From the essential "Mario Kart" to the relaxing "Assemble with care", through the epic in ancient Greece of "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" and the tinkered universe of "Lumino City", Europe 1 has prepared a selection of video games perfect for summer, on console or on the phone.

After a strange start to the year, marked obviously by confinement, summer has arrived! The opportunity to relax, to let go with family or friends, to give in to idleness or, on the contrary, to sporty hikes. And if you have a little space left in your suitcase, why not put one or two video games in it? Europe 1 has selected for you eight titles to slip into your suitcase or your laptop before leaving, video game favorites, recent or not, for young people, or not, cults, or not, but in all points perfect for the 'summer.

>> Gastronomy, music, tourism: discover here all our summer topics!

Mario Kart

Impossible not to start this list with an essential. Franchise stainless, Mario Kart has delighted players on the Nintendo Switch since the release of the eighth game in 2017. Three years later, the game remains a must, a model of conviviality, fun and accessibility. You don't have to be good to have fun on the crazy circuits of  Mario Kart . With family or friends, it is simply the most unifying game, and it is not about to change! And if you don't have a Switch, a mobile version,  Mario Kart Tour , was released last year. Much less complete, it nevertheless has the advantage of being free.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Coronavirus obliges, traveling abroad looks more complicated than usual this summer. To escape without moving from your couch, you will hardly find better than Assassin's Creed Odyssey , the latest game in Ubisoft's historic saga. Available on PS4, Xbox One and PC, it offers an epic adventure in ancient Greece in a magnificent open world that you can explore at your leisure, on horseback or by boat. Like Ulysses, you will have to lead your own odyssey, fight, as desired, for Sparta, Athens, or both, confront the Minotaur and Medusa, philosophize with Socrates and even go in search of the lost city of Atlantis ... Change of scenery guaranteed !

Assemble with care

This is a relaxing game in which we find the sweetness of life proper to summer. Assemble with care (on iPhone, Mac and PC) follows Maria's arrival in the sunny town of Bellariva. Globetrotter and repairer of all kinds of objects, she offers her services to the inhabitants of this small town while the local festival begins. Everyone entrusts us with an object that is dear to him so that we can repair it. A watch, a camera, a cassette player… You will have to handle it delicately, remove the screws with a little movement of your finger, apply a little glue here and there, replace the damaged parts or connect the electrical circuits… Simple , relaxing and perfect for the beach.

51 Worldwide Games

Here is a game (Nintendo Switch) very practical for the holidays since it contains no less than 51 games! There are already the essentials: checkers, Uno, dominoes, battle, president, poker, solitaire ... And then board games like backgammon, Power 4 or chess. Beyond these classics,  51 Worldwide Games applies to less known games, like the Hanafuda, a Japanese game in which you have to associate illustrated cards, style prints. Very nice and very pretty! And then Mancala too, an African board game that dates back several millennia! We play with stones or marbles that must be transferred from one hole to another. It's simple but very addictive. In short, it's perfect for a family vacation, especially since the rules are well explained for children. 

Mario and Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Coronavirus forces, no Olympics this year. Sports enthusiasts will meet in Tokyo in 2021. To be patient, we turn on the Switch and put on clothes thanks to Mario and Sonic. Since 2008, the two video game stars have been competing at the Olympic Games with their respective teams. In this edition, released even before the Covid-19 is identified, there are around twenty events, from 100 meters to boxing, including swimming, gymnastics, fencing, horse riding and new events. like skateboarding, surfing and climbing. All made fun by boosts. What smack a small 8 "50 to 100 meters and nerdy Usain Bolt!

Lumino city

Released in 2014, Lumino City is one of the most original smartphone games you can find. Around a red thread (the quest of a little girl to find her grandfather), the game deploys a great ingenuity in puzzles and puzzles more and more difficult. But the peculiarity of Lumino City is that everything was done ... by hand: the sets, the animations, the lights ... The developers designed and then made models out of cardboard and paper. Then they animated everything with small engines. And then they integrated the gameplay elements, like moving, on the computer. And it gives the game a really unique style.

Bee simulator

A medium with unlimited creativity, video games sometimes place players in funny situations. So goes  Bee Simulator , available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, in which we embody a bee! This educational game aims first to educate children about protecting the environment since our little insect must find a new place to accommodate the hive, which is threatened with disappearing because of men. Dotted with informative messages on the way of life of bees and their importance in the ecosystem,  Bee Simulator is an intelligent entertainment to put in all hands.

Good Job!

This is the whole point of the summer holidays: managing to disconnect, to forget work to take advantage of the present moment. But it will be necessary to return there after this break of a few weeks. To take away all the stress of the recovery, we recommend the delightful Good Job !, on Nintendo Switch. A completely wacky game where you take the place of an employee of a large company. Objective: go up in rank by performing basic tasks, such as bringing a photocopier or connecting to the Internet. Why goofy? Because you can do it anyhow, breaking everything if you like. And it relaxes.

BONUS  - Will Ghost of Tsushima be the game of the summer?

Only one "big" release on the program this summer for gamers:  Ghost of Tsushima , a PS4 exclusive which will be available on July 17 after being delayed by the Covid-19. This action-adventure game takes place in the 13th century, on the small Japanese island of Tsushima, invaded by the Mongols. We embody Jin Sakai, a samurai survivor of the battle who will try to reverse the course of history and protect his island by combining the honor of warriors and the discretion of ninjas.

The first trailers reveal a game system between combat and infiltration, close to  Assassin's Creed , but with a more stylized graphic approach. We are currently testing  Ghost of Tsushima but impossible to tell you more before the release, embargo requires. To find out if it keeps all its promises, visit July 17 on Europe1.fr!