New video games worth playing for the week of 6/17/24 • AIPT

Summer is finally here, and it promises indie darlings and Triple A hits releasing week after week. This year has a lot to live up to compared to 2023’s best releases, but it’s been strong so far with releases like Princess Peach: Showtime! and Little Kitty, Big City winning over gamers and cat lovers alike.

Despite appearances, #BLUD isn’t a Cartoon Network browser game, but instead a hand-drawn dungeon crawler releasing tomorrow. It blends the aesthetic of your favorite cartoons from yesteryear with kinetic and very bloody gameplay. You’ll play as vampire hunter Becky Brewster as she defends her town from demonic threats and befriends her new classmates.

It may not be spooky season yet, but that’s not gonna stop Still Wakes the Deep from scaring your socks off. From the developers of Dear Esther and Everyone’s Gone to Rapture, Still Wakes the Deep is a first-person narrative horror game set on an offshore oil rig. With no methods of communication and lacking any weapons, you’ll have to rely on your smarts and determination to get off the rig alive.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S

Over two years after it launched, the world of Elden Ring expands with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. What’s it about? Like any FromSoftware game, only VaatiVidya really knows. What I can tell you is that you’ll need to be one of the less than half of all players who have defeated optional boss Mohg to access the expansion. While you may want to be past level 100 to tackle the difficulty of Shadow of the Erdtree, the expansion will also include its own unique leveling system. You can up your damage in the DLC areas, or ignore the new leveling system entirely if you want to make your Elden Ring experience all the more punishing. Regardless of what Shadow of the Erdtree has in store for us, I can’t wait to return to what might be From’s greatest creation.

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