Well that’s that for June. Got a lot of E3 posts out complaining about the worst E3 ever, that was fun. And I got a few reviews posted too (and 2 non-reviews, though the Outriders one kinda counts as a review if you want it to be). I’m thinking of a rant right now, not sure it’ll go anywhere but it could make some particularly stupid people mad so… It may be brewing. And I have a few other games I’m playing for review too, so yay. And July will be pretty busy.
So July, which is usually not a big month, is a strangely big month this year. There’s many (hopefully) great games, combined with some end-of-June games that are also big boys to plow through like Scarlet Nexus and Disgaea 6 which will take some July time.
So for releases in July I’m highlighting: 14 multiplats and 2 Switch releases. Might not sound massive but there’s some really good stuff here.
Disclaimer: I only list games that I think are worth mentioning. This includes games I’m personally interested in, games that will likely be popular, highly advertised games, small interesting ones I may notice and such. Not just games I care about myself, I highlight as much as I think makes sense. And of course I can’t see the future, so I may be missing games and I may be listing games that may get delayed.
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox 07/06 (PC, Switch)
Been waiting for this one. It came out on PS4 earlier this year but I was waiting for it to come out on a decent platform. I had heard bad things about the PS4 version’s performance, so I’m gonna grab this on PC. I will need to play around with the controls though, for sure. The default controls in the Switch demo were really messing with me in the middle of combat. Anyways, Ys 8 was a really good time so I have high hopes for this one.
The Silver Case 2425 07/06 (Switch, PS4)
The Silver Case was Grasshopper Manufacture’s first game. A point and click adventure title. I never played it. This includes both the first game and the sequel, the 25th Ward. If you’re into Suda 51’s games, this is probably one you want to check out if you haven’t.
Boomerang X 07/08 (PC, Switch)
This is an FPS being published by Devolver. It looks pretty interesting. You main weapon is a shuriken boomerang. You can throw it and it comes back, but also you can teleport straight to it for some fast movement so you end up in the air more often than not. It looks really quite fun.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin 07/09 (Switch, PC)
This is a more traditional RPG in the Monster Hunter universe. I’m a new MH fan because of Rise, so I missed the original Stories. No idea if it’s good, but it does look pretty interesting from what I’ve seen so far, it seems to be a cool mix of turn-based combat and actual MH elements. I am looking forward to this one.
AKIBA’S TRIP: Hellbound and Debriefed 07/20 (Switch, PC, PS4)
I think this is a remake of the first Akiba’s Trip. It’s that series where you fight vampires in the streets of Akiba, but the vampires are anime girls and you beat them by taking their clothes off. Pretty wacky shit. I’ve only played one of these games, it was okay. Not in any hurry to play more.
Cris Tales 07/20 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This has a demo that I have yet to try. It’s an interesting-looking RPG with some strange time travel system of sorts in battles. I’m curious about this one, I’ll look up some reviews first… oy play the demo. It’s on the maybe list.
Cotton Reboot 07/20 (Switch, PS4)
I had this on last month’s list, I guess it got delayed… let me just copy-paste what I had back then…
Cotton is a classic arcade shmup (occasionally referred to as a “cute ’em up”), well know for its great X68000 PC port and being a series that kept going for a while afterwards. I actually have one of these, Cotton 100% on Super Famicom. This is a remaster based on the X68000 port, and it looks pretty awesome. A bit expensive in 2021 for a shmup, but I’ll definitely end up grabbing it at some point… on sale.
Orcs Must Die! 3 07/23 (PC, PS4, Xbone, Xbox X/S)
I was confused seeing this in release calendars because I was pretty sure this existed before… And it did. It was… exclusive on Stadia. LOL. So now if you’re an Orcs Must Die fan you can finally play this on a real platform that exists! No idea if this series is good, they look kinda okay. I’m just laughing at Stadia here, don’t mind me.
NEO The World Ends With You 07/27 (Switch, PS4) (Also PC at some point in the summer)
TWEWY was a pretty interesting game on the DS with its unique 2 character control system where you controlled Neku on the bottom screen with the touch screen and other-guy in the top screen with some button combinations. It was pretty dang fun. Pretty cool that there’s finally a new one 14 years later. I didn’t look into the gameplay much for this one, I’m keeping myself in the dark as much as I can. I’m sure it will be a bit different than the first though, based on the seconds of combat I looked at. I really hope it’s good.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles 07/27 (Switch, PC, PS4)
It’s been a while since some new Ace Attorney… sort of. This one is interesting however because the 2 games in this collection never came out outside of Japan, so for most gamers this is 2 completely new games in one nice package. Very awesome.
Samurai Warriors 5 07/27 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone)
Not a particularly big fan of the Warriors game, I like some of the licensed ones but that’s about it. I’m sure this is fine, I know fans of the series are quite excited for this one.
Tribes of Midgard 07/27 (PC, PS4, PS5)
This was pushed pretty heavily at E3. It’s a top-down action game where you go out fighting monsters for resources, build a town, then defend the town from titans and other big mythological creatures. I dunno, it looks okay, the trailers gave the impression that it’s heavily focused on mulitplayer so I’m not interested.
Blaster Master Zero 3 07/29 (Switch, PC, PS4)
Blaster Master Zero and Zero 2 were both great. Zero was pretty much a remake of the NES Blaster Master with a bit more to its plot, and Zero 2 brought it into space and changed the level progression. Not sure what new things 3 will do, but it should be great.
The Ascent 07/29 (PC, Xbone, Xbox X/S)
This is an isometric Diablo-like RPG, with guns, that functions like a twin-stick shooter but with a bit of extra depth. It does look pretty fun. I will look into it a bit more, but this is on the maybe list for now.
SWITCH RELEASES
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD 07/16
Skyward Sword is the second worst mainline Zelda. It has some parts that are almost okay, some of the dungeons have good moments, but generally… pretty bad. The whole gameplay design is questionable, the progression is boring, the combat is boring… I dunno why they’d remaster this one, beyond modern game companies’ obsession with just re-releasing old games all the time with low/no effort.
Pokémon UNITE 07/?? (there isn’t a precise date, just a vague “July”)
This is a fairly simple MOBA that looks… okay as far as that genre goes. Probably doesn’t quite have the depth of similar games. I watched a bunch of it being played by Magrona, a japanese Vtuber, it does look a little bit fun. I’m not interested because of course it requires signing up to Nintendo’s online service, which I’m not doing.
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