August Preview

All the big games for the month ahead

Wow. August already. Well, in a couple of days.

Time flies when you’re constantly chased by a huge gaming backlog. A backlog which shows no sign of relenting either, if the next four weeks are anything to go by.

Still, it feels silly to complain that there are too many great games to play. So here’s a few of the most promising and interesting upcoming worth keeping an eye on, alongside a full list of everything coming our way throughout August…

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Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Release: August 18
Platforms: PC, Switch (PS and Xbox TBC)
Developer: Team Reptile

Sometimes if you want something done, you’ve got to do it yourself. Which certainly seems to be the case with this Jet Set Radio-a-like. Which - as far as homages go - is about as blatant and on the nose as it gets. But if Sega’s lawyers don’t mind, then why should we?

Sega’s beloved graffiti-em-up hasn’t seen a new entry since a Game Boy Advance version twenty years ago. So if Team Reptile’s attempt can nail the skateboarding gameplay like it seems to have nailed the visuals, music and general vibe, then this one could go down very well indeed. The Switch and PC versions are out in August, with PlayStation and Xbox versions confirmed for “shortly afterwards“.

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Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon

Release: August 25
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One/Series, PC
Developer: FromSoftware

Is there a more consistent - a better - developer in the world right now than FromSoftware? Probably not. But its success over the last decade comes from a tried-and-true formula that’s been steadily iterated on since Demon’s Souls crashed into an unsuspecting industry back in 2009.

Armored Core VI marks the return to a series left mostly in the dust since the company found success with those games, meaning the spotlight on this latest entry will be far more intense than the one that shone on the older games. Indeed, fresh from the staggeringly successful Elden Ring, the pressure’s on, and it’ll be fascinating to see how From’s peerless world design, combat and boss encounters can be incorporated into this very different style of game.

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Goodbye Volcano High

Release: August 29
Platforms: PS4, PS5, PC
Developer: KO_OP

A college filled with anthropomorphic dinosaurs may not be the most obvious way to tell a story about social anxiety and the end of the world (actually, college and dinosaurs are probably the perfect way to tell a story about those two things), but Goodbye Volcano High promises to combine the mundane with the unexpected for a game that hits much closer to home than its odd premise may suggest.

This a game about how life’s small decisions can have a lasting effect, and how a sense of impending doom can come from many sources. The concept may be strange, but this “narrative/rhythm/coming of age/interactive movie experience” - one with a Tribeca Games Award already in the bag - could turn out to be something very special indeed.

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Sea of Stars

Release: August 29
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One/Series, Switch, PC
Developer: Sabotage Studio

Pixel remasters may be all the rage these days, but this original RPG from Sabotage Studio is the equal of any in the visual department. And in the audio department too, with Chrono Trigger’s Yasunori Mitsuda in the composer’s chair.

Sure, it may not revolutionise the genre, but Sea of Stars looks set to deliver on the developers’ promise to “modernise the classic RPG… while still offering a hearty slice of nostalgia and good old, simple fun”.

Fans of early Final Fantasy games and more recent ‘old-school’ RPGs like Octopath Traveller would be wise to keep a keen eye on this one, which will be available on day one for Game Pass and PlayStation Plus members.

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The main releases for August:

Get funky

As always, thank you so much for reading.

Have a great weekend, enjoy your games, and I’ll see you next week!

Jeff

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THE WEEK IN GAMES

The week’s best news and content

NEWS

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MORE!

The Art of the Box

Bitmap Books produce some of the loveliest video game tomes out there, and that record look set to continue with the newly announced Art of the Box.

This one features 564 pages dedicated to a time when “a game’s only source of advertising was often limited to the box artwork you’d see on high street shelves.”

The book will be available from August 14th. You can find out more and see a boatload of hi-res images over on Bitmap’s official site.

INDIE SPOTLIGHT

Shining a light on noteworthy indies

The Forza Horizon series kind of has ‘simcade’ racing covered these days, but even that series doesn’t capture the pure joy and focus that Sega Rally provided. Nothing does, really.

Developer Bonsai Rosso wants to put an end to that with Over Jump, a game unapologetically described as “an independent and unofficial tribute to Sega Rally Championship, the glorious arcade racing game from 1994.”

There’s no release date yet, but if Bonsai Russo’s game can evoke the feel of Sega’s classic racer as well as the Unreal Engine 5 visuals evoke the look, then Over Jump could be something very special indeed.

For more info be sure to check out the game’s brand new Steam page.

NEW RELEASES

The big releases for this week and next

OUT NOW:

OUT NEXT WEEK:

  • F1 Manager 2023 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) – July 31

  • Venba (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – July 31

  • Baldur's Gate 3 (PC) – August 3

SUPPORT TWiG

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If you value honest, independent game writing and enjoy what I do, please consider supporting my work. Thank you 🙏

…and that’s it for this week!

If you have any comments or suggestions, or if you just fancy talking about games, simply reply to this email directly or catch me over on Twitter. I’d love to hear from you! If you’d like to advertise your product or game to The Week in Games’ readers, click here.

Thanks again, and see you next week!

Jeff

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