Late summer and early fall seem to have unusually stacked release schedules this year — likely because developers are giving Grand Theft Auto 6’s Nov. 19 release a wide berth. July in particular has already seen some heavy hitters, including Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced and the full launch of Palworld.
While this past week was particularly big for indie games, this upcoming week — specifically, this Thursday — has releases from several huge franchises.
What’s coming out July 23?
After a three-week delay, Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game launches for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on Thursday.
Avatar Legends is a 1v1, 2D fighting game featuring both a story mode and online play. At launch, you’ll be able to play as one of twelve characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, including Sokka, Kyoshi, and Zaheer. For each fighter, you can select a support character that can dramatically change that fighter’s playstyle. For Avatar fans with minimal fighting game experience, developers also added a game mode specifically for genre newcomers.
Splatoon Raiders, the first truly single-player game in Nintendo’s Splatoon franchise, releases Thursday for the Switch 2.
You play as a mechanic whose helicopter crash-lands on the Spirhalite islands. You’re joined by Deep Cut, the musical trio who first appeared in Splatoon 3. True to the game’s name, you raid islands and fend off enemies in search of loot, which you can use to upgrade your equipment. Weapon upgrades, new ink tanks, and customizable gadgets to fight hordes of Salmonids, which players may remember from Splatoon 2’s Salmon Run mode.
Halo: Campaign Evolved, the highly anticipated remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, launches in early access on Windows PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X on Thursday.
As the first Halo game since Halo: Infinite in 2021, a (second) remake of the first-ever Halo game, and a commemoration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary, Campaign Evolved is a major release for the Halo franchise. Unlike previous ports and remasters, Campaign Evolved is a ground-up remake. It features modernized mechanics, redesigned missions, and rerecorded dialogue, along with upgraded graphics. In order to get up to five days of early access to the game, you’ll need to pre-order the premium edition or upgrade your standard edition pre-order.
Along with these major releases, Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster gets a Switch 2 port, Disgaea Mayhem launches on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC, and dinosaur-themed point-and-click adventure Theropods launches for Windows PC on Thursday. Whatever sorts of games you go for, there’s probably a July 23 release for you.
