It’s a pretty weird and unsettling time in this world of ours right now. With many of us hunkering down at home, things can get downright boring at times. Fortunately, if you’re someone who enjoys videogames, you likely have a backlog of games to play through or even some new titles to play in the coming days and weeks.
These are some of the titles I’m playing this month.
Demon's Souls
I own a couple of the Souls games, but I've just never been able to get into them. I'll typically buy 'em on sale, play for an hour or so and get wrecked over and over and then give up. Not this time! With the release of the PlayStation 5, I decided to pick up the remake of the game that started it all, Demon's Souls, which is shaping up to be a killer-app for the new console.
I'm still finding myself frustrated with this type of game, but who knows, maybe I'll stick with it this time? I admit I was superficially drawn in by the remake's improved graphical fidelity and overall aesthetic. Apparently, many of the aesthetic changes aren't being received too well in the Souls fan community, but I'm just really digging the look of the game.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of the Souls genre, and I've enjoyed games that incorporate its DNA, such as Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order, but they're often just too punishing for me. Demon's Souls is actually worse than the rest of the games in this regard since you're double punished when dying by being unable to reclaim your human form unless you defeat a boss or take part in some of the co-op or online activites (or use an item found in limited quantities throughout the game). So, we'll see. I'm skeptical, but I'd like to finish it.
Spider-Man Remastered & Miles Morales
Truthfully, this is going to be more of a December game, but I'll likely get started with it this month, especially if I fall off Demon's Souls. I originally planned on playing the Remastered Spidey game for that sweet 60 FPS Performance Mode option and then tackling Miles Morales after that. But my plans have been delayed now that Insomniac has announced they'll be implementing a PS4 to PS5 save export sometime around Thanksgiving, I'm going to wait for that so I can use my save file and play Remastered on New Game+.
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
I finally finished my latest playthrough of Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions and now I'm on to another classic in the genre, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. This time, though, I'm going down the Chaos route. Unlike FFT, TO allows for significant player agency, with huge implications for how the story plays out depending on what you choose to do. Given that Ramza is such a goody-goody, I decided a Chaos playthrough would be a nice change of pace with Tactics Ogre.
Ghost of Tsushima
I'm still beating myself up for missing the 25% off sale in October, so hopefully Ghost of Tsushima drops in price again around Black Friday. Like Spidey & Miles, this is likely to be more of a November game unless the price drops very soon and it pulls me away from Demon's Souls. I've gone back and forth in terms of interest with this game, but the co-op Legends mode sounds like a lot of fun and I'm convinced it's time to dive in. The 60FPS mode on the PS5 is also a big motivating factor for me.
Civilization VI
What's one of these articles without an entry on Civ VI? It's one of my favorite games of all time and Firaxis has been absolutely killing it with the Frontier Pass DLC. This month we're getting Bablyon, an interesting civ that gains full technologies when triggering Eurekas (trading off a -50% Science per turn penalty) and a new game mode that allows players to recruit heroes from throughout history, ranging from King Arthur himself to Mulan. Like Secret Societies before it, I can see the heroes mode becoming a mainstay in all of my Civ games.
What are you playing this month? Share your list with us in the comments below!
