5 Biggest Games to Look Out For This August

Denizens of the gaming plane, why would you want to waste your summer on barbecues, water fights and outdoor activities (that aren’t Pokémon Go), when there is some serious gaming to be done?These things won’t play themselves you know, and someone needs to be mashing those buttons while everyone else is out gallivanting, getting sunburn and everything. So take a look at what’s in store this coming month, for it’s a tantalising mixture of action, thought-provocation and just plain old fun. Or at least, we hope it will be. Only time will tell.

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No Man’s Sky

Release Date: 10th August in the UK

The game with eighteen quintillion planets in a tidy 9GB package has whipped up a powerful hype-storm already. This space exploration title that procedurally-generates worlds, resources and even the forces of evolution themselves was recently threatened with further delays, as accusations were made that the mathematical ‘superformula’ that generates the game’s content was already patented. Hopeful players were anxious that No Man’s Sky would not be landing quite as smoothly as expected, but the skies are now very much clear for an August release.

If space battles, exploration on an infinite scale and frying nasty alien bugs with lasers sounds good to you, then No Man’s Sky is definitely one to consider. There’s even a special ‘Explorer’s Edition’ complete with a little ship statue, should you be able to afford a price tag of over £100. Does look neat, though.

 

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Release Date: 23rd August

The follow-on from 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution sees a future world in which average ‘natural’ humans have segregated themselves from ‘Augs’, those who possess biomechanical augmentations, and following directly from the events of the previous game. Although Mankind Divided will be predominantly stealth focused, Eidos-Montreal have also confirmed that more visceral, open combat play styles will be available to more bloodthirsty players, too. So psychopaths, rejoice. In addition, the choice between whether to take a lethal or non-lethal approach remains, and is left simply down to the player’s moral temperament (god, help us all), but the chosen play styles will most definitely affect the course of the story, and even the ultimate overall ending.

Inclusion of the new ‘Breach’ mode, a complete removal from the complex, dynamic story-driven campaign mode, requires the player to become a polygonal data thief hacking into the deep, dark confines of evil corporate powers in what could turn out to be quite an interesting gameplay angle. Score leaderboards even introduce a slight multiplayer flavour, too.

 

Livelock

Release Date: 2nd August

When I first saw it, Livelock looked like little than more dumb fun in the form of a top-down shooter with waves of hapless enemies just lining up to die, something that would grow old faster than a long haul flight with Jar Jar Binks. Under the surface however, the three-player co-op set up boasts RPG elements and even upgradeable weapons. The three playable transformer-esque ‘Capital Intellects’, machines with the downloaded consciousness of human beings, are separated into three respective classes with individual personalities and even a dashing of humour.

In terms of story, it is centred around a far future in which all life on earth, including humanity, is eradicated by an event called the ‘Cataclysm’, and naturally the world is overrun by powerful and corrupted factions of mechanical monstrosities. There is indeed lore for players to find, scattered about the world’s environments, which explains a little more for those interested. Or, you can just power through and destroy as many evil robots as possible. Good advice for anyone, if I may say so.

 

Abzu

Release Date: 2nd August (PC & PS4)

Abzu is a little something different. A non-violent title that takes the player way down into the deep blue to explore the secrets of the unseen deep as a lone diver. Lacking an oxygen gauge, health bar or anything else typical of underwater video game normalities, the game’s sole objective is to explore the oceans and to interact with various forms of marine life. There is no ‘Game Over’, ‘You Died’ or ‘Wasted’ in this game, as death isn’t really a threat. Don’t yawn just yet though, you maniacs.

The underwater world we’ve seen so far is utterly beautiful, and the creatures within it doubly so. Shoals of fish ten-thousand strong which act and react based upon real-world behavioural patterns and food chains, look like a brilliant experience, along with a Great White Shark that is for once, not portrayed unfaithfully as an on-sight killer, as it always is in movies and gaming alike. Unlikely to be one appearing on the E-Gaming circuit, this, but if you ever need a break from all of the carjacking, head-exploding and disintegrating, then Abzu may well be a unique and relaxing choice this August.

 

The Turing Test

Release Date: 30th August (PC & Xbox One)

Can machines think? Not in the way a calculator does, or the pathetic and unsettling way that Siri feigns self-awareness, but really think, in the way that we as human beings do? The Turing Test is aiming to be a thought-provoking puzzle game that contains conundrums allegedly only solvable by human initiative, whilst questioning the very foundations of what it means to possess consciousness as human beings know it. All wrapped up within the folds of a story taking place on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons that has long been thought to potentially harbour microbial life beneath it’s icy surface. Will this game provide the answer? Who knows, but it might be a fun and brainy ride, if delivered properly.