#3: Neva
Neva is, as described by PC Gamer, “a side-scrolling, hacky-slashy-dashy platformer from the developers behind Gris, Neva puts you in the shoes of a red-cloaked girl and her faithful hound, a fantastical wolf/deer creature named, well, Neva.” If you look online, you can’t find much about the game other than what happens in the demo. Despite that, you can get a general idea of what the game is about: It’s about a girl named Alba who finds a mysterious wolf-like creature in the woods and befriends it. Over the course of the game, Alba and Neva have to survive as the world dies around them, and learn to work together to keep each other alive while they still have time to live. I’ve heard the game is supposed to be a heartbreaker, and I can see why.
The game released on October 15 and is available on Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam.
#2: Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream
If you’re a fan of SAO, then boy do I have a game for you! In this game, all of the Sword Art Online universes/storylines collide after a malfunction in the system essentially breaks reality itself. According to the developers, enemies will become allies, and the dead will become undead. The catch-line is “If a changed past is the difference between life and death, how far would someone go to ensure they get their second chance?”
Anticipated to be a “dream come true” for fans, the game features a cast of 21 unique playable characters from both the anime and the movie. The game both marks and celebrates the 10th anniversary of the series. Supporting up to 20 players worldwide per server, with cross-gen compatibility, this is a great game to play with friends and strangers alike. In fact, playing with others is encouraged; the gameplay is raid-based, and there’s even an online only mode (though if you want to play alone, there’s single player too). The game also features a character switching system that is “easy to learn, hard to master”.
If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty, here it is: There are six character classes: Fighter, Tank, Rogue, Mage, Ranger, and Support. Also, online only mode features two subcategories: Boss Raid and Free Roam. Boss Raid is where you and a bunch of other players team up to tackle a challenging boss, and Free Roam is essentially an open world where you can explore and randomly encounter other players and socialize. There are four versions of the game available: Standard Edition, Digital Deluxe Edition, Digital Premium Edition, and Character Pass Volume 1. Standard Edition is just the base game, Digital Deluxe Edition is that plus the Prism Heart costume set bundled with Character Pass Volume 1, Digital Premium Edition is all of that plus and digital artbook and soundtrack app as well as the Wild Joker Dress, and Character Pass Volume 1 can be bought separately, which includes DLCs 1 and 2.
The game released on October 4 and is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.
#1: Life is Strange: Double Exposure
There is a LOT to go over with this game since it’s the most anticipated one in the list. As you may or may not have guessed, this game is a direct sequel to the first Life is Strange game story-wise despite there being 3 games in between the two; The game’s story follows Max (the protagonist from the first game), now ten years older and an artist at a university in New England. In the very beginning of the game (not-so-spoiler alert; if you look up “what is Life is Strange: Double Exposure about?”, the results will definitely mention this), Max’s friend Safiya Llewelyn-Fayyad, AKA Safi, gets murdered. Max hasn’t used her powers since the end of the first game, but to have a chance at saving Safi, she’ll need to hop into an alternate timeline where Safi is still alive to try and warn her about the future and solve the murder mystery before history repeats itself.
If you’re curious, here’s a quote from The Gamer about Safi: “She was (or is, depending on the reality) a poet who loves art, sarcasm, and pushing boundaries. I got to see what she was posting on social media before she passed away, learn about her pending book deal and how excited she was to see an upcoming meteor shower. She left quippy comments on her friends’ posts, it seemed she had a somewhat tenuous relationship with her mom, and in only a few moments, I felt like I knew Safiya Llewelyn-Fayyad–as much as you can get to know someone from the internet, anyway.”
Despite the developers claiming that the game is designed for new and old players alike, both will have to select an ending from the first game to continue the story of this one via a dialogue option towards the very beginning. The choice will, according to the devs, affect everything from “dialogue, items, her journal, text messages, and more”. So essentially, it seems they either expect newbies to do their research, or choose wisely.
Time for more nitty-gritty stuff. Square Enix is separately selling a collector’s box that contains a 12-inch vinyl soundtrack, a 32 pp mini hardcover artbook, 4 double-size 12-inch notecards, and a replica of Max’s in-game owl pin. There are four versions of the game available: Standard, Deluxe, Deluxe Upgrade, and Ultimate Upgrade. Not much is known about each version, but the Deluxe and Ultimate Upgrades are supposed to contain things such as the Spooky Outfit Pack (perfect for this Halloween season!), with only Ultimate Upgrade having all downloadable content in it.
Fun fact, there aren’t any colorblindness settings for this game because the game was built from the ground up with colorblindness in mind. And though there isn’t that, there are a bunch of other settings that I’ll explain briefly individually:
Longer choice times
Camera assist
Keeps the camera behind Max at all times
Camera shake
Controls how much the camera shakes and rumbles in different scenes
Simple power effects
Lowers the brightness when Max uses her powers
Major choice confirmation
Skip gameplay
Allows you to skip complicated gameplay that requires multiple inputs or almost all visuals
Hotspot pinging
Shows all points of interaction for the player and makes a sound when they’re near them (the devs recommend headphones for this)
Hotspot sound in range
Makes a sound when the interaction is actually able to be completed
Alternate power controls
Lets you press a single button when using Max’s powers instead of multiple
Power UI indicator
Shows all shift points in the world
Display timelines
Allows you to always, sometimes, or never see what timeline you’re currently in as a UI
Content warning pause
Pauses the game when there’s content warnings so you can read them
The game released on October 29, and is available on Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC, PS5, Steam, and Nintendo Switch.
And that’s all the games! Have fun!
