We hope you had a nice relaxing Summer and got some good gaming in because August officially opens the floodgates on big new releases for the rest of the year. It's going to be a fun ride, but some of us may never break away from the games we are already playing. The Horrible Night Staff has put together its latest game recommendations and hype for future releases that have its attention.

Recommendations

Overwatch

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  • While I'm not sold on my future as a competitive Overwatcher, the sheer variety of characters and fun I've had casually blasting away the enemy with friends and strangers is all I really need to feel good about a multiplayer first person shooter again. I'm not surprised Blizzard was able to pry me away from Hearthstone long enough to fall deeper into its death embrace, but this will perhaps be my most favoritest shooter of 2016. Calling it now. Heroes never die. - Aaron McNeal

  • This is the type of game I feel like hasn't been pulled off well since the old Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, and Team Fortress days. Competitive multiplayer has gotten really generic to me, and there hasn't been one in a while that had that hook that kept me coming back. Overwatch nailed it. It's a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get into it you realize that it's completely manageable and quite fun. I hear it's also great to play drunk. #OverDrunk - Coop

  • I've written about it a couple of times, but I'm really enjoying my having regular nights with our Overwatch crew. Having people to play with certainly shows off the game at its best, but after a month of playing, I'm also enjoying playing solo a lot more than I thought. I'm getting all I could have wanted out of this fantastic team-based shooter. - Justin Lacey

DOOM

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  • Always DOOM. I'm fairly certain I'm at the end game. I have no idea how id managed to make an arcade-y shooter feel so fresh and good, but ​_man_​ have I had a blast playing this the whole way through - the difficulty scales really well as you progress. I have neither felt over powered nor that any weapon (except the pistol) has lost its utility. DOOM forever! - Justin Gifford

  • I'm getting deep into the collectibles side of DOOM. I never thought I'd say that. I was so happy originally to just sprint as fast I could through the level and dismember any demon I came across. That's still fun. But once the violence stops, I'm really enjoying exploring every cranny this game has to offer. Because I get little doomguys and classic levels as rewards. Just awesome. - Justin Lacey

Starbound

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  • If you managed to stay away from the two and a half years of early access for Starbound, I would try it. I played a lot during early access and am not quite ready to jump back in at this point, but I enjoyed the game immensely. It holds my second longest amount of time played on Steam. - Ryan Billingsley

  • I'm a bird man with two rocket launchers, locked into a heated situation with several hostile space penguins. That's all you really need to know. - Aaron McNeal

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Ratz InstaGib 2.0 - If you enjoyed playing Quake, Unreal Tournament, or any of those classic, timeless first person shooters, this is certainly worth a look. InstaGib is exactly what it sounds like, reminding me of Rails-only mods for Quake II and III, even though I believe it is based off an Unreal Tournament mod, where you shoot a railgun-like weapon at your opponents and transform them into a spray of blood and gibs, very satisfying. It is a game very content with what it is: fast, hectic, and fun. - Ryan Billingsley

Tap Tycoon - I mean, I've only been playing this game every single day for the last 6 weeks. Tap Tycoon is my latest idle game obsession. It's simpler than most of the games in the genre, but its group features have made it stick. - Justin Lacey

Alienation - I avoided this at first because it just looked like another Helldivers which is another game that I rarely play. With more interesting loot drops and weapon modifications, it got my attention fairly quickly. I found myself getting excited about purple drops for the first time since The Division started sucking. It's visually interesting, and the combat feels great. I definitely recommend playing with friends and cranking up the difficulty. - Coop

Fallout 4 - I know, I'm a little late to the party but that's how I roll. As my time with Geralt of Riviera was coming to an end I needed something to fill the Witcher 3 void that was looming. A few of the folks here recommended Fallout 4 and it struck a chord with me. In fact, I haven't played Witcher 3 since and I'm only a few hours from the end of Blood and Wine. - Kyle Werner

Push Me Pull You - Finally played this when it came out on PC last month. Not only is it as weird as I hoped, but it's a damn good competitive game. It had me laughing as hard as some of my other favorite physics-based competitive games, but Push Me Pull You surprised me at how polished and balanced it is. - Justin Lacey

Want to Try

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Headlander - Reviews were a bit up and down, but the latest from Double Fine still sounds like a lot of fun. I've been talking with a couple of the other Horrible Night contributors, and this may show up soon in video form. - Justin Lacey

