If you’ve played video games for more than a couple of years, then you’ve probably heard the terms people coin during the dry months of January and July. Drought, barren, desolate, with nothing going on news-wise as big events such as E3 2016, The Game Awards, and Playstation Experience have already ended. However, that doesn’t signal that absolutely nothing is being released. Nowadays, companies like to release their riskier or more under the radar titles during this timeframe, as they can flourish without the need of competitive marketing or a glamourous TV spot. And in 2016, it’s further proven with less remasters and rereleases but instead new IP, spiritual successors, and a lot more. Here are some titles you should be looking out for during the next month!

Song of the Deep:

Insomniac’s recent attempts at new franchises haven’t fared so well commercially and sometimes critically, but the company is now bringing their reigning potential back to consoles and PC. It started with the colorful Sunset Overdrive, then moved into the Oculus-exclusive Edge of Nowhere, and now? Insomniac is making a female-driven, sea-themed, and lastly indie-like, puzzle platformer. The only caveat is that if you want a cheap physical version (around $15-$20) you’ll only be able to find it at Gamestop. However, it’s a small price to pay for an otherwise incredible looking title.

Necropolis:

The term indie Dark Souls has been thrown around as much as I’ve died in the games, but Necropolis seems to break the normal conventions of this new founded genre, especially since it’s partly being funded from the company who published Dark Souls in the first place. There’s been some mixed mutter about the PC version, but console ports seem to run great, and the game has been a hit at recent PAX’s. You can also fight shark men, which is something no Souls game has ever done before.

I Am Setsuna

In many ways, it’s sad that I Am Setsuna isn’t getting the proper spotlight it deserves under Square Enix’s busy year, but from what we’ve seen it looks like the closest we’ll ever get to seeing the next Chrono Trigger. The fact Square Enix is making this instead of reviving an old treasure is beyond us, but the game looks like it will strike all the same chords mechanics and gameplay wise. Let’s just hope for a good story too.

We Happy Few:

While it’s not an official release, We Happy Few is exiting it’s closed alpha state and coming to consoles (more specifically Xbox One) and PC. You might know this game as being the indie darling that practically stole the show at this year’s Microsoft presser, and better yet, we even wrote an article predicting it’s promise a couple months back. (I swear we didn’t get any insider info!)

Check it out here: https://medium.com/the-cube/why-we-happy-few-is-the-most-promising-game-of-2016-df636f9e9092#.6hnfylqoe

Thimbleweed Park:

A game that wasn’t shown at Microsoft’s E3 2016 show but did the take the stage at last year’s Gamescom was another indie attention grabber, titled Thimbleweed Park. This one takes classic cues from games like Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island, and throws a murder mystery on top of it just to make things even more exciting. Although it was crowdfunded, development updates have been regular, with things all heading towards a smooth launch.