November’s Video Games, Even Without Cyberpunk, Are Quite Memorable

It’s been a tough year on many fronts, and that’s translated to an awkward, yet not entirely off-course year in the realm of video games.  The proof of that comes in the fact that we’ve reached November and, that’s right, the new systems from Microsoft and Sony are set to be released in the second week of the month.  With that comes launch titles and games that will eventually be modified into next-gen titles through updates, though that release lineup ended up a bit slimmer than one might expect … and, unfortunately, even slimmer still with the delay of one of the most hotly anticipated games, Cyberpunk 2077.

Instead, November essentially look about the way you’d expect a big, beefy pre-December lineup to look in the lead-up to the holiday season, rendered a mess to keep track of due to the numerous re-releases and quasi-ports of last-gen games coming over to the shiny new consoles.  Let’s take closer look, specifically at the games hitting both current and next-gen consoles.

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla – November 10 & 12

From Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and God of War to the TV show Vikings and adjacent stuff like the blacksmithing reality show Forged in Fire, the essence of Viking culture has become observably popular again in modern culture. It’s unsurprising, then, to see Ubisoft adopt the frigid, iron-born historical atmosphere in their latest game, especially since they’ve started down the path of crafting games with lesser ties to the titular “brotherhood” of the franchise and more of a focus on general open-world games set in different time periods.

Thing is, the chronology and the geographical proximity of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla places this one much closer to the genesis of the warfare between the Assassin’s Guild and the Templars, propelled by Nordic settlers – led by Eivor, who may be male or female depending on the player’s choice – who are expanding into the Anglo-Saxon region in the 800s. Essentially a Viking raider simulator, we’ll soon see whether Ubisoft hammers it home or not.

Get Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla at Amazon

Yakuza: Like a Dragon — November 10

Further signs that times are changing can be found in this third installment of the Yakuza series of action-RPG games. The markers are three fold, and pretty significant. First, Like a Dragon is the first main entry in the Yakuza series where the iconic protagonist Kazuma Kiru isn’t the focus of the story, instead falling on the shoulders on new character Ichiban Kasuga, a brasher and more emotive presence.  Second, Like a Dragon takes the storytelling away from the metropolis of Tokyo and into the area of Yokohama, the second largest city in Japan based on population, though it also revisits previous smaller regions from past games.

The third big shift, and perhaps most significantly for those with interest in Yakuza: the martial arts gameplay has been reworked from being a twitch action-RPG into a turn-based, squad-based RPG.  For many, that may raise a red flag, as they’ve grown accustomed to the quick responsiveness of the previous entries and might not have a desire to shift to traditional JRPG design ideas. Reports from the Japanese release of Like a Dragon have hailed this shift in battle design as a success though, despite its difference in energy, and should be worth a look from both longstanding fans and new RPG enthusiasts. It’s worth noting that Like a Dragon will be coming to most consoles on November 10, with a planned PS5 edition arriving at a later date.

Get Yakuza: Like a Dragon at Amazon

Spider-Man: Miles Morales – November 12

Sony’s animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse succeeds in a broad number of ways, but it’s arguably most significant for bringing the character of Miles Morales – a black character who takes up the Spider-Man identity — onto a bigger, mainstream stage. He’s different from Peter Parker in a number of other compelling ways, from his resistance to becoming a superhero and how that ties to his family’s history to differences in his abilities and costume, which help provide a convincing case for him becoming as popular as he has over the past few years.

Insomniac Games have embraced this popularity with their sequel to the immensely successful Spider-Man open-world videogame, simply titling it Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Originally suggested to be an add-on to the original PlayStation 4 exclusive, it was later revealed to be its own standalone experience … though the budget-conscious $50 tag suggests that plans may have changed when they saw the excitement for the concept. As Parker leaves Miles Morales watching over New York as its Spider-Man for a period, this game operates similarly to the original, but with its own next-gen tweaks.

Get Spider-Man: Miles Morales at Amazon

Demon’s Souls: Remake — November 12

There’s a reason why the Dark Souls franchise often gets called as such by most players. While some do refer to it as just the “Souls” line of videogames to account for Demon’s Souls, it didn’t fully reach the expanses of its audience until the sequel came out and delivered a much more polished, challenging, grander-scale iteration of the concept that did nothing but improve upon the first game. As several sequels and remastered versions of said sequels have come out across platforms, Demon’s Souls has taken on the reputation of existing in a niche within a niche: a tough, dated precursor to better games.

