June is a quiet month for the games industry. For nearly a quarter century, games journalists have made the road trip to Los Angeles for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, wandering crowded, noisy exhibition halls or popping into often-too-cold conference rooms to meet with developers, half-height bottles of water in hand.
But now that E3 is over, Summer Game Fest has taken its place as a less formulaic, less centralized, and more optional version of previous events, with these events often slowing down actual game releases as the month is packed with gaming news.
But this month there's one big release that's too big to ignore – Elden Ring's long-awaited expansion – plus a few smaller games worth checking out. Here are the games we're excited to play in June.
Note: All games listed below are traditional or “Web2” video games. To our knowledge, there are no games with crypto or blockchain elements.
Destiny 2: Final Form
Release date: June 4th
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Destiny 2's ongoing story has been in the works for years leading up to this moment, and The Final Shape will bring an end to the ongoing Destiny storyline, leaving room for Bungie to start a new one or even announce Destiny 3 (don't worry, we don't know anything you don't already know).
As well as wrapping up the current storyline, the expansion introduces the Prismatic Subclass, allowing you to combine Arc, Solar, Void, Statice and Strand powers to create the perfect subclass of your own design.
Star Wars: The Hunter
Release date: June 4th
Platform: Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch
Star Wars Outlaws, due out later this summer, is currently getting all the attention, but that's not the only upcoming Star Wars game: Star Wars: Hunters is coming out in June.
Get ready for some video game buzzwords. This is a free-to-play, player-versus-player competitive arena game featuring all-new characters cast from familiar molds. Character types include Wookiees, Trandoshans, and Rodians. There's also a bounty hunter, a Jedi, and a scavenger.
Choose from a variety of characters and take part in modes familiar from other games, including the team deathmatch-style Squad Brawl, the domination-style Power Control, and the capture-the-flag/keep-away game Trophy Chase. Again, the game is free to play and available on all of the most popular mobile platforms, so it's worth a look if you're looking for a Star Wars experience right now.
Killer Klowns from Space: The Game
Release date: June 4th
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Horror movies are a near-perfect medium for asynchronous multiplayer: some players are powerful and seemingly invulnerable, while others are hapless victims with no choice but to run. The formula has worked well in Dead by Daylight and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but nobody would have bet on a unique adaptation of the 1988 cult horror flick Killers From Space.
In this remake, three players take control of one of five unique Clowns (a clan of malevolent, clown-like aliens who come to Earth to prey on humans), while the other seven play as the townsfolk of Crescent Cove, and must avoid the Clowns and their deadly weapons. In the film, these include popcorn bazookas, cotton candy cocoons, sentient balloon animals, and shrinking shadow puppets. Whereas in a zombie film, you aim for the head, in the Clown film, you aim for the nose.
Awaken the Abyss
Release date: June 18th
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Set in December 1975, Glaswegian electrician Caz McCreary is trapped on an oil rig off the coast of Scotland after a disaster strikes. As McCreary, players must survive not only the dangerous weather and the deteriorating oil rig, but also a pursuit from a mysterious monster lurking on the rig. Still Wakes the Deep marks a return to narrative horror from developer The Chinese Room, the studio's previous work on Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Dear Esther, and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Eld Tree
Release date: June 21st
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Just as Elden Ring players are avoiding the fire giant, other games are avoiding the release of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Eld Tree. Elden Ring was one of the most critically acclaimed and best-selling games of 2022, so there's little doubt this expansion will be massive.
The expansion will bring vast new areas to explore, new weapons and gear to use, and new enemies and bosses to defeat and triumph over and over again. The new area, “Land of Shadows,” itself is reportedly about the same size as Elden Ring's first area, “Rimgrave.” While it's not that big compared to Elden Ring's overall map, the map in Elden Ring is huge, so we expect there will be a lot to do.
Luigi's Mansion 2 HD
Release date: June 27th
Platform: Nintendo Switch
US readers may remember Luigi's Mansion 2 by its title Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon when it was released in the US in 2013. In other regions, it was simply called Luigi's Mansion 2. Luigi's Mansion 2 HD is an update of the Nintendo 3DS game for Switch with new visuals, while the majority of the game remains intact. The game also features multiplayer functionality for up to four players to play cooperatively.
Editor: Andrew Hayward
