Hello and welcome to definitely-not-miserable November, where the nights close in, the Big Coat is officially back in rotation, and video games become a greater draw than ever. But starting a new month also means a return for our recurring series, too, where we summarise What to Play This Month. As always, the goal here is to help cut through a release schedule that looks busier than ever with a roundup of the best games from the month gone by, the things we’re most excited to play from the month ahead – plus, any other suggestions for what might complement it. So, here’s What To Play This November.
The best games from last month
Forza Motorsport (2023)
Availability: Out now on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Image credit: Xbox Game Studios / Turn 10 Studios
Here’s what we said in our Forza Motorsport (2023) review:
A generous and lavish racer, with thrilling driving, that wants you for the long haul… The Forza series has always been good at coaxing you in, making you believe that realistic racing is a gas, not a chore. In this new instalment, you will find over five hundred cars at launch, with more on the way; twenty circuits to race; and menus that bristle with customised brake pads, anti-roll bars, suspension coils, and spoilers. It’s exhaustive, but it wouldn’t dream of tiring you out.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Availability: Out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and next year iOS.
Image credit: Ubisoft
Here’s what we said in our Assassin’s Creed Mirage review:
I love, perhaps more than anything, that this game shows you Baghdad at its most powerful, influential, its most culture-creating and knowledge-expanding, and then leaves you to think about that.
Saltsea Chronicles
Availability: Out now on PC, Switch, and PS5.
Image credit: Die Gute Fabrik/Eurogamer
Here’s what we said in our five-star Saltsea Chronicles review:
Fittingly, for me, Saltsea Chronicles turned out to be a story about choices as well as a story made of choices. It made me think about the big decisions I make in life, but also the decisions that shape a life that I don’t even notice having made. Ripples turning to waves and all that. You must play this. It’s luminous.
Subpar Pool
Availability: Out now on PC, Switch, iOS and Android.
Image credit: Grapefrukt
Here’s what we said in our Subpar Pool review:
At best, Subpar Pool doesn’t remind me of pool or golf so much as it reminds me of something like Max Payne – Max Payne when he’s diving through a window and aiming twin pistols and time slows until it feels like clear gel you’re all moving through together. This is because – whisper it – after you take a shot in Subpar Pool, you can hit your ball again while everything’s still moving, triggering a bit of bullet-time and allowing you to clear a complex table in seconds, and with no chances for the cue to come to a halt. That’s beautiful. That’s thrilling. Yep: nothing subpar about it.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Availability: Out now on PS5.
Image credit: Sony/Eurogamer.
Here’s what we said in our Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 review:
It’s a welcome relief from thinking about anything more serious, from anti-heroes and darker-than-dark tones. And it’s the perfect tone itself for Spider-Man. This is what his story’s always been about, the good-old-fashioned urge to do the right thing, to form communities and stay close to family and friends – and the relentless obstacles of modern life that make that seem so hard every day. Simple, familiar, and occasionally cluttered as it might all be, it’s still brilliant fun.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Availability: Out now on Nintendo Switch.
Image credit: Digital Foundry/Nintendo
Here’s what we said in our five-star Super Mario Bros. Wonder review:
The answer, I think, is that there is no one angle. There’s elephants and flowers and that hidden event that splits every level in half, but none of those these add up to an angle. In truth, the angle here is that every level is its own angle, and each angle has these little sub-angels, throwaway gimmicks, one-shot animations, bespoke enemies. They called it Super Mario Bros. Wonder. They could just as easily have called it Super Mario Bros. Imagination. Jeepers.
Moonring
Availability: Out now on PC (free).
Image credit: Fluttermind.
Here’s what we said in our Moonring review:
There was a time that RPGs were, with a few exceptions, a niche genre and it’s quite amazing to see Baldur’s Gate 3 in particular, a turn-based affair dripping with nerdy D&D lore, be this huge triple-A success. Moonring serves as a reminder that RPGs can be epic in scope, innovative and, yes, immersive, without having massive quantities of money, time and people behind them. More than that, Moonring highlights how the joys of discovery, both in finding new games and within the games themselves, is one of this pastime’s greatest delights.
Jusant
Availability: Out now on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5.
To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings Watch on YouTube
Here’s what we said in our Jusant review:
Jusant is a climbing game, and I think it’s a particularly rich one if you love the idea of climbing, the rarified, oxygen-poor realm of climbing, but haven’t done much of the real stuff yourself. If your mind buzzes when you hear jangly, ropy words like “belay” and “carabiner” and “cam”, if you thrill to the thought of a climb with a lot of exposure, of a satisfying “problem” to “top out”, if you go to sleep whispering names like Bonington or Honnold, this is game for you. It’s the game for me.
Alan Wake 2
Availability: Out now on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S.
Image credit: Remedy
Here’s what we said in our Alan Wake 2 review:
Where Alan Wake 2 is great is in its excellent synthesis of the original game concept with Control’s incredible art direction and style; this sequel is undoubtedly a vast improvement. It’s general knowledge that Alan Wake and Control share the same universe… There’s a neat parallel between the importance of structure and cohesion in writing (Alan Wake), and the importance of organisation and taxonomy in a byzantine reality-defining institution (The Bureau’s Oldest House). Both are concerned with moulding reality, whether that reality is fact or fiction, and when Alan Wake 2 leans into this overlap to examine fiction-making within the framework of Bureau research, it feels like we’re going somewhere new and exciting.
World of Horror
Availability: Out now on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S.
Image credit: Ysbyrd Games/PLAYISM
Our review’s still in the works, but for now just drink in that striking art style – an indie horror riffing on Lovecraft and more excitingly, Junji Ito, with turn-based combat and RPG-style choices. Potentially a fantastic-post Halloween choice for those craving yet more horror.
The games we’re looking forward to in October
RoboCop: Rogue City
Availability: Out 2nd November on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S.
Image credit: Nacon.
Classic double-A fare, here’s what we said in our RoboCop: Rogue City review.
RoboCop: Rogue City would have been the absolute biz back in 2005. This might sound like a criticism, and to a certain extent it is. But I mean it equally as a compliment to developer Teyon’s work. The studio’s latest licensed FPS following Terminator: Resistance is a fine example of a AA game, with an ambition that exceeds its budget, and a sincerity that helps power through no small amount of wonk. It’s a decent shooter, a surprisingly involved policing game, and an authentic RoboCop experience.
Thirsty Suitors
Availability: Out 2nd November on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S.
Image credit:…