Halloween Round Up: Scary bad, mediocre, and Scary Good!!!

By Aditya Deshbandhu Halloween is my favorite day of the year. There’s something about wacky costumes, innocuous pranks, unexpected spookiness, and sudden bursts of fear that concocts an adrenaline rush that seems just right. As I decide to spend my Halloween curled up with video games, I would like to leave you with the spookiest things […]

By Aditya Deshbandhu

Halloween is my favorite day of the year. There’s something about wacky costumes, innocuous pranks, unexpected spookiness, and sudden bursts of fear that concocts an adrenaline rush that seems just right. As I decide to spend my Halloween curled up with video games, I would like to leave you with the spookiest things of all – my thoughts!

I would like to begin with Gotham Knights, a game that at this point just about seems unnecessary on every level. Is it better than its predecessors (Arkham Knight & Arkham City) – no. Does it offer a newer and more nuanced combat system – no. Is it a new direction in terms of its narrative that looks promising – no. Is it better to simply replay the Arkham classics – Yes.

I have simply not got along with Gotham Knights; the grind seems unnecessary and at times it looks like it was conceptualized as a free-to-play game that was suddenly asked to grow up and impersonate a flagship game. It lacks the polish, purpose, and direction that characterized the Arkham games. Maybe stay away from this one?

The second one I look at is Bayonetta 3, a game that was shrouded in controversy when the voice artist who lent her voice to the titular character spoke about not being paid adequately to reprise her role. The game is quite fun, and the action sequences are spectacular. The narrative though seems a bit common to me as Bayonetta opens up a multiverse of its own with this game.

For a game that comes eight years after the last entry I was expecting something more gripping. Multiverses are a dime a dozen these days. The combat though is worthwhile and Bayonetta 3 is a worthy sequel. All in all, as I noticed in my review in 2017, even today this remains the only game where you can fire bullets from your stilettos.

The last game on this list is one that has yet to release and will officially be available to players only from the 9th of November. Most people who play games will tell you how God of War Ragnarök is this year’s most awaited game. I can personally confirm that the reason I bought my PS5 was to play Ragnarök and the next Last of Us. As things stand, my excitement levels can’t be higher and from whatever I have seen so far Ragnarök will have a lot more open-world dynamics like side-quests and exploration.

This is God of War taking further steps into a territory what was once uncharted. Personally, I like the switch from the classic hack ‘n’ slash linear style, and I think the open world will give the game’s story the space to flesh out what kind of father Kratos is to Atreus and vice versa. I look forward to the showdown between Thor and Kratos and I am just as my nephew tells me, a little worried for Kratos this time around.

Lastly, news reports indicate that the connectors on some of Nvidia’s RTX 4090s have caught fire. I personally believe for a card that costs over USD 1,500 it should be able to take a bullet for you and walk away unscathed. So, this is a little disappointing. Spare 1,500 USD anyone? I would like my own GPU Diwali.

There it is, the Halloween round up on video games. If you would like to be scared playing a game, I can’t recommend Until Dawn enough.