The top spot in this week's INVEN Weekly Rankings goes to the upcoming release, 'Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Rethinked,' launching this Thursday, the 9th. As a remake of the fourth installment—widely considered a masterpiece in the long-running 'Assassin's Creed' series—it has generated significant interest among gamers. In particular, 'Black Flag' is the perfect game to play as the rainy season begins, offering players the chance to experience the vast Caribbean Sea and intense naval battles.
The hide-and-seek game 'Mecha Chameleon,' which recently hit 10 million sales, climbed three spots to reach 6th place. Its unique concept of drawing patterns to blend into the environment like a chameleon provides unexpected fun in every session. Furthermore, the bizarre and creative strategies devised by 'pro' players are gaining traction on major short-form platforms, showing that its popularity is showing no signs of cooling down.
Coming in at 7th is 'Halo: Campaign Evolved,' scheduled for release on July 28th. This title is a modern reimagining of the original 'Halo (Combat Evolved),' which essentially launched the Xbox brand. Players can enjoy the missions and story of the 2001 classic with vastly improved visuals. It is also worth noting that three entirely new missions have been added, along with redesigned levels for cooperative play.
'Dragon Sword: Awakening,' which Hound 13 will launch on Steam starting the 23rd, makes its debut on the charts at 9th place. This is a standalone re-release of the former live-service game 'Dragon Sword,' now polished into a package version. The transition to a package format has brought changes to certain features and the designs of the protagonist and heroes. Having surpassed 200k wishlists during the last Steam Next Fest, we look forward to seeing how it performs after launch.
Notable New Releases, Events, and Updates
Last week, various platforms including Steam kicked off their summer sales, and as of today (the 6th), these events are still ongoing. If you haven't yet chosen a game to spend your summer with, be sure to take advantage of the remaining opportunities to fill your library at a reasonable price.
On July 2nd, two popular new titles were released for the Nintendo Switch. The remake of the classic masterpiece Star Fox, originally released for the Nintendo 64, has launched on the Switch 2 and is drawing high interest from North American users. Meanwhile, 'Rhythm Heaven: Miracle Stars' for the Nintendo Switch is an all-new title commemorating the series' 20th anniversary, further enriching the party game lineup. Both games received a very respectable Metacritic score of 82.
Meanwhile, this week Ubisoft is running a summer sale promotion on the Steam Shop with discounts of up to 90%. It is a golden opportunity to pick up 'Ubisoft-style' open-world games that guarantee a certain level of quality, such as the relatively recent 'Assassin's Creed Shadows,' 'Star Wars Outlaws,' or 'Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
This Week's ISSUE: The Upcoming Summer Update Season—Which Games Should You Watch?
This week finally marks the official release of the remake of 'Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag.' It is time to become Edward Kenway, a pirate turned assassin, and roam the Caribbean to become the Pirate King. The open world, rebuilt with the latest Anvil engine, includes new story content not found in the original. Key points also include systems evolved for modern gameplay, such as crouching anywhere while stealthing and weapon parrying during combat.
On the same day, the major expansion for 'Granblue Fantasy: Relink,' titled 'Endless Ragnarok,' is also scheduled for release. It is a 'major' expansion in every sense of the word, featuring new boss battles, the single-player endgame content 'Extreme Difficulty,' as well as cross-play support and UI improvements. A demo is also available, allowing players to check out the game before its official launch.
As expected for the summer, various events are taking place this weekend. First, the large-scale subculture festival 'Bilibili World' will be held in Shanghai from Thursday to Sunday. Having grown in scale every year, it has become such a massive event this year that even global AAA game developers are considering participating. Attendees can expect to see highly anticipated new titles like 'Persona 4 Revival,' and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is scheduled to grace the special stage.
On Saturday, July 11st, the online broadcast 'Dungeon&Fighter Mobile Arcade 2026' will take place. Director Yoon Myung-jin will appear in person to announce the new season update and the development roadmap for the second half of the year, along with various events such as pre-registration for the new season.
Last Week's METACRITIC Scores?
Last week, Metacritic scores were released for games including 'Rhythm Heaven: Miracle Stars,' 'Monopoly Star Wars,' and 'Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition.' First, 'Rhythm Heaven: Miracle Stars,' the first entirely new entry in 11 years, recorded a score of 82 based on 62 critic reviews. The critic score is slightly lower than the user score (8.9). Major foreign media outlets praised its fun factor, soundtrack, and high accessibility that anyone can enjoy.
'Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains,' developed by Behaviour Interactive and published by Ubisoft, is, as the name suggests, a Monopoly game featuring Star Wars protagonists. You must compete against opponents in dice battles for control of the galaxy. With a 'Mixed' rating on the Steam Shop and a Metacritic score of 68, it is a game that is hard to recommend unless you are a die-hard Star Wars fan. While some critics praised it as a fun Star Wars game to play with family, it was held back by limited systems for the price and lackluster cinematic direction.
'Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition,' released for the Nintendo Switch 2, recorded a low score of 58. The criticism seems to have intensified due to the fact that players are being asked to pay full price for a game released four years ago, and that those who already own the Switch 1 version of 'Sonic Frontiers' cannot purchase an upgrade pass. Some critics also argued that the game runs even worse due to the slightly higher graphics in the Switch 2 version. The user score is also 6.1, with bugs, frame rate drops, and the forced full-price purchase being the main targets of criticism.
New Game Popularity Poll
This week's poll covers games released or scheduled for release between May 8th and July 9th. Consequently, games like 'Path of Exile 2' and 'Mina the Hollower' have been excluded from the voting, while games such as 'Beast of Reincarnation' and 'Kusan: City of Wolves' have been newly added.
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- Kyuman "Frann" Kim
- Email : frann@inven.co.kr
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