The summer months are usually a good time to catch up on your backlog before the holiday floodgates open to wash your bank account clean. But that’s not to say we have a full-on drought happening. PC gamers have plenty to keep them busy while they hide inside from the sun and humidity. Here are four of the best new offerings hitting gaming rigs while the weather is hot.
1. Red Faction Guerrilla: Re-Mars-tered Edition (July 3)
Just in time for Independence Day comes this updated version of 2009’s Red Faction Guerrilla, which puts players in the spaceboots of insurgents fighting to overthrow an oppressive regime on Mars. It’s all about finding creative ways to bring down buildings using a variety of tools and an impressive, real-time physics engine. This updated, cleverly named version has completely revamped lighting and graphics and supports 4K resolutions so that all the destruction looks as good as possible.
2. The Banner Saga 3 (July 24)
The finale to this Norse-inspired tactical role-playing game trilogy follows up the first two entries, which launched in 2014 and 2016. The series’ beautiful, hand-drawn animation style combines with a branching storyline and turn-based strategic combat to finish the story of the war between humans and the villainous Dredge.
3. World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth (August 14)
The seventh expansion to the online multiplayer juggernaut follows up on 2016’s World of Warcraft: Legion. It gooses the level cap to 120 and offers players new realms to explore. It also offers a handful of new playable races and some new raids to grind out. Players of other games from developer Blizzard will also find a wealth of bonus cosmetic items for their games of Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Starcraft II, and Overwatch.
4. Strange Brigade (August 28)
This co-operative multiplayer shooter draws inspiration from pulp adventure serials like the ones that inspired the Mummy films and Indiana Jones. Its studio, Rebellion Developments, is branching out from its Sniper Elite franchise to create this weird, tongue-in-cheek title that has players team up with up to three of their friends to explore ruins and battle an ancient evil in 1930s Egypt.
