In the past I’ve written about how summer is a great time to catch up on the ever growing backlog everyone who plays games has. Most of the time, summer rarely has many, if any, heavy hitting games released. This is mainly because winter and fall are holiday seasons so everyone is looking to spend money, and during spring the fiscal year is ending so most companies are trying to really pump up the money there. Which means summer is usually pretty dry! Making it a perfect time to catch up on games you might have previously missed. But not this summer!

No idea why, but we have gotten a ton of crazy good games this summer! From big AAA releases to smaller indie games, there has been so much to play that my backlog has only increased! Not the biggest problem to have but still. A lot of the games I’ve played I really want to talk about too but that has been hard given how much I’ve been playing. So rather than struggle to write a bunch of different reviews, I wanted to use this post to basically rapid fire some recommendations for which summer games to play. Some of these I might review in more depth later, but for now I just want to get my recommendations out. And to get us started I’m going to quickly skim over some games I’ve already talked about.

Elden Ring: Nightreign

So technically Nightreign didn’t come out in the summer, or what I would consider the summer to be. The game came out right at the tail end of May and I usually consider summer to start with June. However, I’m still including it here since the game basically bled into summer with how much I had been playing it!

Nightreign is a roguelite game, meaning it’s very replayable, meaning I played it a lot not only in June but over the course of the rest of the summer! Though oddly enough, I wouldn’t say that it’s because Nightreign is as endlessly replayable as other roguelites. Runs feeling similar to each other is actually one of the game’s biggest problems! However, it makes up for this massively by having some great game play, bosses, and being coop! The fact the entire thing is coop and can be played with friends made this game the go to for my friend group for awhile. We still play it now! A big help with this is the fact the game is only $40 too. Meaning more people are able to pick it up without breaking the bank. The other big thing that’s kept us playing is the continued support from FromSoftware, the game’s developer. Since launch they have been updating the game constantly, not only with plenty of quality of life stuff but with new versions of the existing bosses too! And these new versions don’t just do more damage or anything like that, they are basically new fights! Throwing in completely new elements that change things up in super cool ways.

So! If you and your friends are looking for a super fun, super tough, and reasonably cheap game to pick up and play, absolutely give Nightreign a try!

Death Stranding 2

It really pains me to admit I’m still not done with Death Stranding 2! I have played more since I wrote my review on it, but as I said in that review, I like taking my time with the game so I haven’t finished it just yet. That and so many other things have come out and started to distract me… But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to recommend the game!

Death Stranding 2, much like the original, is a weird game and not exactly for everyone. It’s an experience without a doubt however, and one I want more people to try. Especially since Kojima has listened to feedback from the original and really polished up the game as a result! That being said, Death Stranding 2 is a game about connections. It’s a slow game focused mostly on delivering goods around a hostile place. A place made slightly less hostile with the aid of other players in the form of structures to make travel more easier, weapons, vehicles, and many more things! The game is a single player game but somehow manages to feel kind of like a multiplayer one. You’re never truly alone when you’re out making deliveries around Australia and that is something I truly adore about the game. But that’s not the only kind of game play the game has! Stealth is another big part and has been made so much better in this game over the original. This is mainly because of how the game handles enemies and bases. Death Stranding 2 feels like it was designed with these elements in mind way more than the original where it kind of felt like an after thought or even something just thrown in. Not the case with the sequel though!

If you want to read more about my thoughts on Death Stranding 2, why I recommend it and the improvements it made over the original, I have a whole blog post dedicated to it! But for this post, I’ll leave it here.

Mario Kart World

Launching along with the Switch 2 in June, we got a brand new Mario Kart! Something that hasn’t happened since the Wii U. Never forget that the original Switch never had it’s own original Mario Kart! And thankfully, Nintendo made sure that Mario Kart World actually felt like a fresh and new entry for the series!

Mario Kart World is still very much a kart racer like all the Mario Karts that came before it, but it adds a whole lot of new to this decades old series. For one, the game has an open world now! This is easily the biggest change since it changes so many other aspects of the game. All of the tracks exist in one big map, a fact the game uses to its advantage a ton! For instance, in grand prix there is now a segment where you drive between the race tracks instead of just being brought from track to track like the other games in the series. This might not sound like a big change but there is something so fun and charming about it! It makes everything feel so fluid and connected. This also makes a lot of the track designs much more creative too! Adding so many different elements and themes to them. This is all not even mentioning the new mechanics added to the game like rail riding and wall riding! Two things so versatile that they can boarder on game breaking when you learn to master them!

It’s hard to truly describe just how good Mario Kart World is without playing it for yourself. I can only explain so much and elements like how polished and charming it all is really are things that need to be experienced. That does bring us to the fact that experiencing this game for yourself can be tough. Not only do you need to buy a Switch 2 but you have to pay $80 for the game. I’m sure everyone has heard about this by now but it is something that’s important to bring up. Whether the game is worth that price is up to you. Personally I think it is but still! That being said, if you did buy the Switch 2, you’ll be able to enjoy this next game too!

