There's a lot of war flying around this week: Azeroth gets set alight with the newest World of Warcraft expansion, Phantom Doctrine brings a touch of XCOM to the Cold War, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes hits the Switch, and the Bard's Tale franchise gets its newest title in seemingly forever.

After the lull comes the flood. The post-E3 quiet period has begun to lift, with PC players getting the best of it this week: Monster Hunter World. This week also sees the release of We Happy Few after the game's ban and reclassification, while Dead Cells comes out of early access proper.

WW2 shooter fans will get Post Scriptum to play around with. It's a packed Week in Games.

And then there was ... disco lights. One of the best games of last year hits the PC this week, Yakuza 0. And there's a ton of interesting indies around that too: Hellblade gets a VR port, Forsaken arises from the annals of history thanks to a Night Dive remaster, and Sam Barlow's latest game comes to Xbox.

No Man's Sky has come a long way since launch, but what does proper multiplayer in the Hello Games universe look like? We find out the answer to that this week, with the game dropping on Xbox One for the first time while the NEXT update hits all consoles.

That's not the only release of note though: Banner Saga 3 drops across the board this week, consoles get some Mega Man X legacy action, and the 3DS gets a new Warioware game.

We're still in the midst of July, but there's still the odd interesting title in the woodwork. Sonic Mania Plus drops this week, and it's accompanied by the colourful Tempest 4000. Along with those, qrth-phyl appears once again - fans of indies on Xbox 360 might remember that one.

Adventure Time: Pirates of Enchiridion hits all platforms, and the Mega Man Legacy X Collection finds a new home. And as an extra bonus: Hand of Fate 2 hits the Switch, along with some other intriguing indies. Here's this week in games.

It's still July, so the amount of new releases is still at a trickle. But we've got an interesting week nonetheless: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker drops at the end, finally making its way from the Wii U, while JRPG fans will be satiated with Octopath Traveller.

If you'd like something more grim, how about a Warhammer 40,000 4X? Xbox users can just get stuck into Skaven directly with Warhammer Vermintide 2, and those who prefer a more pedestrian style of gameplay ... well, there's always a new Cricket Captain.

If you've been waiting patiently to build your own dino park, but you'd rather do it from the couch, good news. Jurassic World: Evolution gets a console release on retail this week.

If you own a Switch, you'll be very happy with what's on offer this week. Two massive third-party games are filling up the eShop: the arrival of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy, which also drops on PC and the Xbox, and Wolfenstein 2.

If you're not worried about what ports the Switch is getting, there's stuff for you too: Dontnod's next adventure drops in the form of The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, Ubisoft's open-world racer The Crew gets a sequel, and Xbox fans can finally play Nier: Automata. (Although you might need a VPN.)

Finally, I can ruin people's lives as Rosalina and Waluigi once more.

It's the last week before E3, which means there's typically not much in the way of new releases. That's usually the orthodoxy, anyway. This year's a bit different, with a few intriguing games dropping right before everyone goes bananas waking up at 0200 to catch a glimpse of Death Stranding or whatever.

We're only a few weeks away from E3, which means it's time for the indies and smaller tier titles to shine. This week's a bit retro: there's the return of some SEGA Mega Drive favourites in a new collection, a bundle with 12 Street Fighter games (four of which have online play), the Switch gets Ikaruga and a new Metroidvania to dive into.

If you've played through the first chapter of Detroit's choose-your-own-android-adventure, then good news: by the end of this week, you'll be able to play through the rest. But if you'd rather fight your way through hordes of zombies or cursed undead, there's plenty to keep you busy as well.

If you're looking forward to games being given a new lease of life, then this week might take your fancy. On the Switch side of the equation, there's Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition and a string of excellent re-releases, including the Aussie-made FRAMED Collection. Dragon's Crown Pro hits the PS4, HITMAN is getting a re-release, and there's a bunch of intriguing point-and-click adventures if you want something different entirely.

I hope you like long, involved stories. Because that's the bulk of what's on offer this week, with two heavy hitters in particular: the sequel to Pillars of Eternity and the much-awaited PC release of STEINS;GATE 0.

Not long after the Switch launched, I remember someone saying - Mark perhaps - that the console was so good, Nintendo should just remaster every first and second-party game they ever released for the Wii U.

This week, that's exactly what Nintendo is doing with the release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. And there's also a new Total War game this week, with Creative Assembly's unveiling Thrones of Britannia: A Total War Saga.

MechWarrior fans, roll out. This week is your time to shine, because BattleTech has arrived. Or will arrive. It's the latest mecha game from Jordan Weisman, who created the MechWarrior franchise.

But there's plenty to enjoy elsewhere: Fractured But Whole drops a brown note on the Switch; Death Road to Canada drops on all major platforms, and the adorable Swords of Ditto hits this week as well.

After the uncannily good press, everyone else will finally decide this week whether they want to spend some quality time with Dad Kratos.

But it's not just Sony who will be hogging the limelight this week: Nintendo's journey into the world of cardboard hits store shelves, Yakuza 6 drops as well, and there's a couple of quirky indies too.

April isn't one of the biggest months release wise, but there are quite a few big hitters this time around. They're just not scheduled to launch this week, but there's still plenty to enjoy depending on your platform of choice: Hellblade is hitting the Xbox, Don't Starve follows the same path as every other major indie of the last few years, and there's a curious game called Extinction.

Now that we're back from the public holiday, let's get into the exploration that really matters: Skyrim. But in VR. And the best kind of VR (you can buy today, anyway).