Pumpkin Spicing Things Up

October has arrived and with it, a chance to explore some new opportunities and Halloween themed events on the horizon.

Spooky dance

It’s the start of a brand new month! Not just any month… it’s October and with that a lot of things start taking on a more pumpkin spice flavour with Halloween to look forward to in a few weeks time.

Last month seemed to fly by and I felt very unfocused for much of it. It was like a wave of ennui had washed over me and I often found myself just staring at game launchers not able to decide what I wanted to play or have the will to actually start up something (like new blog posts).

So it’s time to spice things up and get excited again! Let’s take a look forward at what October may have to offer.

Singularity

During September on the single player game front, hot on the tail of completing my replay of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I managed to start playing its 2016 sequel – Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. It was awesome and improved upon its predecessor massively in so many areas. I completed the main storyline and I am wrapping it up by playing its first story DLC, System Rift, which was released last week.

So what will be the next single player experience to give focus to? Well, at the end of the month Bethesda is releasing The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Special Edition, so that’s the next game I’m waiting to play. But because it’s releasing near to Halloween, I’ll probably be too distracted by MMO events that I won’t actually get around to jumping into Skyrim properly until November.

It looks like single player games will be taking a back-seat this month, although some options are to keep dabbling with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s DLC and its “Breach” mode which I haven’t tried yet (which is a sort-of arcade side game within the game). There’s also Fallout 4’s final DLC, Nuka World, which I’ve been saving for when I feel the urge to return to the Commonwealth Wasteland.

Multiplexed

Online in the massively multiplayer gaming world, the main attraction of October is Halloween (or similarly spooky themed events). I expect in-game Halloween events to launch possibly as early as mid-month or at latest the Halloween weekend.

The Secret World will obviously be on the itinerary on this year’s ride through Halloween, being that it’s one of the most appropriate events for a horror themed MMO to go big budget on. Previous events such as “The Cat God” and “Spooky Stories of Solomon Island” and last year’s Halloween mission “The Seven Silences” will most likely be returning. There have also been teases of something new for this year though, so I’m hoping we get some more information from upcoming developer livestreams on Twitch.

There’s also usually quite a large Halloween celebration event in Guild Wars 2 as well, with seasonal activities such as “The Mad King’s Clocktower” and labyrinth making an appearance along with candy corn everywhere. (I can never get enough of that to actually trade it in for something cool from the Halloween vendors!)

I’ll primarily be jumping into The Secret World and Guild Wars 2, but in the background there are also things going on in other MMOs during October. In The Elder Scrolls Online, it’s “One Tamriel” update is coming where all zones will be getting a level-scaling makeover, and possibly a seasonal event happening? In Star Wars: The Old Republic, I haven’t learned a date yet for its next big expansion, Knights of the Eternal Throne, but it was announced to be coming “in the Fall”, so that’s something I’m going to be listening for news on.

Retrospective and Mobilitated

I completed my replay of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, so if I have some time in the first half of October before Halloween takes over everything, I might be able to start another replay of an old classic game.

On the mobile gaming side, I’m still tapping away with Fallout Shelter in my rotation thanks to a recent update providing new quests to send my vault dwellers on. Earlier this week I also started and completed Deus Ex Go, which went on sale at 60% off the regular price and was too tempting to resist. I discovered that after completing the main story in Deus Ex Go, there are also new levels released each week that give you a reason to keep playing for a while, as well as the “mastermind” achievements for completing every level using the most optimal solution.

I may be able to combine a classic game replay with starting a new mobile game experience by choosing Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Director’s Cut as my next focus, killing two birds with one stone. I’ve had it in both my iOS app library and Steam library for years, but never got around to playing. I played the original game back in the 90s on PC, but the Director’s Cut version will have some new content featuring protagonist Nico Collard at the beginning that I haven’t seen before and a mobile touch compatible interface which I’m intrigued to test out.

2spooky4me

So there’s quite a few opportunities and distractions available to look forward to this month of October. I’ve also got to find time to actually write about some of it so I’m not neglecting the blog.

I doubt I’m going to be able to fit in everything I’ve mentioned, but at least now I’ve laid out the options, I won’t be frightened about running out of things to do.

Author: Galactrix

Totally into various games and MMOs and previously appeared on podcasts. Noob blogger.

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