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1. Ubisoft's new battle royale Hyper Scape jumps out of open beta and onto console
When you've got a free minute from boarding the latest loot train in Call of Duty: Warzone and watching Christopher Nolan's back catalogue in Fortnite, Ubisoft has another last-person-standing deathmatch awaiting you online. Built from the ground up by a new team within Ubisoft Montreal, Prisma Dimensions, Hyper Scape is a loud, flashy, future-focused battle royale that reimagines renaissance Paris as an all-digital combat arena. The free to play shooter has been in open beta on PC for a few weeks now, but is officially launching next week, including on PS4 and Xbox One. What we've played so far leaves a lot to be desired, but there's every chance Hyper Scape could be another battle royale hit as it continues to evolve throughout the year and beyond.
What: Hyper Scape
When: August 11
Where: PC, PS4, Xbox One
2. A Total War Saga: Troy looks like the next great Creative Assembly strategy game
Total War is back, and it's going to Greece. A Total War Saga: Troy brings the series' massive battles and political puppet strings to the age of the Trojan war, an era of myths and legends, the time of real-life Achilles who's hopefully wearing steel boots and not leather sandals. Your choice of faction will totally flip your stance in Greece, and your choice of hero will unlock new strategic options both on and off the battlefield. And yes, Paris, the actual prince of Troy, is in the game. And yes, he has a unique mechanic about keeping his wife Helen, often described as the most beautiful woman in the world, happy while he's at war. Troy looks like an eclectic take on Total War, with plenty of wrinkles for strategy enthusiasts to work out.
What: A Total War Saga: Troy
When: August 13
Where: PC (Epic Games Store)
3. Cure your arachnophobia with fire
If you need to get over your fear of spiders, packing a homemade flamethrower and a gun definitely helps. This quirky little game has you tearing through a house on the hunt for arachnids, pulling books off shelves, opening drawers, and basically smashing everything in sight to get to your eight-legged enemies. The free demo for the game has been out for a while on Steam, but this is the official launch of the mayhem simulator, which means more fun but also, unfortunately, even more spiders.
What: Kill It With Fire
When: August 13
Where: PC
4. Project Power isn't the superhero movie you were expecting
And that's a good thing. In Netflix's Project Power, anyone can be a superhero - if they're willing to take a dangerous pill that will temporarily give them an unknown power for five minutes. Yup, that's the premise: take a pill that could kill you in order to get a mystery power for an extremely brief period of time. Naturally, "the power" becomes a popular street drug, and Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt team up as a former soldier/current cop duo to take down the people pushing it. From the trailer, it looks like it'll be quite the wild ride (they even destroy beautiful Joseph's face), and it's the perfect summer blockbuster to enjoy in the safety of your own home.
What: Project Power
When: August 14
Where: Netflix
5. Lovecraft Country brings the horror and could be HBO’s most timely hit yet
My word, is it nice to have a prestige drama back on television. We’ve arguably not had any high quality shows – at least by HBO’s lofty standards – since last year’s Watchmen. Lovecraft Country is shaping up to be just as necessary, with a dash of hair-raising horror thrown in for good measure.
Set in segregated 1950s America, Lovecraft Country follows Atticus Black (Jonathan Majors) and his uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) across the country in search for his missing father. Along the way, they’re confronted by loveless racists and Lovecraftian monsters, both of which will make your skin crawl.
The metaphors may be heavy-handed but the cast is filled with subtle, powerful performances across the board, including the likes of Michael K. Williams and Jurnee Smollett-Bell.
Appointment television is back, baby, and it starts this Sunday.
What: Lovecraft Country
When: August 16
Where: HBO
Release Radar picks the best games, movies, and shows of the next seven days every Monday at 11am GMT.
