There are always busy periods on the video game calendar, usually during Summer and the holidays. However, the pandemic has resulted in release dates bottlenecking to a more extreme level than usual. In February 2022 alone we got Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, and Dying Light 2, and last month we juggled Final Fantasy 16, Street Fighter 6, and Diablo 4.
Neither of those examples compare to this coming October. More specifically, an eight-day period where three huge games will launch. Kicking things off will be Assassin's Creed Mirage on October 12. A far smaller title than the last few games in the series—perhaps Ubisoft knew something we didn't.
It's October 20 that will either have you sweating or celebrating depending on how much free time you have. Just eight days after Mirage, Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Wonder, two of the biggest games of the year, will release on the same day. Coming from studios that don't tend to delay games, it seems unlikely either is going to blink in this video game release day version of chicken. In fact, in the battle between Mario and Spider-Man, somehow Sonic is the one who stands to lose the most.
That's because there might be a Sonic game launching that week too. Sonic Superstars’ reveal didn’t come with a release date, but a leak suggests the plan is for the blue blur’s next sidescroller to drop on October 17. That Sega is yet to confirm the date suggests Sonic is the one who will be leaving that frantic week the hell alone, and I don't blame him. Sonic and Mario went head-to-head in the original console war, and we all know how that ended.
Those three, maybe four games are far from all we're going to be playing this October. Before Mirage, Detective Pikachu finally returns on October 6. Forza Motorsport launches four days after, so just two days before Mirage. Not a game that will grab everyone's attention, but those of you who love the series will likely plan on spending a lot of time with it.
If you think you can breathe a sigh of relief once Spidey has swung in and Elephant Mario stomps his way onto Switch, think again. The schedule doesn't relent after October 20. The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection arrives four days later. I've not even touched on some of the (slightly) smaller games launching in the same month. Lords of the Fallen and Cities: Skyline 2 round out what might be the busiest month for big games the industry has ever seen. Providing a whole bunch of them don't get pushed back, of course, which is incredibly likely.
You probably won’t have much time to catch up with them all in November either. Just as you’re wrapping up Mirage and finally moving on to Wonder, the Yakuza series will get one game bigger, and then November 17 hits. Two big games launch on the same day again, Persona 5 Tactica and Super Mario RPG. Seriously, can you not all have a shared calendar or something? How does this keep happening?
There's also no getting away from the fact many of us will still be tackling two of 2023's biggest games by the time October gets here. Definitely Starfield, which will have only been out for a month, and probably Baldur’s Gate 3 too, especially if you plan on waiting for the Dungeons & Dragons RPG to arrive on PS5.
I'm well aware that if you don't work in video games, you probably don't care about most of the games mentioned above. There will be two or three you're looking forward to and while that time of the year will still be busier than usual for you on the games front, it might actually be manageable. For those of us who have to play as much as we can, or if you do want to play almost everything launching in October, well, keep us in your thoughts. When the promise of finding out whether Peter Parker survives Spider-Man 2 is waiting for you, who needs to eat and sleep anyway, right?