Pokemon GO - This is a total band wagon move and might not ever happen. I never played the games or watched the shows as a child so the nostalgia is lost on me. However, everyone looks like they're having so much fun and I'm a little jealous. - Kyle Werner

Death Road to Canada - I've watched Justin L. and a couple of streamers play this and my resolve is breaking down. I want to hop in the nearest car with a couple of talking dogs and a sack full of guns so we can jet for the Canadian border immediately, Oregon Trail style. Zombies can't stop us now! - Aaron McNeal

Darkest Dungeon - I've been looking back at releases from earlier in the year that I forgot about and I really want to sink some time into Darkest Dungeon. The Early Access was fantastic, but I held off on getting in deep for the full release. I owe it to this game to fulfill that promise. - Justin Lacey

Stardew Valley - They finally are releasing a Mac version! (I know, I know...) I am excited to do some farming. - Ryan Billingsley

Shadowrun Returns - I picked up Shadowrun Returns during the Steam Summer Sale and haven't played yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I like turn-based strategy games and I like the weird amalgam of techno-punk and magic, so I'm pretty interested to try it out. - Justin Gifford

Caution

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Pokemon GO - Unless you're on Team Valor. Or your collection is worse than mine. Then, by all means, play this without judgment. - Aaron McNeal

Kerbal Space Program - This game holds the longest amount of play time on Steam for me with over 200 hours played and I am done with this game. Planes are completely un-flyable. The career mode is punishing and not fun. It is sad to see this game just get worse over time. I was thinking about playing it on the PS4 but why bother. - Ryan Billingsley

The Division - still. - Ryan Billingsley

Ready and Waiting

No Man's Sky

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  • I say I'm ready, but I don't think I am. There are eleventy gazrillion planets in this game. Yes, I believe that's a real big number. What if I never sleep again because I discover a new galaxy right when I'm about to call it a night? Could I forget to eat because a squadron of spaceships have locked me into a dogfight of epic proportions? Will I never bathe again because I jumped into a lake in the game and thought that meant I was clean in real life? Just thinking about these questions has me excited (and possibly stinky) to go into video game outer space and never come back. - Aaron McNeal

  • I was way more excited about this when it was first announced and not really knowing what it was, but have been losing interest the more I learn about it. I like the idea of it, but it doesn't seem like it's shaping up to be my kind of game. I'd still like to try it, but the $60 price point is steep for a quick try. - Coop

  • I'll also admit that No Man's Sky isn't shaping up how I thought it would. The scope and the promise was easy to get pulled in to, but I have a feeling this universe is going to feel a lot smaller and tangible than some will like. Those some, though, aren't me. I think No Man's Sky is going to be my kind of exploration and something I'll be quite satisfied with when I'm done with it. It may not be the infinite experience that people want, but for better or worse I don't have time for infinite. - Justin Lacey

  • No Man's Sky. Please, please, please be good. That's all I ask. I am wracked with anxiety about this game. - Ryan Billingsley

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

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  • I loved the first Deus Ex back in college. I loved Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which I've played all the way through twice, once non-lethally and once where basically everyone, including probably a few innocent bystanders and friendly NPC's who had exhausted their utility for me died. I anticipate loving this Deus Ex, so now everyone is forewarned that I will be overly upset if it sucks. Which it won't. - Justin Gifford

  • I'm running out of time to play Human Revolution, but it will happen so that I can fully enjoy Mankind Divided this year. I have high hopes for this sequel and nothing else feels quite like Deus Ex. - Justin Lacey

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Batman - The Telltale Series - I always need more Batman in my life. I've also been wanting a Batman game that more focused on the detective skills of my favorite superhero. This looks like the closest thing, I just hope it feels like a few good issues of Batman and doesn't end up feeling like a weird version of The Wolf Among Us instead. - Justin Lacey

South Park: The Fractured But Whole - I forgot there was even a sequel in the works until the trailer showed up recently. The last South Park game was perfect on so many levels and I can't wait for this next one. - Kyle Werner

Overcooked - Usually local multiplayer games find us. We stumble across them, pass on some, enjoy the others, but generally they are discovered after the fact. I've been looking forward to Overcooked for a few months now and it's only looking hotter now that plenty of sites have shown off preview copies. I'm ready to burn some food and burn my friends. - Justin Lacey