10. Where Winds Meet
You ever wondered to yourself, “Man, I wish I could explore an ancient Chinese wuxia sandbox with an umbrella sword”? Well, my friend, your highly specific dreams are about to come true. If you’re not as familiar with the genre of Chinese fiction that is wuxia or wuchia, I don’t really know how to say it, wooshia. You guys should know at this point that I am going to bombard you with multiple pronunciations of any word that is going to cause controversy with the pronunciations because I think it’s funny. Anyways, this game looks really cool. It looks like they’ve done a great job making a modern open-world game set in ancient China where you’ve got all of the crazy martial arts fantasy stuff going on. They also are not playing around. There are 10,000 NPCs, 20 distinct regions, and it doesn’t cost any money to play. So this one is a double-edged sword in every sense of the word. First off, there’s very likely double-edged swords in it at some point, but second off, it actually looks like a really nice free-to-play game, and that means it’s a free-to-play game, gonna have seen microtransactions and probably some stuff you don’t wanna see. But to be frank, it looks about as quality as a free-to-play can. I’m really excited about this game. I’m definitely going to play it. “Where Winds Meet” is landing November 14th on PC and PS5.
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
I mean, come on. Regardless of what you think of “Call of Duty” and honestly, regardless of if the game turns out to even be good, that doesn’t change the fact it’s one of the biggest releases of the year. It’s set 10 years into the future. It’s following up on earlier “Black Ops” story thread. It has a co-op campaign for up to four players. It’s got multiplayer, it’s got zombies. I mean, obviously, until we play it, there’s not a lot that we can say other than it’s “Call of Duty.” It looks like it’s trying to fulfill everything that people want out of a “Call of Duty,” which is good. It’s a Treyarch and a Raven joint. We’ve gotten back-to-back “Black Ops.” I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Again, depends on the quality. I do want this game to be good. I like “Black Ops,” and the game is dropping November 14th on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series.
8. Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive
Now this is an action RPG based on an anime that is apparently beloved that I have not heard of. I’m not gonna pretend that any interest I have in this game is due to a show. But I will say as what appears to be a little bit faster, maybe a little more flashy Souls-like with a kind of mid-2000s anime aesthetic, I’m there. It looks like a good game to me. It is developed by Netmarble Neo, and perhaps the funnier element of this to me is co-op raids in a game called “Solo Leveling.” It seems a bit more like a power fantasy than your typical Souls-like. But also there is a whole lot of stuff that looks like Souls-like mechanics to me. I don’t know. It’s one that I saw and I thought kind of looks like somewhere between “Diablo” and a Souls-like, probably leaning closer to a Souls-like, but I don’t know. It looks really cool to me. It’s one I’ll definitely try. I’m sure fans of the show are excited. “Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive” is coming to PC November 17th and consoles next year.
7. SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide
So you got the Flying Dutchman and King Neptune, they’re clashing, that’s the setting. I don’t… It’s another 3D platform game with SpongeBob in it. Since Purple Lamp remastered the old “Battle for Bikini Bottom” game, THQ Nordic and Nickelodeon have basically been putting it on them to make new ones and they’ve done a great job. I’ve been enjoying them honestly. And this one, I like how they have it set up. You and Patrick, you being SpongeBob, can switch between each other and the other one follows the other around as a ghost. It’s fully voiced by the actual cartoon cast. I don’t know, what is there not to like? This is a game that I will probably not know a whole lot about before playing in terms of the story. In terms of that stuff, I also have to say they’re not really that important. These are good platform games. SpongeBob is fun and funny. I don’t really know what else there is to say. This one’s landing on November 18th for PC, PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch 2.
6. Deadpool VR
Essentially it’s a first-person hack-and-slash with swords and guns. It’s in a lot of ways the type of thing I would want when you said to me in the late 1990s, “One day video games will be VR.” Now, I am not saying that means this is automatically going to be good. In fact, in a lot of ways, I am a little bearish on this one. But at least they have John Leguizamo and Neil Patrick Harris as the titular– I’m not gonna say it ’cause everybody says it. I’m just gonna say the titular Deadpool. Kind of tired of hearing the phrase that rhymes with “perk” with an fowl, especially after the word titular, Jesus. Now I will say my hope for VR games has kind of been renewed a bit with that Batman rat game or whatever the hell it was called. That’s fun. And my hope is that this game, although it’s not developed by the same people or anything, it’s not even the same comic book company, but my hope is that this is kind of along those lines. Everybody copied “Batman: Arkham Asylum” and made fantastic action games for over a decade. Everybody should do that with the VR Batman rat king game. I hope that’s at least kind of what this is. I don’t know though. It is coming only to the Meta Quest. It’s exclusive there with the Quest 3 and 3S on November 18th.
