5 best overlooked games of October

October is jam-packed with some massive releases, with the likes of Mafia 3, Battlefield 1, and Gears of War 4 all hitting store shelves this month.

Despite these great releases, there’s a handful of other games that deserve some much-needed attention this month:

Aragami

4 October 2016 (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

For fans of the old-school stealth ninja assassin franchise Tenchu (give it a look), Aragami is somewhat of a throwback to that style of sneak-‘n-stab gameplay. After being brought back to life, assassin Aragami must use his razor-sharp sword and impressive sneaking abilities to outwit the army of light to free his friend and discover the secrets of his forgotten past.

Stealth and blades aren’t the only weapons though, as Aragami give players the tools to cast shadows onto surfaces to leap around and avoid the detection of guards or get rid of corpses by using Aragami’s Shadow Vanish power. He can also create shadow clones and create black holes to swallow up enemies. Players will also be able to play through Aragami’s campaign in online co-op from beginning to end.

Paper Mario: Color Splash

7 October 2016 (Wii U)

Wii U gamers finally get some new Mario-love, as Paper Mario: Color Splash releases on Nintendo’s often-overlooked console. Continuing the spin-off RPG adventure Paper Mario series, Color Splash sees the persistent plumber head to a haunted hotel run by Toads. Players will need to rely on Mario’s Paint Hammer to paint colourless elements, characters and parts of the environment in order to progress in the game.

The RPG elements seen in past games in the series have been toned down a fair but, but like those games too, Color Splash is charming, fun, and gorgeous to look at. Mario fans should keep an eye out for this one.

Shadow Warrior 2

13 October 2016 (PC)

2013’s Shadow Warrior reboot wasn’t the best game to come out that year, but it was a sadly overlooked throwback to the age of brutal first-person shooters. Shadow Warrior 2 is the natural evolution of Flying Wild Hog’s offbeat FPS following the further misadventures of former corporate shogun Lo Wang.

The sequel sees the return of the “bullets and blades” combat style, allowing players to switch between guns and swords on the fly, as well as introducing co-op to the game. It’s also said to include an enhanced damage and dismemberment system, and procedurally generated environments.

Civilization VI

21 October 2016 (PC)

The fan-beloved Civilization franchise returns with the sixth and most ambitious instalment in the series. Civilization VI has been re-built from the ground up using a new engine. Unlike most previous “vanilla” iterations of Civilization, Civ VI will include a number of features in the core game that previously required multiple expansions, including trade routes, religion, archaeology, espionage, city-states, tourism and Great Works.

Though all features have been rebuilt for the new engine, most are based on the gameplay of Civilization V, with some notable changes and improvements.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

28 October 2016 (Xbox One, PS4, PC)

Built on the impressive Unreal Engine 4, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is looking to be the biggest and best Dragon Ball game to date. The previous Xenoverse was a sizeable game, with around 47 playable characters along with an additional 5 with the DLC. However, at present there are around 68 characters known of in Xenoverse 2 with a total roster closer to 87.

With the addition of more challenging co-operative modes, where you and your friends take on things like Vegeta’s Great Ape form, it’s clear that Xenoverse 2 is going big in terms of its content.

Article originally published on MenStuff.co.za.

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