Actually got several posts out in September, that was decent. 2 of them were reaction posts, which is fine. I don’t always do these, but sometimes I feel like it makes sense. I wouldn’t do a reaction to the Smash showcase on october 5th, for example. That’s not really worth reacting to. As far as future posts, I do still have a so-called “backlog” (i.e. games I want to play but haven’t bought yet), I haven’t bought No More Heroes 3 yet, or Axiom Verge 2 (amongst many others), and I was made aware that Deathloop may actually be an okay game so I just started that. And there’s obviously upcoming games I’ll write about. So I still have plenty on the go writing-wise.
So this month I’m highlighting: 17 multiplats, 2 Switch games, 2 PC games and 1 PS4 exclusive for some reason. For me, in all that, there’s only 2 “getting for sure” games, 2 I’m probably getting, and a couple that are going on the maybe list. It’s actually a weirdly quiet month despite having the hypest game of the year, so I might be able to get into some backlog games.
Disclaimer: I only list games that I think are worth mentioning. This includes games I’m personally interested in, games that will likely be popular, highly advertised games, small interesting ones I may notice and such. Not just games I care about myself, I highlight as much as I think makes sense. And of course I can’t see the future, so I may be missing games and I may be listing games that may get delayed.
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania 10/05 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
When this was announced I was foolishly thinking it was a new game. It’s not, unfortunately (so that makes it 9 years since the last new Monkey Ball game). Rather it’s a remaster of 1, 2 and Deluxe. It’s some fun stuff, but nothing particularly new. This seems to add a few interesting small things though, so I think it’ll be a good time. Not sure I’ll get it.
Also it has really stupid 5$ character DLC… I kinda get a character being 5$ in a fighting game with the design work, unique animations and gameplay balancing required, but this is just a different visual in a ball… massive ripoff.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 10/05 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone)
This is Smash, with Nickelodeon characters… sort of. I normally wouldn’t bother to highlight this kinda stuff, but people have been very hyped for this, and for actually pretty good reason. The devs of this game previously worked on a Smash-like game that is apparently decent (Slap City), and this one actually looks really good from a gameplay perspective with really fast combos and lots of interesting elements that separate it from Smash a lot (no side moves, everyone has DK’s grab, strafing, really different physics and combo play, projectiles as a whole being very different, wavedashing). Even with the presentation being a bit lacking (due to lack of voice acting from the characters and overall the graphics being slightly inconsistent), this actually looks like it’ll be a good one, weirdly enough. I will write a review for this (or at least an impressions kinda post). Also it was announced to get 2 more characters as free updates, followed by paid DLC.
Reminds me of how the Power Rangers fighting game had kinda eh production values at first but it actually is a pretty badass fighting game somehow (with it being a kinda crazier, more broken version of Marvel 3), this might be the Smash equivalent to that.
Alan Wake Remastered 10/05 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
I haven’t played Alan Wake, though I’ve seen a lot about it, and I do actually have it because I guess it was free on Epic Game Store at some point. It’s a pretty cool game from what I’ve seen. Not too sure why it’s getting a remaster, when it’s still available to buy on PC and it could get some form of sequel/successor instead. Remasters DO tend to confuse me a bit sometimes, this one doesn’t even look all that much better compared to the original version.
Far Cry 6 10/07 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Far Cry is meh when it’s not Blood Dragon. And it’s only been Blood Dragon once. I’d recommend ignoring this.
Back 4 Blood 10/12 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
A co-op FPS that is made by the people who created Left 4 Dead.. and it sure looks like Left 4 Dead with a different name. We’ll see if it ends up being as big a deal as L4D, seems about as good from what I’ve seen.
Monster Crown 10/12 (Switch, PS4, Xbone)
This is some pokemon rip-off game. It looks okay from what I’ve seen, I’ll have a look at impressions on this one. Impressions of the early access seem pretty positive but the final version is meant to have a lot of stuff the early access didn’t.
The Jackbox Party Pack 8 10/12 (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbone)
It’s more Jackbox. Some of the games here look fine.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles 10/15 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Hey look it’s another 3D anime arena fighting game. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. No interest at all. It’s unfortunate that this seems to be the only thing anime-based games get. Fairy Tail is one of the only exceptions.
NHL 22 10/15 (PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
It’s the yearly hockey game. Eh.
