CSI students are excited to get their hands on these upcoming titles over the summer. 

By A.Lopez

Photo Credit: BGR

Students at CSI are looking forward to spending their upcoming summer break from school indoors with video games.

Whether it is playing video games themselves, watching lets plays on Twitch and YouTube, or keeping up with gaming news, students are looking forward to engaging with the following line-up.

“Street Fighter 6,” an arcade-style fighting game developed by Capcom, is set to release Friday, June 2 of this year for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S. A free demo of the game was made available to players on April 20 for PlayStation 4 and 5, and April 26 for PC and Xbox. 

Capcom initially teased the upcoming title back in February 2022, with its first official trailer releasing June 2 the same year, making this a year-long wait for “Street Fighter” fans such as Gabriel Acevedo, a junior at CSI.

“Well, I’m definitely excited for Street Fighter 6, as I’m a huge fighting game nerd,” said Acevedo. “With the characters, combos, and new competition, I can’t wait to see what direction Capcom goes with this series.”

Indie game fans, such as Steven Velez, a junior at CSI, are anticipating the release of “Bomb Rush Cyberfunk,” on August 18. “Cyberfunk” is an adventure and platforming game, developed by independent group Team Reptile, and will be available on PC and Nintendo Switch.

It gained popularity due to its art style and gameplay, which took inspiration from Sega’s 2000 game, “Jet Set Radio.”

“Jet Set Radio” was acclaimed by video game news outlets such as IGN for its unique neo-punk art style and tone for the time, and thus its familiar style in “Cyberfunk” has garnered attention from fans.

“It’s supposed to be a game similar to J’et Set Radio’, so I’m excited,” said Velez. “ I love ‘Jet Set Radio’; it just has this really fun vibe to it.”

For fans of tactical turn-based RPGs, like CSI junior Leon Ferrer, you can look forward to the release of “Baldur’s Gate 3,” by Larian Studios, on August 31 for PlayStation 5 and PC. 

“Baldur’s Gate”, as a series, is heavily inspired by the popular roleplaying tabletop game, “Dungeons and Dragons.” With its ability to translate its world and lore into video game form, and the rise in popularity of D&D from its recent movie adaptation released back on March 31, as well as “Critical Role,” a web series of video game voice actors playing D&D, “Baldur’s Gate”’s take on the world has garnered many fans such as Ferrer.

“I like the fact that the series is, like, 100% based off ‘Dungeons and Dragons’, using the world and lore of D&D fifth edition,” said Ferrer. “I have over 300 hours in the game’s beta, and it has so many story paths to take, it perfectly replicates how you story tell and roleplay in D&D.”

Horror fans, such as CSI junior Ash Lant, rejoiced with the announcement of “Amnesia The Bunker,” coming to PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox Series X/S on Tuesday, May 23. Developed by Frictional Games, “Amnesia The Bunker” is a first-person survival horror game set in a desolate World War I bunker.

The Amnesia series was acclaimed by many video game news sources, such as GameRant, for its new take for horror games. In most horror games, you were left with no way to defend yourself from the monsters that threatened your run, which led to Amnesia being hailed as a game that helped redefine the horror genre. 

“I have strong memories of the Amnesia series from my childhood,” said Lant. “I’m excited, more so to see my favorite Youtubers play it.”

One game that many students, such as senior Shannon Smith, are excited to sink hours into over the summer upon its release is “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” releasing Friday, May 12. “Tears of the Kingdom” has already won an award for the most anticipated game release at the 2022 Game Awards. 

Directed by Hidemaro Fujibayashi, and published by Nintendo, this action-adventure game is the long-awaited sequel to “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”, which won Video Game of the Year at the 2017 Game Awards. The series has been acclaimed by Smith and many as “THE game to get for the Nintendo Switch,” for its gameplay, story and overall visuals for the console. 

“’BOTW’ had a unique art style and graphics, especially for a ‘LOZ’ game, which has been known to have very unique art styles all across the franchise. It had awesome gameplay and had such a beautiful open world full of puzzles, quests, battles and a colorful cast of beautiful and unforgettable characters that Link meets along his journey,” said Smith. “And it seems like ‘TOK’ is a continuation of that, with the same gorgeous art style and gameplay, with some new aspects to it according to Nintendo, and this time we get to be joined by Zelda on our quest. As someone who has been in love with the character Zelda since I first saw her twilight princess iteration, it’s pretty lit.”

For those who anticipate more gaming news, tune in to the 2023 Summer Game Fest.

The Summer Game Fest is a celebration of gaming, during which new games are announced to the media by publishers. The event kicks off on Thursday, June 8, with the opening showcase, streamed live on streaming platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. One student, senior Sofronio Lorenzo, hopes to hopefully see a release date for the upcoming title “Tekken 8,” developed by Bandai Namco.

“I’m extremely excited. I’ve been on such a ‘Tekken’ phase as of late and after watching the first trailer of ‘Tekken 8,’ I’ve just been so hyped,” said Lorenzo. “Each character that Namco announces, just makes me want the game more, it looks so clean and high resolution, the graphics are insane.”