This summer looks set to be a stacked few months for video games. With a diverse range of new IPs, big-name sequels and potential sleeper hits set for release from now until the end of August, there are going to be plenty of reasons to refrain from venturing outside into the sunlight, if you instead wish to sit in front of your console or desktop and sink your teeth into some great new releases.
With so many games releasing over the next few months, though, you’re going to need a little help in deciding which ones should remain firmly on your radar. With that being said, here are our 10 must play video games this summer:
The 10 Must Play Video Games This Summer
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Uncharted 4 (May 10)
This year's biggest summer blockbuster, Uncharted 4 brings intrepid explorer Nathan Drake's story to an end (probably), presenting not only the most thoughtful entry in the series thanks to its focus upon the psychology of the adventurer, but also the most beautiful. At times Uncharted 4 can feel like it's focusing too much upon being a tech demo for the PS4, but it's easy to see why developer Naughty Dog would want to draw so much attention to its visuals considering they've created one of the best-looking games of all time. A landmark moment for console graphics, Uncharted 4 also provides a much more engrossing plot than its predecessors, memorable locales to traverse through and some of the most thrilling action set-pieces we've ever experienced.
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DOOM (May 13)
DOOM's 2016 reincarnation is an even more challenging take on the legendary series, its lengthy campaign requiring players to methodically maneuver around its hellish (literally) setting, taking down monstrous enemies in increasingly gory fashion while desperately fighting for survival. Combines with a multiplayer component reminiscent of classic arena shooter Quake 3, and you've got a reboot that can suck away hours of your time.
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Overwatch (May 24)
Following its highly successful beta, Blizzard will release its first FPS Overwatch at the tail-end of May, with it shaping up to be one of the biggest FPS games of the entire year. A frenetic shooter that draws clear influence from Team Fortress 2 and the MOBA genre, Overwatch has all the potential to become gaming's next big IP, injecting some much-needed excitement into a genre that has fallen into a monotonous routine over the past few years.
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Total War: Warhammer (May 24)
Total War: Warhammer brings the classic tabletop game to PC, bringing to life those intricately painted miniatures in a strategy game that's sure to leave Games Workshop frequenters' tongues wagging. In what looks set to be an authentic digital recreation of Warhammer, from the pre-match placement of your troops to its lore-heavy story, with Warhammer already having received one uncharacteristically accomplished game adaptation in the past 12 months in the form of Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, hopefully the Total War team's take on the series will live up to expectations, too.
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The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine expansion (May 31st)
The heavily anticipated first expansion for The Witcher 3, titled The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, will finally be released on the last day of March, with Geralt travelling to the prosperous region of Toussaint in order to investigate a peculiar monster problem it is facing. Along with helping out the families who control the regions various wineries (hence the expansion's title), Geralt will also be slaying the aforementioned beasts plaguing the area, uncovering its dark past and playing a few more games of Gwent with some brand new cards.
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We Happy Few (June)
The second most intriguing indie game of the summer following the indomitable No Man's Sky, We Happy Few looks set to offer a bone to BioShock fans still reeling from the dissolution of Irrational Games, with developer Compulsion Games' survival-but-not-quite-horror experience seemingly sharing a similar tone to the critically-acclaimed series. Taking place after an alternate history World War II in which the Nazis took over England, the citizen's of the game's fictional dystopian successfully drove out the army by way of a terrible incident known only as the "Very Bad Thing." As such, they suppress their memories of this event by way of a drug known as Joy, which the player-character refuses to take as part of their plan to escape the city. One of the more mysterious games of the year, We Happy Few could fill the hole in our lives left by our final farewell to Rapture.
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Mirror's Edge: Catalyst (June 7)
EA's unlikely sequel to its 2008 cult hit, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst removes the linear environments from its predecessor, placing protagonist Faith in an open-world setting instead. While this is pretty par for the course for video game sequels these days, an open-world environment is certainly better suited to Mirror's Edge's gameplay, which combined hand-to-hand combat with fluid first-person free-running - and slightly less fluid first-person shooting - to provide a memorable experience for the few who played it. EA will be hoping that more players will pick up its more robust sequel.
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No Man's Sky (June 21)
It feels like forever since No Man's Sky was first announced, but we'll finally be able to get our hands on Hello Games' highly anticipated new IP in June. The hugely ambitious space exploration game sees players tasked with traversing an open-world with unprecedented scale, landing on procedurally generated planets that even its development team haven't encountered yet. We'll have to wait and see whether the tremendous scope of the game translates to an interesting experience, but either way it will represent a major technological landmark for the gaming industry.
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LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens (June 28)
With there having been no official movie tie-in game around the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, the LEGO game franchise has swooped in with a belated take on the record-breaking movie. With gorgeous visuals, original voice over work from the film's cast and a deeper dive into many of the film's unexplored plot points, this looks set to be a LEGO game that revitalizes the flagging series.
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Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (August 23rd)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided continues the story of Adam Jensen, whose superhuman abilities have been further increased by the added implementation of new body augmentations, as he finds himself at the center of a "mechanical apartheid," a rather devisive term coined by the game's developers to describe the unease between man and machine which drives its plot forward. Mankind Divided is set to grant players a great deal of agency in terms of how they progress through the game, implementing a new approach to enemy confrontations by allowing players to completely bypass boss battles by selecting certain dialogue options. If it sounds very Undertale-esque, that's because it is, though the combat, stealth and hacking mechanics from its predecessor all make a return, too.
