Gaming Events and Releases August 2017

[RepentantSky]

Yeah so I kinda skipped last month. What with their only being two to three titles, no major gaming events, and the general nothingness that the industry has made this month, I didn't see a point. However, August has a lot more going on, and I mean a lot more, I have almost 40 things to cover for this month, technically, so let's get it on. As usual, games will be posted in order of release, and what they are releasing on.

 

Patapon Remastered, releasing for the PS4 exclusively on August 1st. The remake I don't think anyone asked for that somehow started gaining traction, this little game will be what starts off a big month for all systems. Might be worth it to check it out if you like variations on Platforming titles.

 

Tacoma, releasing on PC and Xbox One on August 2nd. This space sci-fi game was announced way back at the 2014 Game Awards. Who knows whether or not all that development time will lead to something great, but if you're looking for a space adventure, this might be the place to go.

 

Arc: Survival Evolved, full release coming for PC, PS4 and Xbox One on August 8th. Not much to say about this one that hasn't already been said, but it's leaving early access to be a full fledged game so if you like trying to survive against Dinosaurs and people constantly trying to steal everything you have, give it a go if you aren't already playing it.

 

Blackhole, releasing for PS4 Exclusively on August 8th. Another game set in space, this 2D platforming Indie title isn't much of a looker, and it's hard to tell from what little gameplay exists, whether or not it will be much good, but hey, it does look to have at least some Metroidvania qualities to it, I think, so perhaps it will be worth it.

 

HellBlade: Senua's Sacrifice, releasing on PC and PS4, August 8th. A lot has been seen about this game, and it by Ninja Theory, the game guys who did the oft underrated title Heavenly Sword and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. What's more the title only goes for 30 dollars and looks beautiful to boot. If there's an action game to play this month, this is it.

 

Lawbreakers, releasing on PC and PS4, August 8th. This high action FPS MOBA title looks to be a bit darker version of Over Watch, although maybe with less character lore, I'm not really sure. Either way though, it looks like a lot of fun, and it seems to be well worth the time if this is your kind of game.

 

Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition Limited Physical release, releasing on August 11th Exclusively for PS4. I don't get why this is happening, because it's despite it's impact on the industry back in 1992, no buddy cares about this game anymore. However it is happening, so if you want something that might fetch a decent price as a collectors item one day, well then, here you go.

 

Sudden Strike 4 releasing on PC, Exclusively August 11th. I mean, if you like modern day military RTS games where the camera is just far enough away that you'll have to second guess a lot of what you do, or wonder if something really is there, here you are. Have Fun.

 

Agents of Mayhem, releasing on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, August 15th (get used to seeing this date, it's gonna be a while before it changes). If you've seen Saints Row, you've seen this game, except it looks even stupider, possibly in all the wrong ways, only time will tell. Moving right along...

 

Cities: Skylines, releasing on PS4 Exclusively on August 15th. If you like a SimCity style game without all the always online DRM, which is a port of a 2015 PC title, this might be entertaining for you. Have at it.

 

Matterfall, releasing on PS4, Exclusively on August 15th. This game is a letdown where I'm concerned, and I imagine many feel the same, as it looked like it was going to be a futuristic high action title, a few steps from it's development team's normal titles, but instead, it's just a platformer that doesn't look like it will do anything to make the genre any better. Le Sigh.

 

Nidhogg 2, releasing on PC and PS4 August 15th. If you've seen the first game, this isn't quite the same. It will have a different graphic style, which has caused some issues with the community as they don't like the more cartoony look, it will also include more weapons. Other than that, it's the same game, so if you enjoyed the first, you should enjoy this one.

 

Night Trap: 25th Anniversary, releasing for PC and PS4, August 25th. No, your eyes are workin' this stinker is launching twice this month, making it the first of at least two titles to do so. That Physical release is Exclusive for 4 whole days before the digital version no one will buy releases, isn't that fun?

 

The Pillars of the Earth Book 1: From the Ashes, releasing on PC and PS4, August 15th. If you like Adventure games with a more modern flare to them yet in a past setting, this just might be the game for you. It does look to be fairly fun, hopefully it delivers.

