We’ve had some huge months in gaming recently. I’m still in the early throes of Final Fantasy 16, and need to beat Diablo 4, while Street Fighter 6 has fallen by the wayside. May, meanwhile, was dominated by Tears of the Kingdom, and April started the Spring Offensive of video game releases with the likes of Honkai Star Rail and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. But as we roll into summer, baby, it’s time to get weird.
July and August do have a couple of bigger hitters. July sees the arrival of Pikmin 4 and Exoprimal, the latter of which is right on the edge of being a ‘big game’, while August ushers in Armored Core 6. But even these are far more strange than the straight shooting crowd pleasers of Zelda, Star Wars, and Diablo. Final Fantasy can be weird - and I’m led to believe 16 is no different - but for the most part it tries to be a regular triple-A experience in ways that Armored Core and Pikmin will not.
It’s a testament to the bumper year we’re having that a five week stretch with Exoprimal, Pikmin, and Armored Core is the time to catch your breath, but you gotta inhale while you can. After summer we have Starfield, Mortal Kombat 1, Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Persona 5 Tactica, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Detective Pikachu Returns, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora all lined up - breathe in now and fill your lungs until Christmas. Even if some of those get delayed (unlikely for many when studios have grown more cautious with release dates), we’re packed until the end of the year. All you need to do is figure out how to get through the Hot Game Summer.
If you like keeping up with the biggest video games, you haven’t really had a choice to make from Star Wars onwards. Obvious money concerns aside, Jedi: Survivor, Zelda, Street Fighter, Diablo, and Final Fantasy are all fairly welcoming to the masses and you know what you’re getting. That’s not the case with Pikmin or Armored Core, and I’m betting Exoprimal gets real weird too since the most recent trailer led with robot Ryu.
Weird games are great - this isn’t a criticism that we’re not getting more standard triple-A fare. But it does mean that they’re not for everyone. If you’re the kind of person who had fun bouncing from Star Wars to Zelda to Diablo, you might not find as much spring in Armored Core. People who get weird games tend to fall in deep, but if you’re not sure they’re for you, the summer is packed with odd experiences for you.
Alongside these bigger releases, the two games I most have my eye on are Bomb Rush Cyberfunk and Goodbye Volcano High, while we also have Disney’s Illusion Island, Gord, Oxenfree, and Sea of Stars in the mix. There are games that will pull and push us in all directions, and that’s a healthy thing for the industry. We need to get weird once in a while, and summer is coming along at the perfect time.
Baldur’s Gate 3 launches on August 31, the perfect sign off to our eccentric summer and a great lead into the gauntlet of triple-A titles ahead of us, bridging the gap between ‘weird but will hit hard if you’re into it’ and ‘perfect for everyone’. When that hits, you know the train is back on track until 2024. Until then, just enjoy the weirdness.
We’ve had a lot of major releases so far as gaming crawls out from under the pandemic, and there are plenty more to come. The next couple of months are going to be the weirdest of the year, but they could be the best, too - if you let them.