5. Kirby Air Riders
A sequel to the cult classic GameCube game, “Kirby Air Ride.” This is a racing game. The first thing anybody is going to think with a mascot racing game is, of course, “Mario Kart.” This game is actually very different from “Mario Kart,” as was “Air Ride” with the “Mario Kart” of its time. In this game when you’re racing, you don’t get items, you get abilities. Kirby can copy powers from other, you know, it’s Kirby, you could be Fire Kirby, you can be Sword Kirby, et cetera, et cetera. And that actually makes the game very different from “Mario Kart,” even though it is, yes, a mascot racing game. If I remember right, “Kirby Air Ride” was a lot more chaotic though, and I think that’s kind of what this looks like too. I mean, “Kirby Air Ride” is a game that absolutely should have been revisited long before now. And “Kirby Air Riders” is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 November 20th.
4. Terminator 2D: No Fate
It’s kind of the side-scrolling action game “Terminator 2” never really got. This is a pure arcade side-scrolling action game. You got weapons, you got beat ’em up stuff, you play as various characters: John Connor, Sarah Connor, the T-800. And in terms of pixel art, it has got some really good-looking stuff in this game. It’s very deliberately like a Super Nintendo Plus or PlayStation Minus level of graphics. You’ve got really nice color work, nice wide color palette, really good animation. It’s definitely better than something that could be done on Super Nintendo, but it feels like Super Nintendo. I’m really excited to play this game and I hope more games like it continue to come out. The sort of resurgence of these types of side-scrolling beat ’em ups, action games, this kind of stuff, I’ve been really happy because these were games that I used to play the hell out of, whether it’s this type or the more “Ninja Turtles” type. “Terminator 2D: No Fate” is coming to PC, the PlayStations, the Xboxes, Switch as well, all of the things on November 26th.
3. Europa Universalis V
After years of waiting, Paradox brings us centuries of history starting at the year 1337, just before the Hundred Years’ War. And you’re gonna be doing a whole bunch of grand strategy shit here. Honestly, I’ve been pretty happy to see this type of game make a comeback as well. It’s a genre that kind of got left by the wayside a while back, and the big guys have continually put out titles, but these lesser, not quite as big franchises haven’t got the attention that I feel like “Europa Universalis V” is getting. I don’t know, it looks good. Look at it. It’s a Paradox Interactive grand strategy game. Anybody who knows Paradox and grand strategy isn’t gonna complain about that. This game’s landing on November 4th on PC.
2. Project Motor Racing
This game has over 70 licensed vehicles, 10 different racing classes, 27-plus real-world tracks, dynamic weather, time cycles, mod support from day one. And guess what? That’s not just a PC exclusive thing. The PC and console users are apparently both getting mod support infrastructure, the same mod support infrastructure on both ends of the spectrum. You got your career mode stuff that you’d expect, budgets, maintenance, et cetera. They’re kind of promising this game isn’t gonna be very handhold-y. It’s gonna be a little bit further on the simulation end, a little bit harder. And they’re also touting this thing they’re calling “True to Track” tech, which is surfaces that realistically change based on the weather. And it’s apparently going to do a whole bunch of things that change how your vehicle handles that could change the middle of a race, certainly will change from different surface to different surface. You’ve got dry areas, it’s gonna handle different than a wet area, et cetera, et cetera. Sounds like fun. “Project Motor Racing” is landing November 25th on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series.
1. Anno 117: Pax Romana
Basically you are put in the shoes of the Roman governor around 117 and you gotta build the Roman Empire. You got full reign over the economy, the diplomacy. You can be a loyal governor or you can be a rebel. You can be quite cavalier with resources. You can order assassinations. It’s up to you. This is the earliest historical setting in the “Anno” franchise yet. There is no future anything in this one. It is full-ass a Roman Empire simulator. So let’s talk plumbing! No, I’m joking. I mean, I’m not. You will be talking about plumbing a lot during the course of, you know, it doesn’t matter. It’s “Anno,” it’s another “Anno.” It’s a great setting for an “Anno,” and “Anno 117: Pax Romana” is launching on November 13th for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series.
That’s all for today. Leave us a comment, let us know what you think. And as always, thank you very much for reading this blog. My name’s Zaid. We’ll see you next time right here on Aura Riot.