It happens every year. I get through the long stretch from January to September without too much trouble, paying for the games I want the most upon release and strategically waiting for others. Wait for sale. I survived the initial hype cycle. I allocate myself enough pocket money each month to play two triple-A games (or an equivalent number of indie games), and that tends to be enough.
But every year, October comes around and plans fall apart. After six years in the games industry, you might think I’d be used to this sort of thing. Dear reader, I am not. Spooky season started this week, and the only scary thing so far is how many games are competing for my money.
It’s hard to continue playing the game
There is already more than I can play as is. The game that’s getting my most attention right now is The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Since I took advantage of two coupons for $100, I’m also planning on getting into Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood Once when it comes out in November (although I need a Zelda hit and Skyward Sword… (Only if you need to buy HD). I played Frostpunk 2 for about an hour, long enough to complete the prologue missions, but thanks to Zelda, I didn’t have time to really play it. Meanwhile, Adventures in Gameland, the new Rugrats platformer I called my most anticipated game of 2024 a year ago, has been released, even though I got a free version on the Epic Games Store. I haven’t touched it yet. And last but not least, I really like Star Wars Outlaws and would love to keep playing it, but I’ve got so many other things to play that I’ve gotten distracted.
Thanks to Game Pass and giveaways, I only paid for Echoes of Wisdom and Outlaws. But the next few months won’t be so sweet. Silent Hill 2 will be released this week. As a Bloober Team advocate who feels vindicated by the positive response to the game in previews, I’m excited to check it out. I have nothing to do with the original game, but I would love to see the non-Resident Evil side of survival horror that I’ve been missing out on. On the other end of the spectrum, the latest installment of my favorite series, Life is Strange: Double Exposure, arrives later this month. I have mixed feelings about this series dating back to the days of Max Caulfield, but these games trigger a very unique itch for me, so I won’t miss any of them in the world.
A remake of Until Dawn will be released this week. I’m a big fan of the original, and October seems like the perfect time to revisit Blackwood Mountain, but I don’t have $60 to spare for a slightly prettier version. Games you already own. It’s the same reason I’m hoping it can resist the call for a Horizon Zero Dawn remastered version when it launches at the end of the month, but I love the original game, so I don’t know. Maybe it will catch me.
Indies will be big hits in 2024, and there will be many.
While the return of Triple-A is easy to miss, the inundation of indies is not. UFO 50 was released two weeks ago, but even though I’ve been following the game’s development for years, I still haven’t gotten my hands on it. The concept of a fictional developer releasing 50 games on a fictional console is great, but I barely have time in my life to play another game, let alone 50. I was able to complete Apartment Story in one sitting, so that’s a good thing. This is a good thing for me as a busy adult, but I also disagree because there are so many games out there competing for your wallet.
I’m stuck. And I like Metaphor: Refantasio, Dragon Age: Veilguard, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Sonic X: Shadow Generations, Slitterhead, Stalker 2, or Indiana Jones. and the Great Circle” are not even mentioned. I want to play all those games, but I don’t know how to make that possible. I think we can thank Ubisoft for delaying the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and making the next few months a little easier on our bank accounts.
