As a kid, I always kind of hated that no new games seemed to come out during the summer. Everyone was finally out of school and had time to play games! It seemed like the perfect time to release one to me. However, in recent years, I’ve changed my mind on releasing games in the summer. Probably because I’m not a kid dreading the return of school and wanting to make the most out of my summer but for many more reasons than just that!

I talked about this recently on the podcast actually but only very briefly. Here I want to go a bit more in depth with it since I honestly surprised myself a bit with my change of heart on the topic. That and there are a lot of factors that go into it. But let’s back up a bit and explain what exactly I’m talking about it!

The summer time is a pretty rare time for big games to release. This is mainly because there aren’t any gift giving holidays in the summer like in the fall and winter, and the fiscal year isn’t starting or ending around this time like it is for most companies around spring. So there really isn’t a big drive to release anything, even if there are plenty of kids who would love to have something new to play in the summer like how I was. As such, there always tends to be a bit of a drought this time of year, July specifically. Early June tends to get some big releases each year and late August is when more big releases start showing up again. Leaving most of the summer barren on releases. And honestly? I feel like this is for the best now.

While I’ve been feeling this way for awhile now, this year especially has made me realize why I enjoy this drought in games, and that mainly comes down to the sheer amount of games released and how big they can be. Now obviously these factors change each year, the same kind of games aren’t going to be released at the same time every single year. Not every year will get a new massive Zelda game after all. But I still think these factors do play into every year especially recently. This year in particular has been amazing for gaming! Lots of great games that have knocked it out of the park and left lasting impressions on those who played them. And while I too have enjoyed just about everything I’ve played this year, I couldn’t be more happy to have a break from new releases at long last… Which probably sounds a bit weird so let me explain.

I absolutely adored Final Fantasy XVI! That game was a blast from start to finish and I had very few complaints overall with the main complaint I had, not being able to turn off the motion blur, being fixed in a recent update! So in theory, I should be upset that there isn’t anything new like that to play right now and won’t be until the end of August when Armored Cored 6 releases. But now that I’m in this month or so long break I’m realizing how much I need it.

I’ve noticed that the main problem with having so many new and amazing games out is just that, there are too many. The pressure to play every new fun thing has taken a toll on me this year more than any other. It is a very dumb problem to have, having too much of a good thing but it really can ruin your enjoyment of a game if you feel like you need to get through one just to get to another one. Having some breathing room is really nice! Being able to really take a game in and processes it before moving on is kind of a big deal to me as well, assuming the game isn’t paper thin or anything like that. And this year the games have been anything but!

I am still amazed I managed to finish Tears of the Kingdom before Street Fighter 6 came out and then getting in a bunch of play time with that before Final Fantasy XVI came out! That period of time was a bit of a blur to me honestly. Having three amazing games back to back to back was just insane! I was so happy when I realized nothing I was interested in was coming out till the end of August after I finished Final Fantasy XVI. Not only do I finally have the chance to sit down and just relax without the pressure to play a new release but for the first time in awhile I’ve gotten to time to go back and play other games I may have missed before. I’ve finally had time to play Armored Core 5 before the sequel comes out just to get a feel for the series and I’ve even picked up Fire Emblem Engage after skipping out on it when it released because it really didn’t look all that interesting to me. But I’ll save my thoughts on that game for a future post since I do have plenty of thoughts on it! I also can’t imagine how hard it would be to try and keep up if you’re not like me and have a lot of time to play games. Granted, it’s not like those games are going anywhere, Tears of the Kingdom will still exist next year too, but when everyone is playing something it makes you want to hop in and play too that much more. But that could just be me feeling like I don’t want to miss out!

It honestly feels very weird to basically be complaining that there are too many good games coming out too quickly but that’s not really the whole picture. I wanted to write this post mainly because I only recently noticed how I’ve changed when it comes to playing and enjoying games. And I think it’s partly due to starting this blog! I’ve always liked to think about games, what I enjoy or dislike about them and how that impacts a game overall, but actually writing about it is very different! And I like it. It’s a lot of fun to put those thoughts out there. But that’s also made me realize just how much I like to take my time with games now. Really sit down and play them instead of rushing through to get to the next thing. And as such, these droughts in games are much more appreciated now than they ever were when I was a kid! Even if I am still excited for the games coming out in the coming months. But this break was for sure needed. A perfect time to recharge my batteries before I dive back in with games like Armored Core 6, Baldur’s Gate 3, the Cyberpunk DLC, Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, and probably a ton more I’m forgetting…

Man… Maybe this break could last a bit longer actually.

But those are just my thoughts! What are some of yours? How do you feel about the summer drought of games? Are you going back and playing some games you missed from this year? I’d love to hear your thoughts so don’t be shy!

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