The Caligula Effect 2 10/19 (Switch, PS4)
I have not played the original, but I did watch a few episodes of the anime. Based on how the anime is, I have no idea how that somehow translates from an RPG at all, I assume the show just cuts a lot from the game. That said, I did hear some okay things about the first one (specifically the Overdose version), so maybe I’ll have a look at some point.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes 10/22 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
I dunno, I heard bad things about Man of Medan and completely missed that there was a sequel. This is the third game in the series, it featured many times at E3 and… it didn’t look all that interesting.
Guardians of the Galaxy 10/26 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S, “Switch”)
I haven’t seen too much about the actual gameplay loop of this one. The trailers we’ve seen so far make it look like a TellTale game with shooting segments and minor RPG elements. I feel like I need to see a little bit more before I make a decision on it. To be clear, the last Marvel game by Squeenix was shit.
Super Robot Wars 30 10/27 (Switch, PC, PS4)
The Switch and PS4 versions are not even coming out outside of Asia it seems, but you can totally get it in english from play-asia on those platforms. Otherwise it is gonna be on Steam. This is a classic giant robot anime crossover strategy RPG, which is famous for its pretty cool attack animations and use of anime series. This is the 30th anniversary game, and it features many Gundam series, GaoGaiGar, SSSS Gridman, Heavy Metal L-Gaim, Mazinger, Code Geass, Magic Knight Rayearth and some others. I’ve been wanting to play one of these for a long time but never have. Maybe this will finally be the one I get.
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars 10/28 (Switch, PC, PS4)
This is a card-based RPG by Yoko Taro that looks pretty interesting. It seems to function like some classic grid-based RPG, just with cards. It looks fun actually.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water 10/28 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
I guess Nintendo no longer owns Fatal Frame, huh. Well that’s good, more people get to play it. I am not a huge fan of horror in general, but it’s nice to see something that was lost in Wii U hell get a wider release.
Abarenbo Tengu & Zombie Nation 10/28 (Switch, PC)
It’s basically the only way to get Zombie Nation legally without getting scammed for over 500 dollars for an NES cart, so I guess that’s reason enough to highlight this kinda-weird release. It includes both the japanese original and the US port.
Riders Republic 10/28 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This looks dumb. Seems like just Steep again but with a couple different things in it (in addition to some of the same things as Steep). Don’t buy Ubisoft games.
SWITCH RELEASES
Metroid Dread 10/08
If you’re not hyped for this game, you’re wrong. This is probably the hypest game of the year. It looks so good. Metroid 4 (Fusion) was a long time ago, we finally get a conclusion to that particular arc of the series. And the fact that it’s the long-rumored Dread concept is pretty cool too. I didn’t follow all the stuff after the first trailer, because I want to keep as much as possible a surprise and Nintendo seemed to be against the idea of not spoiling the entire game. So since I’m completely unspoiled, I cannot wait to play this.
Weird thing for me, MercurySteam started as a developer I didn’t like, but now they’ve become a company I can trust with METROID of all things. Somehow they managed to make 3 shitty Castlevania games, and one of them was a Metroidvania which is kinda ironic… and now they’re making good Metroid games. Best dev level up ever.
Mario Party Superstars 10/29
It’s a game that combines just a few maps from the N64 MP games, and a bunch of the classic minigames. It seems to otherwise literally be Super Mario Party with a different name and minor improvements (like more expensive stars). I wish it had more boards, 5 is pretty weaksauce. MP1 had 8, how can a Switch game not have more? It’s not like the hardware couldn’t support that. This should still be good, but I feel it should have WAY more content. I’m not getting it 😀
PC RELEASES
Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy Legend 10/21
This came out on Switch last year, it’s some good stuff. It features the first 3 SaGa games, which were known as Final Fantasy Legends in America. They’re pretty weird console-style RPGs with unique leveling up methods and strange use of character classes. They’re all good games.
Age of Empires IV 10/28
I kinda feel like this is falling through the cracks, I don’t see too many people talking about it. I remember having a lot of fun with AoE back in the day, mostly the demo which I think was pre-installed on my Windows 98 PC back in the day. I was never very good at it, but it was fun. Maybe there’s more hype for this than I’ve seen though
PS4 RELEASE
Neptunia™ x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars 10/26
Why PS4? Like, at all? And more specifically, why only PS4? That’s kinda weird.
I dunno, this just looks like a normal Senran Kagura game.
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