Five Fantastical Videogame Releases Worth Exploring in July

Once we’ve reached the dog days of summer where the sun beats down and saps people’s energy, or when working folks get a little miffed that they can’t fully embrace the season, the comfort of videogame consoles, controllers and air conditioning starts to look really, really good. Some of my fondest gaming memories of my youth came in playing a pair of Final Fantasy games after long swimming or baseball sessions – Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy Tactics!– a legacy that kinda-sorta continues almost two decades later, in admittedly a very different form.  July’s new releases aren’t nearly as exciting as they probably should be, sporting only a high-profile shooter at the tail end of the month and another approach to the endgame with the folks at Marvel, but longstanding fans of Square Enix’s franchise will have something materia(l) to engage throughout the month. Let’s take a closer look.

FFXIV: Shabowbringers at Amazon            Download Sea of Solitude at Microsoft

July 2

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Another of my memories about Final Fantasy came in processing the reception towards Square’s first stab at an online multiplayer, FFXI. It was met with polarizing impressions that combined firm defense from the franchise’s devotees and valid critiques to the game’s design tweaks, struggling graphics, and of course the requirement for a dedicated subscription to play. Things have changed in the MMO landscape, of course, and while Final Fantasy XIV continues the legacy of being a subscription-based online game, it has been fine-tuned to reward those who are comfortable with a monthly fee. So far, critics and subscribers have had nothing but positive things to say about the MMO’s latest expansion, Shadowbringers. The solid storytelling, robust graphics, a class overhaul, and combat refinement are currently being heralded as not only the game’s best expansion, but possible one of the better expansions for a online multiplayer game to-date, so it’s certainly a great time to be a fan. Naturally, Shadowbringers is available on the PS4 and PC.

July 5

Sea of Solitude

At E3, a concentrated effort was made by EA to spruce up their image just a bit, emphasizing that they were working on smaller, independent games through their “EA Originals” label.  One of the games coming out of that publishing wing is Sea of Solitude, an atmospheric and artistically experimental adventure game developed by Jo-Mei Games.  With echoes of Zelda: Wind Waker in the boat travels and perhaps a little Alice: Madness Returns and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West in its gameplay style, the game tells the story of a woman named Kay who navigates the colorful, yet haunting maze of a mostly empty city flooded with water.  Directed by German comic-book artist Cornelia Geppert, Sea of Solitude goes down an emotional path as Kay journeys forth to discover how and why she’s transformed into this other-worldly beast within the realm, and the 3D puzzle and exploration gameplay extends from that. You can discover Sea of Solitude on the Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

July 12

Dragon Quest Builders 2

The interesting thing about Minecraft is that despite the roaring popularity and refinement of its build-an-experience concept, its blocky aspects and directionless nature will always leave openings for other games to reach the unimpressed players out there.  Along with Portal Knights, Dragon Quest Builders took a stab at something similar in concept but different in execution, and delivered on creating a more focused, narrative-driven construction simulator within the longstanding fantasy RPG setting. Builders 2 … well, merely builds off the original release, expanding upon both the building and exploration options for an even more expansive sandbox.  The big addition, however, comes in the ability for up to four people to cooperatively play together, either online or on the couch. Dragon Quest Builders 2 places more emphasis on providing the tools for the player to engage their creativity than on a story-driven experience, but there’s something to its tale of builders creating things against the will of oppressors.  The Switch and PS4 are your consoles of choice for this quest.

Order Marvel: UA 3 at Amazon          Order Wolfenstein: Youngblood at Amazon

July 19

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

Man, I’m on a bit of a nostalgia trip with some of the games released this month. While it was released on other consoles, the name Marvel: Ultimate Alliance recalls the early days of Nintendo’s first crack at full motion-control console games with the Wii.  While Nintendo was figuring out the right ways to add variety to their early slate of titles, less-interactive and more standard games like the first Ultimate Alliance – which also appeared on other consoles — filled the gap with some substance and regular ole beat-‘em-up gameplay. It’s interesting, then, that the 3^rd installment in the franchise arrives as an exclusive to the Nintendo Switch.  Adapting from the early-‘90s comic run of “The Infinity War”, Ultimate Alliance 3 flows along with the current popularity of Marvel’s cinematic universe and puts the players in control of many of their favorite characters from that realm.  Polished graphics and fluid 3D movement don’t take away from the fact that this third installment still feels like old-school, reliable action gaming. Switch only for now, but considering the prior releases, that could very well change.

July 26

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Games that don’t take themselves too seriously lend themselves better to spinoff experiences, where developers can take what’s worked in the games proper and safely dial ‘em up within the new installment.  Wolfenstein: Youngblood looks like it could be the next in a line of successful spinoffs like Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, since the possibilities are pretty endless with an alternate reality where Nazis actually came out on top in World War 2 and continued their atrocities … with some resistance, of course. In Youngblood, the resistance comes in well-armed, suited-up sisters – the daughters of protag B.J. Blazkowicz — ready for a killing spree roughly 20 years after the games proper, creating a dynamic between the story’s women that again reaches a balance between dark humor and genuinely bleak storytelling. The collaboration between Wolfenstein vets MachineGames and Dishonored’s developers Arkane Studios sets its sights on a versatile gaming experience, incorporating co-op or AI-driven multiplayer within the franchise’s hectic shooter energy.

Red Faction fans will be happy to see that Guerilla will be making its way onto the Switch at the beginning of July, while devotees of the Netflix show Stranger Things can get an extra taste of tie-in material with the Stranger Things 3 videogame being released on July 4^th on the Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and PC. The frequently-ported visual novel Clannad will arrive on the Switch also on the 4^th, while the next installment in the Fire Emblem tactics RPG games, Three Houses, will swarm onto the Switch on July 26^th.

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