In the case of video games, withdrawn from a double head: the release of Nintendo Switch 2, Smack in the midst of a three -day game reveals that they include the Summer Festival of Games (and nearby press conferences). But the most exhilarating summer games are not Switch 2 ports or huge studio tents. In fact, they are smaller games – India and AA jewels – they attracted most of Polygon’s attention.
From Sim management with temperamental maples to an adventure with an open world, in which a bicycle bike to save the world, here are 11 games under the radar that should be careful about this summer.
Date of issue: June 13 (now!)
Where to play: PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X
How do you think you like to work well with a few radically different versions of yourself? This is the question that Jan Dolski faces – and how it survives the inevitable death in the hostile world. IN ChangesDolski is the only surviving scientific expedition in search of a fresh element. Thanks to the survival and base construction, along with alternative versions of himself, which revives, he must find a survival solution, fighting how diverse it could be if various choices were made.
Photo: Message games
Date of issue: July 1
Where to play: Windows PC
Bloodrush: immortal wish is how Bloodborne Underworld CrankThis unusual film Jason Statham 2006 (stay with me here). This is Roguelike with Hack -‘n’-Slash, in which your character is constantly bleeding during the fight. You can raise your blood by killing enemies, so the gameplay is swift and crazy; He is still rushing on the battlefield, as if you needed adrenaline to survive. So, Crank. Bloodrush This is a humorous time with great pixel art for start -up. Check Demo on Steam Before starting early access.
Photo: Messhof/Annapurna Interactive
Date of issue: July 23
Where to play: PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X
IN WorldYou play as a cyclist with the simplest of straightforward tasks: Save the World. (You have it!) With a configurable bike, along with the head of the Ghost Head Accessorizing it, you will pedal and race in an open world when you intend to save him. Originally exposed as Bicycle -gap in 2023 with a gloomy narrative, World He was rejuvenated in the autumn of 2024 with a fresh title and a lighter tone focused on “joy and freedom of life around bicycles,” wrote the developer Meshof Couple.
Photo: The Game Kitchen/Tomi, Koei Tecmo
Date of issue: July 31
Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
This is a great year for Ninja Gaiden franchise. Ninja Gaiden 2 BlackRemaster from 2008 Ninja Gaiden 2It was a surprise that fell at the beginning of this year with the disclosure Ninja Gaiden 4The first fresh entry for over a decade. Between these editions, fans will also have the opportunity to play Ninja Gaiden: RageboundAction platformer on the side. The Ninja Gaiden series began with NES, so Ragebound In a sense, he takes him to his roots with aesthetics of pixel art. You can play it Steam demo feel the challenge Ninja Gaiden: Rageboundwhich comes from blasphemous games programmers.
Photo: Reignite games
Date of issue: July 31
Where to play: Windows PC
As in Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeThe rule of the rule is the basic principle Rhei collarRoguelike, which throws you as Phi, which must protect the flow of time. Guess time to solve environmental puzzles, as well as to save your skin in battle. Rhei collarArtistic style and orange and purple shades remind me of perfect CocoonSo it starts from the right foot. Feel the taste of Roguelike’s fight through Demo on Steam.
Photo: MAS
Date of issue: August 7
Where to play: Windows PC
Artis influence He follows Arkane and her companion AI, Bot when they venture through a futuristic world full of murderous artificial intelligence – and tasty potato croquettes. His pixel art is great, and the comic panels inspired by Manga, which act as film cutscenes, are really deadly. The game will be a mixture of a tournament based on a tournament and regular life activities, such as cooking or earning passive income. It can be set in a post -apocalyptic world, but it is cozy Post -apocalyptic world.
Photo: Neoludic games/skystone games
Date of issue: August 7
Where to play: Windows PC
There are two things that the world can never have: books and bookstores. IN Small bookstoreGo to a miniature coastal city to set up your own bookstore. This is a tranquil and cozy game that divorced from the stress associated with IRL retail work. Small bookstore Instead, it allows you to sit and recommend great books to customers who buy them. Decorate the bookstore on wheels to the content of your heart and keep your shelves by buying used books from classified advertising, as it is again 1998.
Photo: gigantic squid
Date of issue: August 19
Where to play: PlayStation 5, Windows PC
Giant Squid developer is known for stylish games Abzû AND Without a pathAND Sword It seems to move this stylish torch forward. Your vast, nice sword is not needed to fight, but to go. SwordThe dense movement is based on skateboard, snowboarding and surfing board, and you will operate your buzzing noise for wave of sand. During the game you will work on restoring the ocean and then catch its waves. Surf is up, ancient.
Photo: Sabre Interactive
Date of issue: August 28
Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X
Knightling He abandons swords and spots on the shield as a weapon of her title hero. Of course, it will be used in the style of Combat Captain America, but also to move the open world of the game through very ill shield surfing. Knightling It reflects the atmosphere of the platform from the PS2 era with contemporary visualizations and I can’t wait to check it in August-good that he has it Demo on Steam!
Photo: Kakehashi games
Date of issue: September 3
Where to play: PlayStation 5, Windows PC
Embedded in the world of origami, where seemingly everything was created through a fine Japanese craftsmanship, Hirogs He is the action platformer. Hiro can consist of various transformations, such as battleship or frog, to go through a shortbread world and fight with digital creatures that threaten him. Play in Demo on Steam To feel that Hiro’s Origami is attached to himself.
Photo: Rogue Factor/Nacon
Date of issue: September 4
Where to play: PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X
Hell is us wears the aesthetics of the soul without some challenges of the genre; The enemies remain worried, which means that your corpse will not be so delicate and the game puts more emphasis on exploration than the fight. You are planted so Remi when he enters and discovers a war -torn country in search of his parents. Along the way, he meets more than he expected on the way of some terrifying enemies and will hold a great glowing sword to take them off.
