It's halfway through the year now, and in the field of video games, that's where things really start to kick off.
Pokémon Sun and Moon, Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Yooka-Laylee, Gears of War 4, Dishonored 2 and Final Fantasy XV mark just a handful of the big-name titles releasing in the second half of the year.
Thankfully, the industry hasn't been neglectful of the first half this time around, with some game-of-the-year worthy entries releasing in almost every month so far this year.
So, will the month of June be just as worthwhile for avid video gamers? Our writers Ryan Brown and JC Suttun have their say on their picks of the bunch.
A first-person survival rogue-like, this Kickstarter title looks like someone threw Fallout, Bioshock and Dishonored in a blender with a pinch of TV show The League of Gentlemen.
Set in an alternate dystopian 1960s Britain, the populace of Wellington Wells is in the grip of a drug named Joy, which temporarily erases bad memories. The player, one of the drug-free minority, is tasked with blending in with the violent, Joy-addled citizens and escaping the city.
The hellish concept blends well with the twisted cartoon style, and having to hide in plain sight should make for a tense experience. Plus it’s nice to see a game set in Britain that doesn’t involve Sherlock Holmes.
Another Star Wars film, another Lego game. Having been burnt out by Lego Batman 3 (and not even touching Lego Avengers), I’d initially dismissed this as soon as I heard it was in development.
It’s not that the Lego games are bad by any means, but Travellers’ Tales' crown jewel/cash cow has been stuck in a rut for a while, with each release barely distinctive from the last, save for a coat of paint.
However, the latest entry is set to offer a few new features that might end my Lego fatigue.
We’re promised prequel levels that fill in some blanks from the movie - such as how Han and Chewie got their hands on the monstrous rathtar that ends up on the Millennium Falcon. Some weird looking cover-shooter gameplay is touted too, but I'm not sure if putting dashes of Gears of War in a Lego game is the way forward.
What’s really piqued my interest are the fancy vehicle sections that see you piloting X-Wings and whatnot around specifically designed levels. A Rogue Squadron sequel has been on my wishlist for the best part of a decade, but if this brick-based dogfighting is the closest I'll get then count me in.
This marriage between the slow motion destruction of Burnout's Crash Mode and the slightly less destructive sport of golf looks like heaps of fun. Unsurprising then that its developers Three Fields include Criterion alumni who were involved with the Burnout series.
Simply put, this is a game that has you destroying rooms like a kitchen and statue-filled dining room with a flaming golf ball.
Is there any sport that can't be improved with the addition of explosions? Dangerous Golf certainly seems to think not.
No Man's Sky is easily the biggest release of the month, and it's not too hard to see why.
A first-person, open-world survival game, players are free to explore a vast open universe with over 18 quintillion planets and can submit data about each planet they find to a universal database shared by other players.
With freedom over focus on exploration, survival, combat or trading, it's no surprise that the game captured gamers' imagination when its colourful, vibrant worlds were revealed back in 2013.
Though I have a sneaking suspicion the game won't quite be what a lot of people are expecting it to be, I'm fully anticipating it to be right up my street, and personally I can't wait to find some new alien species and upgrade my spaceship to be the best in the universe.
Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is a high-definition remake of an action role-playing game that was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2007, and it looks beautiful.
Having unfortunately missed out on the game back in the day, I'm definitely looking forward to hitting it up this year instead. With a slick, gorgeous, vibrant graphical style and some of the finest-looking 2D action-RPG gameplay around, this game may just whet my appetite for something a little different.
The game certainly won't be for everyone and will find a home mostly with niche audiences, but if the above trailer interests you, then definitely consider getting this game.
Mighty No. 9 gives me very mixed and confusing feelings. On the one hand, it's a spiritual successor to Mega Man - one of the greatest platforming franchises of all time - and this looks like it has the potential to fill a hole that my gaming soul has been missing for many years.
On the other hand, the game has been bogged down with controversy and delays, and rewarding these poor decisions and utter contempt for its crowdfunding supporters with my own cash seems sort of... wrong.
Although I'm still looking forward to the game, I may very well end up waiting for a pre-owned copy to crop up instead, if not simply out of principle.
