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My life has become more crazy than i would have imagined that it could. Over the past year I have taken on far too many projects and I have been working on offloading them one at a time. by the middle of next month I will be in full cool down mode for the rest of the year and I thought it would be a good time to go through the list of games that I am looking forward to in order to do just that, cool down.
The Games of Fall 2018 that I am most excited for
(In Order of Release)
Destiny 2 Forsaken
September 4th
I mean, if you know me, you kind of saw this coming
It's been a bit of a whirlwind year for Destiny 2. The game was released in September of last year and made a GREAT first impression. It wasn't long before the regulars realized that, while MANY quality of life (not QoS) improvements were added in D2, it felt like the endgame at launch wasn't enough to satisfy the players who stuck around. There were those who pointed out that we had the same problem several months into the release of D1 and others countered that we are going into Year 4 and they should have learned their lesson. There was much bellycahing and plenty of salt in the DestinyTheGame subreddit that only seemed to get saltier after the game's first expansion The Curse of Osiris was released. The next update, however, has wowed and continues to wow players and pretty much everything Bungie has shared about the game's first major content update has looked amazing. Instead of the recently announced annual pass, I will be purchasing the $39.99 standalone Forsaken DLC. Can't wait for that new RAID...
NHL 19
September 14th
I was hopeful for a possible Switch release of NHL 19 considering EA's decision to release FIFA on Nintendo's little platform but no such luck. As a casual player of EA's hockey series, I may have to wait for a Black Friday deal. Over the years I have less and less luck finding people that I know who are willing to play with me and playing against randos, most of whom are better than me is no fun. Maybe I just need to play a few dozen ranked matches to give the matchmaking system a chance to do its job. I've also always wanted to play the NHL series 5v5. I've watched videos of amazing 5v5 matches where every player in the game is controlled by a human and it's amazing. But when I think about the logistics of trying to get 9 other people that I know together at the same time to play a video game, It makes my head hurt. (There it is Mikey, check it out, his heads bleeding)
Forza Horizon 4
October 2nd
I played Gran Turismo 1-4 when they were the hotness and I loved them. Over the years I drifted (racing pun) towards the arcade side of racing becoming more of a Burnout guy than a Simulation guy. I tried the proper Forza games and they are good and fine but just not my jam anymore. I never really gave Horizon a try until last year when I picked up Horizon 3 for free when I got my One X. I grabbed the Hot Wheels DLC for $5 cause my kids love Hot Wheels and I sat down to play enough of the game to be able to reach Hot Wheels Island or whatever its called in the game. Holy Crap, this game drew me in hard. The way it combines realistic simulation racing with the arcade style of an open world masterpiece like Burnout Paradise is amazing. This is the first game I will be playing with my Xbox Game Pass.
Red Dead Redemption 2
October 26
The original Red Dead Redemption easily makes my top 5 list of the best games of the last generation. When it was added to Xbox One's list of backwards compatible games, I started a new game and was delighted to find that the game is every bit as good as I remembered. This is a game that I absolutely cannot wait to play. In the small bits of footage that Rockstar has shared so far, it looks like this enormous, beautiful and dangerous world will be a real treat for cowboys like me.
Diablo 3 Switch
Fall
I have never played Diablo 3 so I can't explain why I am so excited that it is coming to the Switch. I think its because this is the kind of game that I don't want to sit down any play in front of a TV or PC. I can see myself pulling the switch out and playing for 5-10 minutes and then stopping. I can also see being in a hotel room or waiting for a concert to start at PAX East and just blasting through a dungeon with 3 buddies.
Honorable Mentions:
These are games that have piqued my interest but are not games that I need to pick up right away. Most of these will be "eventual" or "when the price drops" purchases.
Spiderman - Sept 7 - I don't have a PS4 so..
Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Oct 5 - Looks awesome, tough to pay full price for an AC game when I know it's gonna be $20 in a few months.
Fallout 76- Nov 14 - This one may sneak its way into my Christmas/Birthday list. I wasn't as crazy about 4 as I was about earlier Fallout games but there is not way that I won't eventually own this.
Darksiders III - Nov 27 - LOVED the first Darksiders and only liked Darksiders II. The jury is still out on this one..
