This week’s PlayStation 4 releases (August 3-7, 2020)

There’s an excellent lineup of new games released on Xbox One next week.

Most notable is the return of two beloved franchises. First to take off is the new Microsoft Flight Simulator. Asobo Studio’s game features a staggering level of detail, including a full simulation of Earth generated with topographical data from Bing Maps. We’ve pulled together a handy guide of all the planes and airports available in the game.

Next up is the return of Rash, Zitz and Pimple in a brand new Battletoads. The game certainly looks the part and couch co-op fun is all but guaranteed. We’re not sure the humour quite hits the mark, but it’s a welcome revival nonetheless.

Other new Xbox One releases include William Chyr’s first-person puzzle game Manifold Garden and golfing simulation, PGA Tour 2K21. The console port of Pathfinder: Kingmaker is one for fans of old-school isometric RPGs, and we’re also curious to see if Peaky Blinders: Mastermind fulfils its promise.

Oh, and how could we forget New Super Lucky’s Tale?

Each new game can be purchased from the Xbox One digital games store and the Microsoft web store. We’ll update this post throughout the week with any late additions.

New Xbox One releases: August 17-21, 2020

Monday, August 17, 2020

• No releases

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

• Helheim Hassle
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Definitive Edition
• Manifold Garden
• Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Mortal Shell

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

• Beyond Enemy Lines 2
• Even the Ocean
• FuzzBall
• Norman’s Great Illusion
• She Sees Red
• Stones of the Revenant

Thursday, August 20, 2020

• Battletoads
• Gleamlight
• Gryphon Knight Epic: Definitive Edition
• Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
• Remnant: From the Ashes – Subject 2923

Friday, August 21, 2020

• Dungeon Scavenger
• Harvest Moon: Mad Dash
• Party Panic
• New Super Lucky’s Tale
• PGA Tour 2K21
• Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time
• The Blobs Fight!

Head over to the Thumbsticks new releases page for the latest games. You can also follow the team via Flipboard, Facebook, Google News, and Twitter.

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Injustice 2 and NASCAR Heat 5 are this week’s Free Play Day games on Xbox One.

NetherRealm Studios’ excellent superhero fighting game and 704Games roundabout racer are free to download and play on Xbox One until 11:59 pm PT on August 16, 2020.

Injustice 2 pits Batman against Superman in a one-on-one combat jamboree. It’s a well-liked game that balances an engaging story with improved fighting mechanics. NASCAR Heat 5 is the official game of the 2020 season, but – other than a roster update – it offers few improvements over last year’s entry.

As ever, all save progress and unlocked achievements carry over to purchased copies of either game. As luck would have it, there’s a crop of new discounts to encourage such a purchase.

It’s also worth remembering that The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited remains free to play on Xbox until August 19, 2020.

Xbox One Free Play Day Deals

Injustice 2

• Standard Edition – 75% off
• Ultimate Pack – 80% off

NASCAR Heat 5

• Standard Edition – 20% off
• Gold Edition – 20% off

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited

• Standard Edition – 50% off

For even more video game bargains, visit our dedicated sales and free games pages. You can also follow Thumbsticks on Twitter and Facebook.

Enjoyed this article?

Found it interesting, entertaining, useful, or informative? Maybe it even saved you some money. That's great to hear! Sadly, independent publishing is struggling worse than ever, and Thumbsticks is no exception. So please, if you can afford to, consider supporting us via Patreon or buying us a coffee.

A Total War Saga: Troy just launched today, but it’s already free on the Epic Games Store.

Creative Assembly’s brand new strategy game will begin retailing at $49.99 tomorrow. But, for now, you can grab the latest entry in the long-running series for free.

Reviews for the new Total War are strong, too. Not quite as strong as the reviews for last year’s game-changing Total War: Three Kingdoms,but, IGN and Eurogamer both recommend it.

All that said, A Total War Saga: Troy isn’t even technically one of this week’s free games. Remnant: From the Ashes and The Alto Collection are the titles currently highlighted in the store’s Free Games section.

