July was a bit of a bust, I did play a couple things but… big oof overall. Maybe August will be better. Clearly it won’t have one of the worst games this year, right? Actually there are a few cool things coming, so it might be fine actually. But it does have two of the worst games of the year not named Suicide Squad.
So for August 2024, we’ve got: 19 multiplats and 1 PC early access release that’s interesting… and 1 Switch game I totally forgot about lol (had to edit this post). I have 2 “for sure” games I’m getting and a few maybes too. Depending on my thoughts on it, I might even write a review for one of them! Haven’t done that in a bit.
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, some more niche stuff I may notice, and such. This is not just games I care about myself, I highlight as much as I think makes sense. 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
Tomba! Special Edition 08/01 (Switch, PC, PS4, PS5)
Fuck Limited Run Games.
Anyways, this is a classic PS1 platformer that is… decent. Not the best in the genre but it’s fun and has some interesting gameplay gimmicks. If the price isn’t more than 10$ I’d recommend it.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter 08/01 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This was a Star Wars game on PS2/GC/Xbox that was pretty okay. It has its fans. If the price isn’t more than 10$ I’d give it a mild recommendation.
World of Goo 2 08/02 (Switch, PC)
I remember seeing the first World of Goo all over the place in the Wii days. I never played it though. No idea if it’s good. Looking at trailers of this one, it looks a lot like what I saw of the first one.
Aero the Acro-Bat 08/02 (Switch, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This was a game I saw a lot in catalogs and stuff back in the day, it came out for both SNES and Genesis. It’s kinda okay. If the price isn’t more than 5$ I’d recommend it. (Yeah I’m gonna start just saying this when looking at re-releases of old games I think… they’re all stupid and overpriced for no reason)
Volgarr the Viking II 08/06 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
I had no idea this was even being made. The first one is a game I backed on Kickstarter aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the way back in 2012. It was a pretty cool classic-style platformer where you have pretty set movement and precise attacks and stuff. It’s hard as hell but quite fun. This sequel… looks a whole lot like the first one. Seems about as solid. Nice surprise I might check it out.
Natsu-Mon! 08/06 (Switch, PC)
This is a game where you’re playing as a kid having a summer vacation I guess. I have to assume it’s some kind of adventure game with minigames or something. Weirdly enough it wasn’t in the last Nintendo Direct, despite being the only real thing Pyoro leaked for that Direct (before wiping himself from the face of the earth), and I missed that it was even being released in the west. Anyways I have no interest in this but maybe someone else does.
SteamWorld Heist 2 08/08 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
SteamWorld Heist is a game I haven’t played, despite having played several of the games in the series. It’s this weird turn-based side-view turn-based strategy game with bouncy bullets or something. This sequel looks very similar, I don’t know enough about the first one to know if that looks any better. Looks fine.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits 08/15 (Xbone, Xbox X/S)
Hey this PS5 exclusive that wasn’t exclusive at all because it was also on PC is now even less exclusive because it’s on the Xboxes now. It is a pretty good game if you missed it before.
Castaway 08/16 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Actually just found this one randomly and thought it looked pretty cool. It’s a small-scale Link’s Awakening-like top-down action adventure game. The devs only previous game is Lunark, a game that gives me big Another World vibes. No idea if Lunark’s good, but Castaway does look fun.
Madden NFL 25 08/16 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Not to be confused with Madden 25 which came out in 2013… not like these games change at all over the years… The fact that there’s now 2 NFL games with the same title is literally the only interesting thing about this trash 😀
Black Myth: WuKong 08/20 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is the big game of the month probably. It’s a kinda-souls-like game where you play as Son Wukong the Monkey King, from Journey to the West. The combat has what seems to have a focus on stamina management, speed, dodging and stances that allow for a variety of moves. I’m almost definitely checking this one out.
Mika and the Witch’s Mountain 08/21 (Switch, PC)
I found this one randomly and though it would be a fun one to highlight just because of the concept of it. You play as a witch, flying around on a broom, doing deliveries… Shit’s a fucking Kiki’s Delivery Service game. Not something I’ll play but it doesn’t look bad at all actually.
