As the month of November is around the corner, here are our pick of game releases that will see the light of day in November 2020:
Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia (3 November ): Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia is an action role-playing game with an original story that expands on the hit TV series and brings the Bakugan universe. The adventure takes players on the ultimate Bakugan journey as they befriend powerful creatures known as Bakugan. Gear up and customise Bakugan teams for fiercely strategic battles, and master their skills to become the Champion of Vestroia. Players can also play online in head-to-head multiplayer.
Platforms: Switch
Dirt 5 (6 November): Dirt 5 is an upcoming racing video game developed and published by Codemasters. It is the fourteenth game in the Colin McRae Rally series and the eighth game to carry the Dirt title. Dirt 5 is a racing game focused on off-road racing. Disciplines within the game include rallycross, ice racing, Stadium Super Trucks and off-road buggies. Players can compete in events in a wide range of locations including Arizona, Brazil, Morocco, China, Italy, New York City and Norway.
The game includes a dynamic weather system and seasons, which affect the racing; for example, the player can only compete in ice racing events in New York during winter months. A four-player split-screen system is also introduced into the game. Dirt 5 also features a narrative-focused career mode that pits the player character against a rival driver called Bruno Durand (voiced by Nolan North) in a series of championships. The player also has a mentor called Alex “AJ” Janiček (voiced by Troy Baker) who provides them with advice throughout their career.
Platforms : PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (10 November): Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is an upcoming action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the twelfth major instalment and the twenty-second release in the Assassin’s Creed series, and a successor to the 2018 game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is an open world action-adventure game, structured around several main story quests and numerous optional side missions.
The player takes on the role of Eivor a Viking raider, as they lead their fellow Vikings against the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The player will have the choice of playing Eivor as either male (voiced by Magnus Bruun [da]) or female (voiced by Cecilie Stenspil) and is able to customise Eivor’s hair, warpaint, clothing, armour, and tattoos. The variety of weapons available to the player have been expanded to include weapons such as flails and greatswords. Combat has been changed to allow dual wielding of almost any weapon, including shields, and every piece of gear that the player collects is unique
Platforms: PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (10 November): Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a role-playing video game developed and published by Sega. It is the eighth main release in the Yakuza series. Similar to previous games in the Yakuza series, side-quests (known as sub-stories in-game) can be taken up by the player to gain additional rewards and players are also able to enjoy the various side activities around the map such as karaoke. A new side-activity introduced in this game is Dragon Kart, which is similar to other kart racing games in terms of its gameplay.
A huge departure from previous Yakuza games is the battle system. Instead of the real-time beat ’em up mechanics of previous games, Yakuza: Like a Dragon features turn-based RPG type combat, with a four-person battle team. However, unlike typical turn-based RPGs, characters may use nearby surrounding items such as bicycles to attack enemies (if the items are near the enemies) or may kick surrounding items to their target if there is an interactive item in the environment on the way to the enemy, an aspect that returns from the previous Yakuza games.
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PC
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (13 November): Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch and Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the sixth instalment of the Black Ops series and the seventeenth instalment in the overall Call of Duty series. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is set during the Cold War in the early 1980s. The story is inspired by actual events and the campaign features locations such as East Berlin, Vietnam, Turkey, and the Soviet KGB headquarters. Players can create a custom character for the campaign, codenamed Bell, with options for different skin tones, ethnic backgrounds and genders, as well as different personality traits that provide in-game perks. The campaign will have multiple endings, dependent on player choice throughout the campaign.
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory (13 November): Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is an upcoming rhythm action game developed by Square Enix and indies zero, and published by Square Enix. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a rhythm action game featuring both single and multiplayer gameplay. Players press buttons with the right timing to get an Excellent, Good, or Miss, depending on the timing. A Miss affects the player’s health, which causes the game to end when it has run out. Players work to level up the characters’ health and attack power, with each character having two types of ranged and melee attack abilities
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered (13 November): 10 years ago, Criterion Games released their critically acclaimed franchise debut Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. It introduced NFS and racing fans to the winding, open roads of Seacrest County, Criterion’s renowned feel for breakneck speed and gameplay, and the innovative Autolog system, empowering true social competition between friends. Bolt down the winding Seacrest County roads headfirst in racing that is socially competitive at its core – now with cross-play support between PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch! The groundbreaking Autolog connects players with their friends in head-to-head pursuits and races and instinctively delivers challenges based on your friends’ activities.
Platforms: Switch
Katamari Damacy Reroll (20 November): Bandai Namco revealed the return of one of the strangest and most addictive games of all time this week with Katamari Damacy Reroll. It’s about an alien that’s charged with collecting junk in a giant ball to send back to its home planet. You roll a few pieces of junk, then your ball of junk is able to pick up progressively larger pieces of junk. The game features The Dashing Prince and King of All Cosmos, as it should, and includes unique gameplay that’s easy to pick-up and play.
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands (23 November): World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is the eighth expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Battle for Azeroth. Shadowlands will involve a level reduction (“level squish”), with player characters at level 120 (the level cap in Battle for Azeroth) reduced to level 50, with level 60 being the new level cap (as it had been in the original game). Newly created characters will have an updated starting experience on an island called “Exile’s Reach”, which will introduce them to the game and its systems.
For players new to World of Warcraft, characters who finish the starting experience on Exile’s Reach will proceed to Battle for Azeroth content, while veteran players who create new characters can choose the expansion experience they wish to play through to level 50, at which point they would proceed to the Shadowlands. The Shadowlands will feature five major zones – Bastion, Ardenweald, Revendreth, Maldraxxus, and the Maw. In the center will be the city of Oribos, which functions as the main player hub similar to Shattrath City in Outland in The Burning Crusade or Dalaran in Wrath of the Lich King and Legion.
Platforms: PC
Just Dance 2021 (24 November ): Just Dance 2021 is an upcoming dance rhythm game developed by Ubisoft. It is the first game in the series since the first game not to be announced at E3. It is also the first game in the main series not to be released for the Wii, and a launch title for the PlayStation 5. With the previous instalments of the franchise, players must mimic the on-screen dancer’s choreography to a chosen song using either motion controllers or the game’s associated smartphone app.
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X