Remnant is a 2019 third-person co-op shooter. Its punishing difficulty and tough bosses earned it comparisons to Dark Souls. But, its game feel is more akin to Gears of War.

The Alto Collection is also up for grabs, assembling mobile sand/snowboarding games, Alto’s Adventure (2015) and Alto’s Odyssey (2018).

But, for me, the most interesting free game is 3 Out of 10 EP 2: “Foundation 101.” This is the second episode in Terrible Posture Games’ five-part series. Unlike most episodic games, this one is releasing on a weekly basis, with plans to conclude by early September. I thought, the first episode, “Welcome to Shovelworks” did a pretty good job blending the game’s animated sitcom storytelling with short and varied interactive sections. I haven’t been blown away by the writing so far, but, hey, you can’t judge a show by its pilot.

With all these games up for grabs, Epic has unveiled next week’s freebies. Expect to get Enter the Gungeon (a free game for the second time) and God’s Trigger next Thursday. Plus, 3 Out of 10 will be back with its third episode.

Enjoyed this article?

Found it interesting, entertaining, useful, or informative? Maybe it even saved you some money. That's great to hear! Sadly, independent publishing is struggling worse than ever, and Thumbsticks is no exception. So please, if you can afford to, consider supporting us via Patreon or buying us a coffee.

Following a successful charity drive, Bethesda is making FPS classics Quake II and Quake III free for a limited time.

Both games will be free to download from the Bethesda Game Launcher following an impressive fundraising effort from fans during the recent Quakecon at Home event. Over $30,000 was raised which will be distributed among good causes including Unicef, the Legal Defense Fund, The Trevor Project, and Direct Relief.

Quake II is available to download until 12:00pm ET on August 15, 2020. Quake III will unlock at 12:00pm ET on August 17, 2020.

THANK YOU! The total is in, and you raised over $30,000 during #QuakeCon at Home for @NAACP_LDF, @DirectRelief, @TrevorProject, and @UNICEF!

As a thank you, we'll be unlocking Quake II on 8/12 and Quake III on 8/17, free for 72 hours each on the Bethesda net Launcher. pic.twitter.com/dfNM6F1qaH

— Bethesda (@bethesda) August 10, 2020

Head over to the Bethesda Game Launcher to download Quake II and embark on Operation Alien Overlord.

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Enjoyed this article?

Found it interesting, entertaining, useful, or informative? Maybe it even saved you some money. That's great to hear! Sadly, independent publishing is struggling worse than ever, and Thumbsticks is no exception. So please, if you can afford to, consider supporting us via Patreon or buying us a coffee.

Organisers of the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) have confirmed the dates for next year’s event, which will be a physical/virtual hybrid.

This year’s GDC was one of the first major video game events to be cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Some virtual talks were released in March as a short-term replacement, and last week’s digital-only GDC Summer streamed a larger programme of content to over 9700 virtual attendees.

GDC has confirmed that next year’s conference  – once again planned to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco – will run from July 19-23, 2021, rather than in its usual spring window. The format will again be a mix of lectures, exhibits, and roundtables, but it will now include a full programme of digital content for virtual attendees. It’s a welcome, safety-first approach that will hopefully make more content accessible to a wider audience.

Additional virtual events are also planned in the coming year, beginning with a collection of virtual GDC Master Classes in late 2020. They will be day-long and multi-day virtual workshops examining specific aspects of video game development. Finally, a GDC Community Celebration will run from March 1-5, 2021. It will stream behind-the-scenes content on recent games, talks from industry luminaries, and various Q&A sessions.

The new format looks like a positive and overdue change for GDC that will hopefully benefit its organisers and the development community at large. In the meantime, readers interested in game development should check out the fascinating story behind Mixolumia.

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Enjoyed this article?

Found it interesting, entertaining, useful, or informative? Maybe it even saved you some money. That's great to hear! Sadly, independent publishing is struggling worse than ever, and Thumbsticks is no exception. So please, if you can afford to, consider supporting us via Patreon or buying us a coffee.