Concord 08/23 (PC, PS5)
Speaking of looking bad. Oof. What else is there to say? The characters either look bad or boring, the gameplay is “what if Overwatch was bad actually?” and it also graphically looks like trash in general. Just a big fail in all possible aspects. I have no idea what they were thinking making this.
Visions of Mana 08/29 (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox X/S)
And this is the most interesting game of the month to me. A new Mana game, the first one since 2006 which is absolutely insane (there’s been collections, remakes and graphical upgrades and stuff, and shitty phone games that I’m not counting). This game does look fantastic. Seems to have a bit of an open-ish kinda thing to it, multiple playable characters, and it seems to have pretty solid action gameplay. Definitely picking this up. I really hope they don’t fuck this up, considering Squeenix have been very hit or miss lately, with a lot of miss and only a few hits.
Gundam Breaker 4 08/29 (Switch, PC, PS4, PS5)
I’ve never played a Gundam Breaker game. Looks like fairly standard Gundam arena fighter… stuff. You build gunplas and you can customize all the parts and stuff. Should be decent.
Gori: Cuddly Carnage 08/29 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is an fast-paced action game where you play as a cat on a floating surfboard, cutting the shit out of weird enemies. It’s colorful, gory and looks actually pretty fun. I might try this one out, I’ve been curious about this for… a couple years.
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn 08/29 (Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Shadow of the Ninja was an NES platformer where you play as a ninja. It was very much overshadowed at the time by the Ninja Gaiden series. It’s not bad though. This remake WAY updates the graphics, and gameplay, giving a variety of moves that will give a smoother feel. Actually looks pretty fun.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash 08/30 (Switch, PC, PS4)
Hey it’s not the Uma Musume game we’ve been waiting for (the gacha game WAS announced for a worldwide release though… hopefully the localization is okay), but it looks kinda good. It actually gives me very big Kunio-kun vibes, with it having a variety of sport games like dodgeball and basketball, and of course racing… specifically running through obstacle courses like in Crash ‘n’ the Boys… and a few other things. Not just the events but even the gameplay has kinda similar feel. I don’t know that I’d buy this at full price but it does look good actually.
Star Wars Outlaws 08/30 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S)
And here you have Ubisoft being given the Star Wars license and, just like Disney, making absolute irredeemable shit with it. They showed a 10 minute gameplay bit of this and it looks like a fucking awful game.
There’s “stealth” where enemies won’t react to hearing fucking loud machine gun laser shots and explosions, lots of slow pointless walking around and doing some automatic platforming shit that requires no skill, self-solving puzzles, a character surviving a thermal detonator blast at point blank, the dumbest slide-to-cover you’ve ever seen… This game just looks fucking bad.
The fact that it’s a Ubisoft game is reason enough not to buy it, as does the fact that it’s Disney-era Star Wars, but it doesn’t even have the decency to be at least a little bit okay-ish is wild. Especially when you have to pay 100$ to get the whole thing. Fucking scam.
SWITCH RELEASE
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club 08/29
I totally forgot this was coming out and had to edit this post to put it in. This is the first new game in the Famicom Detective Club series since 1997, which was a sequel on the Satellaview add-on for the Super Famicom (which I assume had voice acting and stuff on the radio when it was broadcast). A sequel I know nothing about and that didn’t see re-releases (unlike the Famicom ones which did get visual remakes a few years ago on Switch (plus The Girl Who Stands Behind got a remake on SNES long before that)) and we finally got the games outside of Japan and they were quite good (if a bit expensive). I have not informed myself about the plot to this one, but I’ll be checking it out for sure.
PC RELEASE
Stormgate (Early Access) 08/14
This is a cool looking new RTS. One of the leads is someone who worked on Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 I guess. I don’t usually highlight early access games but I will if they’re particularly interesting. This one is really confusing on steam because it’s a free-to-play game but it has multiple early access packs you can buy which is fucking weird… but I am curious to see this game in action. I won’t play it yet (especially while it’s being weird with the early access paid bundle shit), we’ll see how the community enjoys it first.
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