 

Observer, releasing on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, on August 15th. This game set in the future is all about you playing a character who takes information for political or business espionage, and that's really all I know about it, although that's enough to guess at the part where you are betrayed and you have to stop the powers that be from doing evil things. Hope it's not like that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

 

Sonic Mania, releasing on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, August 15th. (can we be done with this date already? Yeezus). It's an old school Sonic game, even having levels from old school Sonic titles, here's hoping they can't screw that up.

 

Sudden Strike 4, releasing Exclusively on PS4, August 15th. Just like Night Trap, this exclusive for 4 days before launching on PS4, who knows why, but both of these titles are exclusive on one of the two platforms they'll be on for four full days. Why the hell not I guess?

 

ChromaGun, releasing Exclusively on PS4, August 22nd (ohmaigawd I finally got a different day, not that it matters because I have 9 more titles to talk about releasing a week from this date, oh my lord why). I have no idea what this game really is. All I know is that the ChromaGun shoots different colors of paint and that there are spikey death traps and fires! Sounds fun?

 

The Escapists 2, releasing on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, August 22nd. This game is pretty much the same as the first, you are in jail, escape. That said, it looks like there will be more options and different characters to help you along, so perhaps the simple premise will be given some depth? Guess we'll find out.

 

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, releasing Exclusively on PS4, August 22nd (you know I'm starting to realize there aren't a lot of release days this month, just a lot of games coming out). If you liked Uncharted 4, you should like this game. It's technically a Sequel as it takes place after the events of Uncharted 4 and it's two of the most impressive women in the series taking names. I said Hellblade was the action game of the month, but this is it's hard hitting competition, and that's fine by me.

 

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School, releasing for PC and PS4, August 22nd. This horror title, which may or may not have drawn corpse party back in the day when it was an RPG maker only title, is a horror game where kids are trapped in their school while ghosts and other monsters try to kill them, as they solve a mystery. This remake looks to improve every aspect of the original, and get the series into mainstream attention. It looks interesting enough, let's hope it gets there.

 

Taking a break from game releases (thanks the good lord), Gamescom runs from the 22nd to the 26th, and several developers are promising to show new releases and even brand new IP's among them, some of which we have no detail on thus far. Let's hope with the somewhat lackluster E3 we had in June, that this event will be worth remembering. Some developers going to the event are promising a bigger Gamescom than we've ever seen, and I really hope that's true. Now back to the games.

 

The Lost Child, releasing on PS4 and PS Vita, August 24th. I don't know much about this game, because I can't find any English trailers for it, which makes me wonder if this is a Japanese game only, at least for the moment, but it's dungeon crawling RPG of some kind with some modern aspects to it, and that's about all I could figure out. Could be fun though.

 

F1 2017, releasing for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, August 25th. Hey look it's a racing game that comes out every year and does nothing but somewhat update graphics and stats, doesn't that sound fun? Guess it does if you're a fan of quick cash in titles.

 

Madden NFL 18, releasing for PS4 and Xbox One. Hey look it's a sports game that comes out every year and does nothing but somewhat update graphics and stats....you just read this, moving along.

 

One Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition, releasing for PC and PS4 on August 25th. Oh hey there, 4th remake/remaster of the month. Really I think the industry needs help, this is just getting sad. I don't know what fan reception to this title is, but I guess we'll find out soon, oh joy!

 

Absolver, releasing for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, August 29th (oh boy here we go, lots of games on this date as well). This one actually looks interesting, it's basically an open world fighting game well worth at least checking out on YouTube if that seems appealing.

 

Everybody's Golf, releasing Exclusively on PS4, August 29th. Really, for a Golf game, this looks like a lot of fun. It give an RPG elements in a sense the more you use certain clubs, the more control and power you're given to increase distance and sway. I might actually be excited about this title, which is great, I haven't enjoyed a golfing game in years.

 

Hello Neighbor, releasing on PC and Xbox One, in full release on August 29th. I'll be honest, I hate this game, from the way it looks to how it plays, it doesn't interest me. It's currently in Beta, I don't know what's improved. but it looks to be about as simple as a 3D game can get. I think the whole point is to stop people you live near, from breaking into your home. Woo!

 

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, releasing Exclusively on Nintendo Switch. Oh my lord, I want this game, I would seriously buy a Switch just to play it if I could afford it. It looks amazing. It's taking strategy types of RPG's and adding depth, and humor to them that most wouldn't expect, but that's what makes it so interesting. Can't wait to watch someone play it and see if it's as good as it looks.

