Summary
Breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out. Not just the opening verse of Taylor Swift’s Labyrinth, but good advice for gamers. Right now, we’re in the quiet part of the year. Unless you’re aFinal Fantasyfan getting stuck intoDawntrail, July is lacking in firepower. But after that, things pick up the pace and they never really stop.
There are some mid-level games that could spring a surprise this month:Dungeons of Hinterberg,Flintlock, andKunitsu-Gamiall left a decent impression in my previews, while The First Descendent and Zenless Zen Zero could both make their mark. There are dozens of other games coming out in July too, and they could very well be great. But there doesn’t seem to be anything that will take the world by storm, and that’s not a surprise. But the fact that July has turned out to be the calm before the twister on the horizon definitely is.
2024 Has Rallied Into A Solid Year
2024 seemed set to be a pretty down year for gaming, a disclaimer I was makingas early as the very first day of the year. With 2023’s stock inflated by the arrival of two mega hits inTears of the KingdomandBaldur’s Gate 3, plus the torrent released by the unclogging of the pandemic’s bottleneck, it was never going to be matched. But early on, 2024 lost all hope of catching it as it was reported Nintendo had internally delayed the launch of the Switch 2, before itofficially confirmed the console would be here in 2025. Add inSony saying it would have nothing until April 2025, and you’ve got a recipe for a digital desert.
But things haven’t turned out that way. The Switch is signing off in style, witha new Zelda game(where you actually play as Zelda),a new Mario Party, anda revival of Mario & Luigiall closing out the Switch’s last year in the sun, while PlayStation straight up lied:Astro Botwill be arriving in September.
Meanwhile, despite theswirling discontent about its overall directionfollowinglayoffs of Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin, Xbox showed up at Summer Game Fest with whatmight have been its best showcase ever, listing a decent amount of 2024 titles (including a healthy dose of cross-platform games) for us to enjoy. Add in Ubisoft’s one-two punch ofStar WarsandAssassin’s Creed, plusBioWarefinally putting a firm window onDragon Age, and we’re suddenly in for a stacked year.
GTA Changes The Entire Gaming Calendar
Will it ‘beat’ 2023? Maybe not. But there’s a good chance when we look back on this entire decade TOTK and BG3 end up in the top five. 2023 was mathematicallythe best year in two decades. It might not be helped by games journalists writing about how 2024 won’t live up to 2023 (I was trying to help! Honest!), but things shouldn’t become a competition in this way.
The point is, when the year started with a flurry of games, I was worried for the rest of it. Both as a player of games and as a writer of being a player of games, no games is bad news. It looked like we were going to have half a year like July, with one decent sized game for a specific (though large) fanbase each month, and a lot of minor trimmings. Now, with so many games betting on holding their 2024 dates (or even nailing them to specific release date), limited delays, and Nintendo swooping in with a buzzer beater of a Direct, July has changed from a grim omen of what’s to come into a light breather.
WhenBlack Myth: Wukongarrives in August, we’ll have just six days until theWorld of Warcraftexpansion drops, then another four days until Star Wars Outlaws arrives. Six days after that Stalker 2 launches, and just one day later Astro Bot comes home. Enjoy your 19 days of peace then, because after that we get Zelda, and then it’s two weeks toMetaphorbefore Mario Party drops a week after that. You’ve got eight days to play it before the newSonic, and then four days until the newLife is Strange. Eight days later, Mario & Luigi rock up, and then Slitterhead the day after. Four days after that is the leaked launch date ofAvowed, then three days later it’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
That takes us halfway through November, and there are dozens of games worth checking out I haven’t mentioned, plus the fact games likeIndiana Jonesand Dragon Age need to find space on the calendar too. Breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out - next year we do it all over again with everyone moving release dates forGTA 6.
