned cop, a whole host of hideous deadly creatures – it seems Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami hasn’t strayed too far from the viscera-smeared track for this latest project. Eurogamer said it may turn out to be the best survival horror title for a decade, taking the genre back to its roots – i.e. constantly sense of impending death, jump shocks and creatures with just way too many razor sharp murder tentacles.
Final Fantasy XV
With its open-world setting, real-time combat and decidedly darker atmosphere, the long-awaited 15th title in the epic role-playing adventure series has a new trailer for TGS. Fans have sunk into skepticism thanks to the game’s nearly eight-year development cycle, but this may just lift the gloom. It’s due out... oh don’t even ask, literally no one knows – including legendary Final Fantasy (and Kingdom Hearts) director Tetsuya Nomura, who left the project earlier this year.
