The Games of July

Oxenfree! Ratchet & Clank! Pikmin!

In partnership with

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The end of the month always means that backlogs have been cleared and everybody’s sitting, patiently waiting for some nice new games to come along and help fill the time.

Or not.

With time sinks like Zelda, Diablo and Final Fantasy still keeping most of us busy – as well as various subscription services throwing more games at us than we know what to do with - chances are you’re currently busy trying to finish something.

Thankfully, July seems like it’s going to be a bit calmer than the last few months. Although there are still a few games worth getting excited about…

Indie fans will no doubt have an eye on Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, Night School Studio’s follow-up to 2016’s wonderful supernatural thriller Oxenfree. And if you own a decent PC, the previously PS5-only Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart comes highly recommended to all ages. We have no way of knowing how good the PC port will be, of course (and good PC ports can hardly be taken for granted these days), but the PS5 version remains one of the most technically impressive and outright fun games to have been released since the introduction of Sony and Microsoft’s next-gen consoles. It’s an old-school belter in the most splendid of next-gen coats, and well worth playing if you haven’t had the chance.

The most interesting release this month, however, has to be Pikmin 4. Shigeru Miyamoto’s series has never reached the mainstream in the same way his other creations have, but it has charm and style to spare and offers a typically Nintendo-tinged take on the RTS genre.

This latest entry appears – on paper at least – to be a conscious mix of all the previous games’ best bits. It removes the divisive time limit and adds the ability to rewind time if your day is going pear-shaped. It also introduces night expeditions (alongside the new Glow Pikmin) and Oatchi, your adorable and already-popular space dog companion.

Helping those little Pikmin puzzle and fight their way through beautifully rendered garden locations whilst trying to avoid their harrowing death cries never gets old. And hopefully, the huge Switch user base and the quality of life improvements introduced for Pikmin 4 can give it the audience it’s always deserved.

Oh, and if you’ve yet to be won over by Pikmin’s many charms, a demo was released on the Nintendo eShop this week. So now you have no excuse.

 

Here are all of July’s main releases:

Pikmin - Try it. You might like it.

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As always, thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoy the rest of the issue. Don’t forget to tell your friends!

Have a great weekend, enjoy the Pikmin demo, and I’ll see you next week.

Jeff

THE WEEK IN GAMES

The best news and gaming content of the week

NEWS

MORE!

The always-brilliant Annapurna Interactive held another brilliant showcase full of brilliant games this week. It featured a selection of stylish and unique new indies, news that Stray is coming to Xbox, and even announced its first in-house game, Blade Runner 2033. Brilliant.

You can see a full rundown of all of the games and trailers revealed over at Eurogamer.

Sega Mania is back!

As part of last year’s shutdown, the team over at Sega Mania lost their website and social media channels. Now, they’re back. The website has been restored and you can currently download the first 7 issues of Sega Mania magazine for free.

Please check out their website here and give them a follow over on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

INDIE SPOTLIGHT

Shining a light on new and upcoming indies

The utterly gorgeous Hauntii from developers Moonloop may not be out until next year, but its stunning art style alone makes it one to keep an eye on.

Described as “a beguiling adventure in which you uncover the secrets of an expansive and mysterious world - haunting both the environment and its denizens to craft ingenious solutions to the many challenges that await,” Hauntii is one of the most promising and unique in-development indies.

You can find out more about the game here.

NEW RELEASES

All the major releases for this week and next

OUT NOW:

OUT NEXT WEEK:

A Wonderful Life - Out Now on Switch, PS5 and Xbox!

SUPPORT TWiG

The Week in Games remains possible thanks to the support of members such as johnXprinter, SeánLynch, Px, and Matt.

If you value honest, independent, human-written 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, you can get in touch at [email protected], reply to this email directly, or catch me over on Twitter. I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks again, and see you next week!

Jeff

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