- The Week in Games
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- The Games of July
The Games of July
Oxenfree! Ratchet & Clank! Pikmin!
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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:
Gylt (PlayStation, Xbox, PC) – July 6
The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie (PlayStation, Switch, PC) – July 7
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals (PlayStation 5, Switch, PC, Mac, iOS, Android) – July 12
Gravity Circuit (PlayStation, Switch, PC) – July 13
Exoprimal (PlayStation, Xbox, PC) – July 14
Viewfinder (PlayStation 5, PC) – July 18
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes - Definitive Edition (PlayStation, Switch, PC) – July 20
Pikmin 4 (Switch) – July 21
Mr. Run And Jump (PlayStation 5, Xbox, Switch, PC) – July 25
Remnant II (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – July 25
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PC) – July 26
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC) – July 27
The Expanse: A Telltale Series (PlayStation, Xbox, PC) – July 27
Disney Illusion Island (Switch) – July 28
Venba (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC) – July 31
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
Sony has officially revealed the PlayStation Plus line-up for July. There are also 10 games leaving the service during the month.
Xbox has revealed its Games with Gold titles for July.
Amazon has announced the line-up of games for Prime Gaming members in July.
A treasure trove of footage from Nintendo Space World 2000 has been remastered and posted online.
Nintendo will reportedly - thankfully - keep the same account system on its Switch successor.
Souls modder Lance McDonald has got Bloodborne running at 60fps on a PlayStation 5.
The cost of The Last of Us Part II and Horizon Forbidden West has been revealed by mistake as part of the FTC vs Microsoft hearing.
Microsoft considered acquiring Sega, Bungie, and IO Interactive to expand and support its audience and Xbox Game Pass, and was also ready to go spend Sony out of business to strengthen Xbox.
Exclusive Barbie content is coming to Forza Horizon 5.
Air Twister, the spiritual successor to Space Harrier from Yu Suzuki is heading from Apple Arcade to PC and consoles later this year.
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.
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:
Destroy All Humans 2 - Reprobed: Single Player (PlayStation 4, Xbox One) – June 27
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC) – June 27 – Read review
AEW: Fight Forever (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – June 29 – Read review
Dead Cells (PlayStation 5) – June 29 – Read review
The Lara Croft Collection (Switch) – June 29
Crime O'Clock (Switch, PC) – June 30
Everybody 1-2-Switch (Switch) – June 30
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – June 30 – Read review
Goodbye World (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One) – June 30
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code (Switch) – June 30
OUT NEXT WEEK:
Gylt (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) – July 6
The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC) – July 7
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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