Donkey Kong Bananza

Talk about a one two punch! The Switch 2 is off to a pretty amazing start with Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza! Made by the same team behind the original Switch smash hit Mario Odyssey, Donkey Kong Bananza has been showered in praise since launch and rightfully so. I’m still playing through it myself but I can already say that it’s pretty amazing! I have yet to write anything about it, but I did talk briefly about my enjoyment of the game over on the podcast. Bananza is the first 3D platformer Donkey Kong has been in for ages! Similar to Odyssey, it’s a game about collecting things as you progress from world to world. Or in Bananza‘s case, layer to layer as you dig deeper into the world! Rather than picking up Stars though, you are grabbing bananas! All while wrecking your environment as you search high and low for the things. You can punch through entire mountains in this game! Something that has not gotten boring even after hours of playing. Seriously, there are times where I will just be tunneling around underground or bringing down a whole mountain only for me to stop and realize I’m not really doing anything! The feeling of punching around is so satisfying that I just forget to basically play the game. Which is high praise by the way!

Just like with Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza is filled with charm and polish. To Donkey Kong’s fun expressions to the overall game play, I really can’t recommend the game enough! Assuming you’re able to grab a Switch 2. But hey, the game is only $70 at the very least!

Abiotic Factor

Shifting gears for these next two games, I want to talk about some smaller, not so AAA games. The first of which I mainly want to talk about since it’s a game that ended up really surprising me!

Abiotic Factor is a survival crafting game and a game I was not expecting to enjoy all that much. I have never really been a fan of survival crafting games like Minecraft or anything like that. I tend to have fun for a bit collecting resources, maybe even building a base, but after that all interest is lost. It might sound silly, but I really need direction in a lot of games. When a game just gives me a big sandbox to play in I just about always lose interest. Like, sure, the game has endless possibilities but that’s not why I tend to play games. So! Hearing that Abiotic Factor was also a survival crafting game, I planned to play it with some friends for a day, maybe two, and never open it again. Cut to over 100 hours later and I am still playing this game!

Abiotic Factor managed to hold my attention by having an actual goal to achieve. Beyond just making a cool base or something. The premise of the game is that you’re a scientist working in a big underground facility that is testing the kind of science that needs to be hidden. When that leads to the facility being invaded not only by teleporting aliens but also armed soldiers and some freaky anomalies from our own world, it’s up to you and your friends to not only adapt and survive but also escape! That escape aspect has done more than I could imagine for my interest in this kind of game. That and playing with some wonderful friends of course! But having something to work towards, to give reason to building these bases, gathering resources, and building up an arsenal of weapons, has really made me fall in love with the game! The Half-Life 1 aesthetic and bits of horror helped a lot too though, won’t lie.

I could go on about this game for awhile longer but I’m going to cut it here since I may honestly write a full review up sometime! Just know that I highly recommend this game. And if you have PlayStation Extra, you can play it without having to buy it!

Lies of P: Overture

While not a full game, I still feel like Lies of P: Overture deserves a mention here. When Lies of P came out in 2023, it quickly became a big name in the Soulslike community! And rightfully so. While I didn’t play it at launch, Lies of P has become one of my favorite non FromSoft made Soulslikes out there! So I was thrilled when the developers announced the game was a success and would be getting DLC! Granted, I didn’t realize that meant the DLC would take so long to get to us, but it’s been worth the wait at least.

Finally releasing this June, Lies of P: Overture is a beefy DLC that adds a ton to an already great game! If I had to compare it to something, it feels a lot like when Bloodborne got the Old Hunters DLC. A fitting comparison given that Lies of P is often compared to Bloodborne. Overture throws main character P into the past! Letting players experience some events we only got to hear sparingly about in the main game. This includes meeting some legendary characters of course. But it also allows the game to show us some really cool and inventive new places. I mean, the first area you’re brought to is a zoo! Name another Soulslike game that has you running around a zoo. There is of course plenty of new weapons and bosses to take on too. Tough bosses at that! The best way I can describe Overture, and I say this in the most affectionate way I can, is that it’s just more Lies of P! And it’s extremely hard to complain about getting more of an already great game.

Overture is what I’m currently playing through right now and sadly I have not finished it. But it’s really got a grip on me! If you were a fan of the base game you need to pick up Overture. And if you still haven’t played the base game and have PlayStation Plus, it’s currently free this month of August! Be sure to pick it up since it is fantastic, even without the DLC.

Phew! Okay, that was a lot, even if they were all bite sized reviews. While I tend to prefer more quiet summers to catch up on the backlog, it’s hard to complain about getting so many awesome games! There were even more that I didn’t talk about either of course, but these are the ones that grabbed my attention the most, and hopefully these quick insights I’ve given you managed to help grab your interest in some of them too!

Fall and winter are shaping up to be really stacked as well, but here’s hoping I can keep up a little better so I don’t have to do another one of these round ups! But I won’t lie, this was pretty fun to write about so I guess we’ll see!

But those are just my thoughts! What are some of yours? What have you been playing this summer? Are you thinking of giving any of these games a try? I’d love to hear your thoughts so don’t be shy!

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