Quiet Stories’ Book Club: November 2018

These are our game recommendations for the month of November 2018.

This is the Quiet Stories’ Book Club, a monthly series where we challenge you to beat at least one of the games on our list. We’ll have expansive and time consuming games, for gamers on a limited budget. We’ll have smaller, more digestible titles, for gamers with little spare time. We’ll showcase a variety of genres and platforms. We’ll recommend the newest, most talked about games, and some older titles that you probably heard about but didn’t give the time of day to. The point is, we’ll have something to cater to everyone’s needs. Hopefully you’ll end up trying something new or discover a hidden gem.

 

Never Alone

• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Mobile
• Estimated Time to Finish: 4 Hours

Never Alone is an amazing and emotional 2D platformer. It captures and preserves the stories of indigenous Alaskan tribes, sharing a piece of history, while still being incredibly enjoyable to play. The Fox Tales expansion is also fantastic and adds an hour of gameplay for less than $3.

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Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

• Platforms: Switch, PC and Mobile
• Estimated Time to Finish: 2 Hours

Sonic is a product of the mascot era of gaming during the 90’s. Sadly Sega’s answer to Mario has had far more bad games than good ones. However if you want to see where it all began, the original Sonic isn’t too bad.

Skip to 00:40

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Bayonetta 2

• Platforms: Switch
• Estimated Time to Finish: 10 Hours

Fast paced, Devil May Cry inspired, arcade action. Bayonetta 2 is still as non-nonsensical as the first game, but improves combat, enemy diversity and level structure greatly.

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Stardew Valley

• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC and Mobile
• Estimated Time to Finish: 50 Hours

Stardew Valley isn’t like most games. It is leisurely, relaxing and perfect for chipping away at 15 minutes at a time. It’s up to you what you’d like to invest time in. Whether it be mining, fishing, gardening or socializing.

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Super Mario Bros.

• Platforms: Switch
• Estimated Time to Finish: 2 Hours

For some this was their first game. For some it’s the game that made them fall in love with the gaming industry. For me, it was a great platformer that I didn’t play until I was 22.

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Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018)

• Platforms: PlayStation 4
• Estimated Time to Finish: 20 Hours

Marvel’s Spider-Man is so many things. It’s a great PlayStation exclusive, arguably the best game of the year so far, and arguably one of the best games of this generation. The developers behind Ratchet and Clank and Sunset Overdrive have truly stepped up a level.

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Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC
• Estimated Time to Finish: 2 Hours

Bloodstained pays homage to the original Castlevania in the most genuine way. Unlike Mighty No. 9, Curse of the Moon doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel and instead celebrate the past.

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Resident Evil 7: The Season Pass

• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC
• Estimated Time to Finish: 7 Hours

Resident Evil 7 is the best survival horror game of the last decade and a reinvention of a classic series. It’s Season Pass adds a variety of content that changes up the formula even further. It boasts two story campaigns, one from the perspective of a member of the Baker family and one that turns the game into a third person shooter focussed on Chris Redfield. There’s also hoard modes, Saw style puzzle sequences and wacky mini games.

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Sea of Thieves

• Platforms: Xbox One and PC
• Estimated Time to Finish: 10 Hours

Sea of Thieves is a strange beast. Alone it is dull, slow and unfocused. But with others it is a messy, laugh inducing, playground of fun. If you want a story driven pirate game, try Black Flag. If you want to throw your vomit at a friend who’s trying to stop your ship from sinking, play Sea of Thieves.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC
• Estimated Time to Finish: 10 Hours

Black Ops 4 is an interesting set of experiences to dissect. It removes the single-player campaign (which was incredibly weak in Black Ops 3), and replaces it with, in my opinion, the best Battle Royale mode to date. The multiplayer is the best that it has been since Modern Warfare, but this years Zombies doesn’t even come close to meeting the high’s of WW2’s version of the mode.