Play Your Way Though Video Games Day Like a Pro

When we woke up this morning we were tingling. This was it. The big day was here. We shot downstairs, still in our pyjamas, broad, beaming grins plastered on our faces, almost overwhelmed with life itself. “IT’S VIDEO GAMES DAY,” we shouted, waking the whole house up but not caring a jot. The only people more excited about having a whole day set aside to wax lyrical about Mario, Sonic, and the suited-and-booted skeleton from Grim Fandango were the people at GAME—and that’s why they’ve launched this site full of articles interviews, unboxings, and gameplay footage.

To celebrate the big day, GAME have put together a brilliant bundle. You can get White PS4 Pro with Destiny 2 and  Uncharted: The Last Legacy for just £349. Oh, and they’re giving one incredibly, incredibly lucky reader a chance to win one of those bundles, but more of that later.

In the meantime, why not feast on the four recent releases we reckon every gamer needs to slot into their collection right this second. Look, you’ve got a whole day to play games—don’t just sit and try and beat your Spider Solitaire high-score.

Fallout 4

This post-apocalyptic sandbox role-playing game is one of the best time-sinks we can think of here at Shortlist, and we’ve got the bags under our eyes to prove it. Ever absent-mindedly wondered how you’d get on after crawling out of a nuclear fallout bunker? Of course you have, and with Fallout 4 you can put all those plans to fruition. Just don’t blame us if you lose your job.

Horizon Zero Dawn

If you’ve managed to rid the Fallout universe of every single radioactive foe and still have time on your hands then, firstly, congratulations on mastering quantum physics, and secondly, you should be getting your hands all over this robot-heavy RPG right now. Someone, somewhere, decided that what we want out of video games is the ability to shoot massive, lumbering machines with crossbows, and you know what? They were right: Horizon Zero Dawn lets you do that in spades. And a whole load more, obviously. But it’s the bows we really like.

WipEout Omega Collection

Can two decades really have passed since Psygnosis pinged their hyper-futuristic racer to an unsuspectingly devoted audience of post-pub punters looking for a speedy console fix? Yes. Yes it has. Still, stow away those “Oh-dear-where-has-the-time-gone” thoughts and get a few mates round for one of the most enjoyable throwback experiences of the year. Jam-packed with ultra crisp renditions of WipEout HD, WipEout HD Fury and WipEout 2048, the Omega Collection will be the most exhilarating driving experience you’ve had since dad let you take his Astra out for a spin to Homebase and back on a Bank Holiday Monday.

Injustice 2

This super-charged sequel to 2013’s Justice: God’s Among Us lets you live out every single DC superhero fantasy you’ve nursed since you first caught a glimpse of Batman in your older brother’s bedroom. It’s a fast, frantic, and at-times almost frightening 3D fighter, and if it were an arcade game it’d have swallowed every 50P you’d ever laid hands on. Luckily you can pit Catwoman against Harley Quinn from the comfort of your own sofa without having to pester Auntie Rita for an advance on your pocket money. And if that isn’t the best thing about adulthood, we don’t know what is.