New Game Tuesday - September 2020

September is upon us and we are now officially in the insane Holiday Gaming season of September-November when every game seems to launch. Two of my absolute most anticipated games of 2020 are arriving very soon. If you have a game coming out in September that you are excited about, make sure to drop a common on the social media post for this article.

"New Game Tuesday" showcases some major game releases on the first Tuesday of the month! Scroll down to see if any of the major releases appeal to you!

1. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

Release Date: 9/8

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC

Developer: KAIKO, Big Huge Games

Publisher: THQ Nordic

Kingdoms of Amalur is one of my all time favorites, and its in my top ten all time. Plus, news of its remaster came as a leaked surprise during otherwise dark depressing times, and it made my day. Admist riots and pandemics, the universe granted me a small nicety by giving me news of a remaster of one of my favorites. This is the game that I played while everyone else played Skyrim, and I am lucky for it. I may be on the HD DVD-Zune-Mixer side of history with this game, but I don't care. It is a beautiful, colorful, fun, amazing world. If you never played it back in 2012, you will get an HD chance. I am also super excited for the unexpected news of a 2021 expansion! Hopefully we will hear of a PS5/Series X update soon!

2. Marvel's Avengers

Release Date: 9/4

Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows

Developer: Crystal Dynamics, Crystal Northwest, Eidos-Montréal, Nixxes Software BV

Publisher: Square Enix

Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix have delivered three of my favorite games from the last decade with the Tomb Raider reboot franchise. Now they are focused on their next installment with the much anticipated Marvel Avengers. This is the first "real" attempt at a Avengers game, and it is arriving at an ideal, (not the best) but ideal time with the popularity of the MCU. If Square Enix had been able to deliver the game in 2019 it would have been better to coincide with the mega-popularity that was Avengers Endgame. However, considering this game has already received a delay in 2020 that seemed impossible. At initial reveal there was some discussion on the internet (and by discussion I mean internet outrage) complaining that the MCU actors were not reprising the roles for the game; however, I already wrote an article detailing how that would never have been plausible. We have seen enough of the game so far to expect it to be very good. We can only hope that it can be as good as Marvel Spider-man! Will this issue in an era of lots of good super hero games? Time will tell.

3. spell break

Release Date: 9/3

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

Developer: Proletariat, Inc.

Publisher: Proletariat, Inc.

Spellbreak was a game I was looking forward to. It promised a new and unique take on the Battle Royale genre with magic based combat and crazy levels of traversal. I didn't really like the strategy they took with a rather expensive founder's edition. Paid early access during alpha's and beta's is a monetization strategy that I understand. You are essentially helping the developers finishing development, and I have done it in the past. In this case I just didn't enjoy it that much. I felt the combat was too clunky. The problem is when traversal is fast and projectiles are slow, it can feel off. The problem during the beta was that characters can move around too quick and the projectiles are felt too slow. It made it feel like like chaotic blasting of area of effect weapons that were actually very difficult to land a hit, and when you did it felt like luck and spamming instead of skill. Image a game of speedsters running around with slow moving rocket launchers that take several seconds too long to hit their target. I also felt that the graphics on the pre-release version was sub-par. The game's resolution was poor on the PS4 Pro, closer to early PUBG graphics when I was expecting closer to Fortnite or Apex. These are all things that can be tweaked and enhanced at final release; I understand that. While it had it's issues and flaws in the beta, I did still see the potential for the fun factor. Perhaps the full release will improve upon the things I saw in the beta, and I will definitely be revisiting the game. It is launching free to play for everyone, and is launching on PC, Xbox, PS4, and Switch.

4. crysis Remastered

Release Date: 7/23 (Switch) - 9/18 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC)

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, (Original: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Developer: Crytek

Publisher: Crytek

Crysis Remastered has had a bit of a rocky start, with the trailer leaking out early, almost to Crytek's win, as the feedback was not great. A game that's sole claim to fame is that it was notoriously so graphically intensive it became a meme, "Can it run Crysis" became a well known catch phrase in gaming, especially amongst PC gamers. But as will all things the game aged, and no longer is the impressive powerhouse it was. A remaster certainly would have much to live up to and when the leak failed to impress gamers, Crytek decided to delay it and work on it longer. Honestly, while I have no proof, I suspect it was an "intentional leak" meant to garner gamer perception. They wanted to see where the bar was for gamers and if they could get away with it's current build. It reminded me of when you are in high school and you know a paper half baked and asked the teacher to "read it over" before turning it in to see what you can get away with. Nonetheless, Crytek took the extra time to work on the game, and early reports seem to be positive. The Switch version which to be fair isn't much of an upgrade due to limited hardware, did manage to release.

5. NBA 2K21

Release Date: 9/4

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia, Nintendo Switch (Series X, PS5 later)

Developer: Visual Concepts

Publisher: 2k Games

Many of you know I couldn't care less about Sports games, but for those of you who do, all I can say is try not to continue to support 2K's awful anti-consumer practices. There gamble ridden casino simulators and now their being one of the first studios to come out in support of 70$ next-gen games and paid upgrades. In order to get a next-gen copy for NBA2K21, you will be spending somewhere between 70-120$ depending on how you do it. I wrote an entire article about how awful 70 games will be for the industry if more developers adopt it. Read here: "Why 70$ next-gen games are bad for the Industry"

6. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2

Release Date: 9/4

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One,

Developer: Vicarious Visions, Neversoft

Publisher: Activision

Fans of the skate board games can look forward to this remaster of these games coming to current-gen with upgraded graphics.

As always, stay tuned here on Game Infinite News for the latest gaming news! Check back next month for New Game Tuesday!