With the blessing of developers FromSoftware and co-developed with Sony Japan, the team at Bluepoint Games – responsible for remakes that span from the God of War PS3 collection to the astonishing Shadow of the Colossus rebuild for the PS4 – hope to spruce up Demon’s Souls for the coming generation. Their directives have been to loyally adhere to the design of the original game while overhauling the smoothness of its functionality and the aesthetics … and boy, based off gameplay footage out there and reports of how they’ve handled the music, voices, and graphics, it looks like they’ve really done it. PS5 exclusive, though.

Get Demon’s Souls at Amazon

Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War — November 13

We’re 16 proper titles deep into the Call of Duty franchise now, and the popularity of the first-person shooter juggernaut doesn’t seem like it’ll be significantly slowing down anytime soon. Part of that stems from the exciting, explosive campaigns created by its first-person shooter environment, but let’s be honest: it’s mostly about the multiplayer, about squad-based and free-for-all competitions between folks either in the same room or online. That doesn’t mean Call of Duty doesn’t have a few tricks up its sleeve.

The title of this installment speaks for itself, transporting to the ‘80s during the US-Russian Cold War to tell its semi-historical story, which centers on tracking down the spy Perseus. What’s interesting about Cold War is that the development team of Treyarch and Raven have pursued the possibility of multiple endings in the game, calling back to the surprisingly adaptable choice-and-consequence aspects of Black Ops 2. Previous advances in creating custom classes and progression in multiplayer return and also add onto the versatility of the experience, while players should be excited about new multiplayer modes, including a giant 40-player fire team option.

Get Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War at Amazon

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity — November 20

In case it wasn’t obvious from the above, there’s a whole lot going on with the two new major consoles throughout the month of November, enough that it wouldn’t exactly be a wise use of resources to try and fight for much attention from it. Nintendo gets that, but they’ve still managed to enter the fray with what could be seen as a viable contender and contemporary against some of the other launch titles. Hyrule Warriors gained a fine, if overlooked reputation as a fast-moving and reverent crossover series that meshes together Dynasty Warriors and The Legend of Zelda.

In Age of Calamity, the focus jumps back 100 years before the events of Breath of the Wild, illustrating what happened as the lands of Hyrule battled Ganon within the events known as the Great Calamity.  Applying brisk beat-‘em-up controls to the broad warfare that serves as the world-building for the most recent, highly-praised Legend of Zelda installment, the game employs the multi-opponent chaos hallmarked in the Dynasty Warriors franchise for a distinctly more energetic and high-powered experience. 

Get Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity at Amazon  

Xbox Series and PS5 Re-Releases / Upgrades

This is a pretty unique new-console release year for a number of reasons, all of which have built into both company’s awareness that gamers will want to continue playing their older, favorite, and backlogged titles for the years to come. Instead of the “force to adopt” strategy so often employed with new consoles to make players gets systems specifically to have access to significant titles, and to ignore their older consoles and games, both companies are mindfully adopting a strategy of backwards compatibility. That means games from the previous consoles will be playable on the new ones, but also that many will receive updates to their data to get them up to snuff with the new tech.

Some of the noteworthy titles include (click each to order at Amazon):

• Borderlands 3

• Doom Eternal

• Maneater

• No Man’s Sky

• Watch Dogs: Legion

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Also vying for attention in the month of November is Dirt 5, the rally racer that could turn out to be one of the technical powerhouses at launch for the consoles, which will be pulling up November 6 and getting its upgrades the following week. Tetris Effect will also be slamming into position on November 10 on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, while the other side of the exclusive spectrum will be getting Bugsnax – an adorable adventure game reminiscent of Beyond Good and Evil’s photography side quests – on the same day. It’s worth keeping an eye on the PS5 exclusive Godfall, a hack-‘n-slash launch title. And, of course, loyal followers of the franchise will be happy to see Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate Edition land its final, flawless blow on November 17.