Ah, June. It’s the month of excitement and anticipation, especially because E3 2015 is right around the corner and offers the opportunity for hyping up several AAA games. There will be games we know about, games we don’t know about and hopefully games we’ll learn to live with as the months press on. However, June will also present a packed month for gamers across all platforms, whether its current gen console owners awaiting the next big open world action adventure, MMORPG fans ready to hit the next level cap, or MOBA fans.
Though there are numerous remastered games and ports out in June (Payday 2, Devil May Cry 4 and D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die among them), we chose to focus on new games that players can look forward. So without further ado, here are our top five games to look forward to next month.
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
The first major commercial expansion for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will begin where “After the Fall” ended and quite frankly, there’s a lot to get into. Players will be dealing directly with the Dragonsong War, the conflict between Ishgard and Dravania.
There will be several large new areas to explore along with an increased level cap, airships and a new playable race. Heavensward will be taking everything you enjoyed about Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and just give you tons more content to digest. And really, in an MMORPG, that’s really that you can ask for.
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavenward will be available on June 23rd for PS3, PS4 and PC. It will also be bundled with the base game as part of Final Fantasy XIV Online: The Complete Experience in Europe.
Superhot
It’s amazing to remember how Superhot debuted for the first time. Showcased at Gamescom 2014 as a new indie shooter, SUPERHOT Team actually created the game as a browser-based title for the 2013 7 Day FPS Challenge. The intriguing style of the title was revealed in its first trailer which simply had the words “Super” and “Hot” playing ad nauseum.
Odd trailer aside, the concept involves a player trying to take out his targets as quickly as possible. The catch is that time is only progressed forward normally when the player moves. At all other times, the world is moving in super slow motion and you’ll have limited ammunition for taking down your enemies with. It’s an intriguing looking mix of strategy, planning and cognizance. One bullet causes you to restart the level and it’s as much first person puzzler as a shooter in those instances.
Superhot is out in June for the Xbox One, PC and Mac OS X.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Rocksteady Studios’ thunder conclusion to the Batman: Arkham trilogy will finally be releasing next month with Batman: Arkham Knight. It will be exclusive to current gen hardware and feature a Gotham City that’s several times larger than previous games. The utter scale and attention to detail is awe-inspiring – so much so, that Batman has a dedicated Batmobile for flitting around the city.
Of course, there’s more to the game than that. Batman will be dealing with Scarecrow and his plans to bring down Gotham City. However, he also had a new, heavily armed foe in the Arkham Knight, who even has his private army to fight for him. Batman has his allies as well and in certain situations, you’ll control Catwoman, Robin and Nightwing along with the Dark Knight in heated confrontations.
There’s tons more to look forward to in Arkham Knight, including the awesome visuals. It will be out for PS4, Xbox One and PC on June 23rd.
Heroes of the Storm
With all the hype for E3 2015, it’s easy to forget that one of Blizzard Entertainment’s most awaited team-based strategy games will be releasing in June. “Strategy” is probably a bit of a stretch as Heroes of the Storm is Blizzard’s first real MOBA, set to arrive for PC. It will include more than 36 different heroes including Starcraft’s Kerrigan, Diablo 3’s Azmodan, The Lost Vikings’ Erik the Swift and even Nova from the ill-fated Starcraft: Ghost.
Of course, there will be free to play elements involved, letting you choose up to 7 different heroes as part of the weekly rotation and earning in-game gold (or purchasing the same through micro-transactions) will allow you to buy more heroes. The combat has us intrigued thus far and knowing Blizzard’s penchant for multiplayer strategy, we believe Heroes of the Storm will only be another notch in the company’s belt.
Heroes of the Storm is out for PC and Mac OS X on June 2nd.
LEGO Jurassic World
Last but not the least, we have LEGO Jurassic World from Traveller’s Tales. The developer has built a solid reputation with its LEGO games, offering a robust gameplay system that’s fun and boasts plenty of replay value with funny campaigns and storylines. The kicker this time is that LEGO Jurassic World will feature scenes from all the movies in the series along with the upcoming Jurassic World. Can we hope for hunting dinosaurs with velociraptors as Chris Pratt?
LEGO Jurassic World will have more than 100 playable characters, 20 species of dinosaurs and 20 different levels to explore, each movie occupying five different levels. The two player co-op mode will be returning and we can’t wait to see how the movie’s archetypes will play into the puzzle mechanics.
LEGO Jurassic World releases on June 12th for PC, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.