 

Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition, releasing for PS4 and Xbox One on August 29th. Here's another RTS title that I know little about aside from it's successful Kickstarter campaigns for the first game and now the sequel. I mean if you like RTS go for it, but since the sequel is already being developed, who knows whether or not this is worth it on console.

 

Redout, releasing on PS4 and Xbox One, August 29th (Please can we move dates now, spoiler alert, no, we still got at least three of these left). This game is basically Wipeout or F-Zero if you prefer, but made by an Indy team, so go for it if this is your style of racer and have fun with it. We probably won't see another F-Zero game ever, so next best thing right? Hopefully?

 

Warriors All-Stars, releasing for PC and PS4, August 29th. I mean really, can we get more Meta than this. It's literally a Dynasty Warriors game where famous Dynasty Warriors characters, and possibly some other Koei Techmo characters come to do more Dynasty Warriors style fighting. Why isn't this a parody? That would make it so much better.

 

Windjammers, releasing on PS4 and PS Vita, August 29th. This game kind of forgot not to rip off of Street Fighters back in the mid 90's, and hey disc jam was popular for like two weeks, so why not bring back the game it was based on, and make it the 5th remake of the month. This game is basically stylized Pong with 80's music so yay, I guess.

 

Yakuza Kiwami, releasing Exclusively for PS4 on August 29th. Oh god there's so many remakes we are getting two in one day, and in a sense this is probably the worst of them, because this is technically a remaster of a remake from the PS3 that never made it to the West because, reasons I guess. I mean this was literally remade on the PS3 and PS4 last year, but they thought to take over a year and a half to bring to the West, and I don't even know why. It shouldn't take that long to do that with a game anymore unless your name is Level 5. And oh yeah, 6th remake. Bleh.

 

Life Is Strange: Before the Storm - Episode 1, releasing on PC PS4, and Xbox One, August 31st (yes, the date moved forward!). Yes, it's happening, and I don't know why. This was announced at E3, and for some reason looks more dated than the last game, and of course because it's a prequel, hence the name, no powers, even though you are playing as the same character. I feel like this is a really sad attempt to try and make the choice you make matter, since the biggest problem and criticism with the last one, was that if you got the ending you were "supposed" to get, nothing you did mattered at all. Just goes to prove they couldn't move the story forward where the choices you made actually matter, I guess. This is a solid reminder that stories with the Butterfly effect or with time altering abilities are so tired and cliche, that not having them seems to be the better option, which really sucks.

 

Resident Evil Revelation, releasing on PS4 and Xbox One, August 31st. Hey it's not a remake/remaster, it's a port, but with better graphics to make it make more sense on console, and only because Nintendo wouldn't let the micro-transaction fest of Revelations 2 on any of their systems, think about Fire Emblem and let that sink in, enjoy the laughs. Nintendo really needs someone who thinks like Iwata did as their president again. Here's hoping a bunch of micro-transaction aren't being added to this port, and the 7th game that's already been released that is technically a remaster, is as good as it should be.

 

Mary Skelter: Nightmares, releasing Exclusively on PS Vita, August 31st. The actual title of this game is Divine Prison Tower: Mary Skelter Nightmares, but hey that's confusing so let's remove the three most important words from the game so that you'll never think this is an M Rated Dungeon Crawling Japanese Role Playing game trying to compete with Atlus, because that's exactly what it is, and that's awesome. Too bad the name is made out to be so weird. If you like dark dungeon crawling and have a way to play Vita games though, this just might be a lot of fun.

 

 

And game-wise and event Wise, that's everything. That actually took just under three hours, but I have one final thing I want to mention, a Kickstarter campaign for a game called Re: Legend. Now this game already hit it's goal, but if you like action RPGs like Fantasy Life and Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley but on home consoles for the first time in years, you might want to help it reach it's stretch goals either by backing it up or sharing the link which is here:

 

Seriously, go check it out, it looks like it will be a lot of fun, and it's something home consoles need so badly right now.

 

That's all I'm gonna say, I'll get to my opinion on what's coming up later, because I'm done typing as you can probably imagine. I hope you find this list well, and that my attempt at humor was effective in helping you get through it all, because it sure as heck helped me get through writing it. RepentantSky out!

Edited July 28, 2017 by Guest