Welcome to The Drop, Level Up Times' weekly release calendar where we wade through the coming week in gaming to help you decide what's worth checking out.

This week is surprisingly stacked after a relatively quiet, Nintendo-heavy start to the month. Edward Kenway sails again in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, the Khan Maykr returns in DOOM: The Dark Ages - Revelations, and a bunch of cozy sims make up the majority of this week's releases.

Find a game you like? Hover over any game below and add it to your wishlist (or library if you already own it!) and you'll get notified of any news related to those games. Don't forget to head on over to your Library to manage your game list!

The Blockbusters

Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations cover — The Khan Maykr is back.

DOOM: The Dark Ages - Revelations

Tuesday, July 7 - PC, Xbox Series, PS5

This isn't a new game, but worth flagging: a full, story-driven expansion adding a new campaign and a chain spear weapon to last year's Dark Ages. It probably won't change your mind if you failed to click with the slower pace and hellish medieval themes; but if you did, it looks like more of that.

Also the Khan Maykr is back, so the lore hounds among you might want to check how this fits in to the broader DOOM lore.

A reminder that if you're on Game Pass and played the base game for free as part of the service, you'll need to pick up this DLC separately, as it's not included in Xbox's premium service.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced cover — Edward Kenway sails again.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced

Thursday, July 9 - PC, Xbox Series, PS5

Edward Kenway sails again in this remake of the classic Assassin's Creed title. Rebuilt from the ground up on the Anvil engine which has powered some of the more recent AC entries such as Mirage and Shadows, you can sail the seven seas in beautiful ray-traced goodness.

It sounds like all of the modern Abstergo storyline stuff has been sunset (which may be a pro or a con for you), but it sure looks to be a gorgeous-looking pirate adventure with revamped gameplay. Whether Resynced earns its own name or is just a very expensive coat of paint is the question, which we'll look to answer as we spend some real time with it.

For those of you who partake in Ubisoft's subscription service, Resynced will also be available day-and-date on Ubisoft+.

Vampires and E-sports

Moonlight Peaks cover — Maybe avoid the garlic.

Moonlight Peaks

Tuesday, July 7 - PC, Switch, Switch 2

Stardew Valley with fangs, Moonlight Peaks is a farming simulator with a gothic twist: you're a vampire! Rise from your coffin and get to tilling the fields. Maybe avoid the garlic.

Moonlight Peaks looks like a low-stakes, pleasant game which will probably quietly sell well. It's got a cute, quirky, gently-morbid playstyle and probably looks like a really cozy game to while the days away on a portable device like a Steam Deck (it's Steam Deck Verified!) or a Switch.

This is releasing digitally on Switch with a Switch 2 edition (which promises a higher resolution and improved frame rate), however it looks like a physical edition is due for a release next month on August 28.

Esports Manager 2026 cover — Are ya winning, son?

Esports Manager 2026

Tuesday, July 7 - PC

Now for something less cozy, an e-sports organisation management sim. If you've ever found yourself screaming at your monitor during Worlds or The International, this game might be up your alley.

In addition to the usual sports management features like roster, contract, and brand management, the developers are offering a "Simulation Mode" which lets you watch your team play out matches and react to your tactics with "dynamic events" happening in real-time.

There's a demo out now, and you can pick it up on Tuesday.

Notable Mentions

EA Sports College Football 27

Thursday, July 9 - PC, Xbox Series, PS5

If you're a sports-ball fanatic who's growing tired of all the soccer/football coverage lately, this might be for you. The annualised franchise, which presents as a faster-paced alternative to Madden and was the second-best-selling game in the US in 2024, continues with this year's roster. This year's entry marks the first time the franchise comes to PC.

If you own Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass, you can check this out for 10 hours free via the Microsoft-EA Play partnership.

Echoes of Aincrad

Friday, July 10 - PC, Xbox Series, PS5

A new JRPG from developer Game Studio (yes, that's the studio name) and publisher Bandai Namco, this looks like an open-world action RPG with a pretty neat artstyle. Coming out on Friday.

Cat Chess screenshot — It's cats. It's chess.

Cat Chess

~~Wednesday, July 8 - PC~~

UPDATE: Looks like this one has not been updated in Steam despite the developer announcement, and it's still showing a 15 July release date. It'll be back in next week's Drop.

I mean, I don't know what else to say here, the title is pure perfection. It's chess...with cats. That's it. That's the tweet.

Steam has this releasing on July 15, which contradicts the developer's recent announcement of the release date moving to July 8. So let's see what happens on Wednesday.

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