It’s mid-May, which means that you’re probably ready to touch some real grass rather than the virtual kind. That’s understandable, but the typically slower summer months of video-game releases nonetheless look set to deliver ample entertainment for those languid afternoons when all you want to do is kick back with a controller. What have we got to look forward to? Namely, an expansion (and maybe even a pseudo-sequel in terms of scope) to the most widely beloved action RPGs of recent times, a Star Wars game that could finally deliver on the space-hopping fantasy of the movies, and a life simulator that looks set to surpass The Sims in terms of sheer existence-simulating ambition.
It’s a testament to how varied games have become that there’s practically something for everyone hitting (virtual) shelves in the next few months. This year has already yielded a handful of exceptional 2-D action-platformers, and the winning streak for the seemingly indefatigable genre could yet continue with the intriguing “Taopunk” of Nine Sols . Developed by Taiwan-based studio Red Candle Games, whose previous game was the 2019 first-person psychological horror Devotion , Nine Sols rocks an altogether cuter cartoon aesthetic, but that doesn’t mean its sense of place isn’t any less evocative.
You play as Yi, a sword-wielding protagonist who is able to deflect enemy attacks, bringing to mind FromSoftware’s 2019 3-D action game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice . If all these elements coal.