August is here and that means we’re one more month away from the biggest AAA releases in September. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything for us to play this month. There’s a bunch of great JRPGs such as Oninaki or Astral Chain. And even a couple of solid horror in the form of Control and Blair Witch. Check out our full list below.

 

Age of Wonders: Planetfall by Triumph Studios, Paradox Interactive – August 6^th

If you’ve played any of the Age of Wonders series you’ll know that it’s a classic tactics turn-based combat game. This time however you’ll be building your empire in worlds unknown. In space. Emerge from the cosmic dark age of a fallen galactic empire to build a new sci-fi empire in Planetfall. There are six unique factions to choose from, ranging from the militant Vanguard to the dinosaur-riding Amazons and the cyborg-zombies of the Assembly. Fight, build, negotiate and technologically advance your way to utopia in a deep single-player campaign, on random skirmish maps, and against friends in multiplayer. Recommended if you liked Civilization or XCOM.

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

 

RAD by Double Fine – August 20^th

If you’ve played any Double Fine game then you potentially know what you might be getting into. RAD is a 3D action rogue-like set in a post-post-apocalyptic world, where humanity has faced armageddon not once, but twice. Venture into the Fallow — an ever-changing, radioactive wasteland filled with unknown and unspeakable creatures. If you thought that being a teenager was bad this time you’ll be playing one that needs to save the world. The deeper you journey into unknown lands, the more you’ll be exposing yourself to gnarly toxins which will wreak havoc on your fragile human form. Mutating you into something stronger and much less human.

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

 

Remnant: From the Ashes by Gunfire Games – August 20^th

The world has been thrown into chaos by an ancient evil from another dimension. As one of the last remnants of humanity, you must set out alone or alongside up to two other survivors to face down hordes of deadly enemies to try to carve a foothold, rebuild, and retake what was lost. With an almost Dark Souls level of difficulty, you’ll find this shooter game incredibly punishing. It’s a neat spin on the genre with the addition of having a co-op mode if you’re looking for a new shooter game.

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

 

Oninaki by Tokyo RPG Factory – August 22^nd

Directed by Takashi Tokita who has handled such gaming icons as Chrono Trigger and Parasite Eve you can expect Oninaki to be an extremely solid JRPG. You play the role of a Watcher, a guardian of the boundary between life and death. They haven’t released too much information on the story yet but we do know that the gameplay will be a hack and slash style. You’ll be able to build and customize your watcher with a number of different weapons and skills, from swords to guns, and everything in between.

Platform: PlayStation 4, Switch, PC

 

World of Warcraft Classic by Blizzard Entertainment – August 27^th

Blizzard said it would never happen, but it’s happening: World of Warcraft is getting legacy servers that emulate Azeroth as it existed back in 2006. Called WoW Classic, this remake aims to rekindle that insatiable desire to grind that kept so many of us up late into the night. World of Warcraft‘s vanilla launch—before expansion packs took players to faraway locales and significantly changed the core game—is one of the most pivotal moments in PC gaming.

Platform: PC

 

Control by Remedy Entertainment, 505 Games – August 27^th

Control is an upcoming action-adventure game that revolves around the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), a secret U.S. government agency tasked with containing and studying phenomena which violate the laws of reality. As Jesse Faden, the Bureau’s new Director, you explore the Oldest House –
a strange skyscraper in New York City seems to be defying the laws of space and time. In there is a powerful enemy known only as the “Hiss”. They’re able to possess human beings and mutate them with strange super-powers. Control plays as a third person Metroidvania-esque game and is from the makers of Alan Wake and Quantum Break.

Platform: PC

 

Headspun by Superstring – August 28^th

Headspun is a game about the voices in our head and from the trailer, I think you can tell that it’s going to be a little bit trippy. After waking from a five-week coma, Theo Kavinsky finds his life in disrepair, and with no memory of the accident, it’s up to Ted and Teddy – the conscious and subconscious voices in his head – to work out what happened, and put his life back on track. Ted is the rational, intelligent voice in Theo’s head but Teddy is the much more emotional voice. As you can assume they may not get along. Headspun is a game about recovery, discovery, and the ongoing battle between logic and emotion. 

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

 

Blair Witch by Bloober Team – August 30^th

Bloober the studio behind Layers of Fear is back with an upcoming survival horror game. If you haven’t watched any of the Blair Witch series before let me boil it down for you – it’s about scary footage on a shaky hand camera with potential ghost/occultist sightings. We saw this footage at Microsoft Xbox’s E3 press conference this year. The new original story of the Blair Witch game takes place two years after the student filmmakers took off into the Black Hills forest to make a documentary about the fabled Blair Witch. You play as an ex-policeman called Ellis who goes searching for a missing kid by the name of Peter Shannon. Traversing through the dark Black Hills forest with an era-appropriate camcorder and torch in hand, you set off to search for any trace of the boy.

Platform: Xbox One, PC

 

Astral Chain by PlatinumGames – August 30^th

One of Nintendo‘s most hyped games at this year’s E3. Astral Chain begins when disaster strikes the prosperous city of Ark when a mysterious dimensional gate appears bringing dangerous alien creatures to attack the people and corrupt the land. The Ark police form a special task force, known as Neuron, to face the alien threat head-on. As a rookie Neuron officer, you control a special living weapon known as Legion who will work together with you to solve cases and save humankind. So expect high-speed button-mashing interspaced with crime-scene investigation mystery. Astral Chain seems promising as it has some pretty big names attached including Nier: Automata’s Takahisa Taura and Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya.

Platform: Nintendo Switch

 

The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan by Supermassive Games, Bandai Namco – August 30^th

The Dark Pictures Anthology is a series of standalone interactive horror games. Think Black Mirror or a cinematic Telltale game. Man of Medan is the first of this instalment and it showcases five characters trapped in a ghost ship. You’ll be making the decisions, selecting dialogue options and interacting with the other characters to see whether you can get everyone out of this situation alive. Or no one. There are three ways to play – solo story, movie night (with up to 4 players) or a shared story with an online co-op feature.

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC