July Editor’s Review – Zing

Martin closed

July seemed to be a quieter month for gamers, but we still had at least two noteworthy games. I myself spent most of my nights playing the JRPG Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which makes the absolute most out of both the performance of the Switch console and the emotions of the poor players, because this story is truly devastating (in the right way). Of course, I also found one free night to finish playing the most anticipated and talked about game of the month, Stray’s cat adventure. And I was surprised how much I liked it.

August is already noticeably busy, with bigger and smaller games. Personally, I’m gnashing my teeth about a reboot of the mostly pretty fun and entertaining Saints Row series, but before that, get my review of the latest installment of the legendary Chinese RPG series, Sword and Fairy. I’ve wanted to check for a long time whether these suspiciously beautiful Chinese games are just as good, and the result of the test may surprise you.

In addition, of course, August is primarily marked by the largest European games fair. At Gamescom this year, we’re leaving the newsroom for exactly four hours, so you can expect a good dose of excitement as we take you through some of the hottest upcoming games.

Ondrej Partl

In July I mostly traveled, so I didn’t play much. The only new one I tried was the Stray cat, which was actually quite disappointing, although it was fine as a simple snack. Also, I got platinum in The Sinking City. If the guys and girls at Frogwares had put in a little effort to make the detective part offer more variety, it could be a blast. However, even in this state, this is an experience that I recommend at least to Lovecraft fans. Certainly better than the competitor Call of Cthulhu (although I have a weakness for him).

I’m looking forward to some work/play galleys again during August. While doing my traditional monthly review, I’ve been reminded of how many games I’m looking forward to when they actually come out this month. It all starts with the fanatical title Cult of the Lamb, continues through the arguably great hunting sim Way of the Hunter, and possibly Destroy All Humans! 2 – I also like Reprobed. However, I consider the top three – F1 Manager 2022, Call of the Wild: The Angler and Immortality. The first was able to finally offer us a proper driving experience from the popular racing royale, the second is an ambitious fishing simulator (and one of the most anticipated games of the year by me), of which there is already saffron, and the third is my long-awaited third game from Sam Barlow, which in this day, perhaps he will really come and justify his ambitions. Well, there will be plenty of them, especially since the traditional Gamescom is yet to come.

Pavlina Nouzova

After a hectic June, I finally found time to sneak up and beat. I got into Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and damn it, I missed something really interesting here a long time ago. At first I was a little afraid of the open space and all sorts of side quests, but gradually automated so many procedures in the game that it became a relaxing affair. I haven’t gotten to the very end of Chapter 2 yet, but with a silent sniper on my shoulder, a loyal dog at my side (or a wolf? the eternal question) and a pink helicopter (because Snake can afford it) I’m roaming Afghanistan and Angola. I especially appreciate an element similar, for example, to the Dishonored series, when it is more profitable not to kill enemies, but simply to put them to sleep. Only peace and love.

To do this, my husband and I tried the first part of The Dark Pictures Anthology series from the Playstation Plus July offer. I can’t watch horror movies in a theater full of people, let alone run an active story where you have to control individual characters, so I preferred to be just a spectator. And I really have to say that Man of Medan works great as a social video game. One chooses individual decisions and shapes the story of the five main characters, while the others cheer, shout, applaud enthusiastically… And at the end they slap themselves on the shoulder, because leaving all the heroes alive would be boring.

I’m already looking forward to returning to new works in August. I hope I get time for Tramp because I want to try what’s so great about having a cat scratching my couch. Also at the turn of August and September, a remake of the first part of Last of Us will be released. I’m still quite skeptical about it, because. I played the remaster recently and still thought it was good. But I’m happy to be convinced. And finally, I will also try out a couple of new products at Gamescom in Cologne, where I will go towards the end of the month, but for now I will keep silent about their names.

Ondrey Zeman

In the end, July turned out to be not as calm a month as I initially expected. I drowned most of my time playing The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. It’s still a very enjoyable game, full of interesting moments, it always reminds me of the untapped potential of the elven lane in the third part of the Witcher series. However, the biggest waste of time in recent weeks has been the rollerdrome. The desire to create the best possible result often proved to be stronger than my feeling of generating texts.

In August, of course, I’m looking forward to Gamescom, where perhaps a new historical part of the Total War series or some other important strategy will be presented. In terms of games, I’m going to be keeping a close eye on Two Point Campus or Hard West 2, which look like things with a decent chance to shine. Overall, this will be one of the quietest months, giving us all the opportunity to recharge for a roaring autumn full of big games.

Jan Urbanchik

July is usually the dry season for games, but this has not been the case for the past few years. I wrote a total of five reviews this month, which surprised even me. First I watched the great DLC for Cuphead, followed by the solid F1 22 races, which I had a lot of reservations about, the really bad horror MADiSON, and finally the great adventure game Syberia: The World Before, which instantly became the best. game for me this year it came out. On top of all that, Resident Evil: The Cure premiered, which ended up being not as bad as I originally thought. So there wasn’t much time to catch up, but at least I got past Assassin’s Creed Origins, which I’ve been playing for a long time. Now I finally got into Stray’s cat game and unfortunately I’m back to Apex Legends again, which was a big mistake because I spend way too much time in this battle royale title.

In August, I’m most looking forward to F1 Manager 2022, which looks very promising. And while it’s not exactly my genre, I’m also curious about the new Saints Row. Basically, though, there’s a big gaming event, Gamescom, taking place at the end of the month in Cologne, and I’m taking a look at the place for the first time.

Daniel Jaroki

Since I spent the first half of the month on vacation, I didn’t play much. At the end of the month we managed to play a couple of games. First of all, it’s about the cat-adventure game Stray, but I haven’t had a good look at it yet, so it’s too early for a deeper assessment. But I already feel that it was a good investment. I pulled the second title from a list of old game notes. This is the sci-fi edition of Bring Us the Moon that I’ve wanted to be in for a long time. However, I could finally force myself to start it only with the upcoming no less interesting sequel called Deliver Us Mars, which should be released at the end of September.

In terms of August, I’m most looking forward to Gamescom, which, after two online editions, will finally be back in physical form this year. Our schedules with other members of the editorial team are slowly starting to fill up with different meetings, so you can already look forward to the impressions of the upcoming games and our personal ideas straight from the Cologne exhibition center.

Philip Svoboda

In July, I reviewed Interior Night interactive drama As Dusk Falls. I really expected a lot from him, knowing that some of the authors of Heavy Rain or Beyond: Two Souls are behind him. In the end, I got a slightly lower rating than most of the media in the Czech Republic and abroad, but I still had a lot of fun with a genre that I really like. Impressed by the cinematic experience, I returned to the latest game from the hegemon of the genre – Detroit: Become Human. I reiterated that if anyone has really mastered game storytelling, it’s David Cage and Quantic Dream.

Last but not least, I finally played Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. While I wasn’t thrilled with the mix of genres and the story only started to interest me after the middle of the game, I admit there’s something special about the title and I’m looking forward to the sequel. Respawn’s Star Wars is like a dog and a cat making a cake, and in one in ten tries, you can eat it with gusto. I don’t have many games in August, but if I had to single out one expected game, it would definitely be Sam Barlow’s delayed Immortality, which I’ve been eyeing for a while now.

Ivan Jeziorek

July was a frenetic pace of fire for me thanks to IzanagiGames’ very successful mix of playstyles in the form of Yurukill’s killer games. It just didn’t work for me and I tried running the game again at a higher speed on a higher difficulty level. Unfortunately, in the second playthrough, he lost some of his appeal due to the familiar plots of individual stories.

Then, by pure chance, while preparing another Saturday news review, I stumbled upon the game Mato Anomalies, which immediately attracted my attention in a certain way. Here we noted with gratitude that we were given the opportunity to try out the game demo almost the next day. Surprisingly, despite a few minor flaws, it is really interesting, and I know for sure now that I will definitely play the full game to the end. In the meantime, I’m working with Riza again on some assignments for her Atelier.