Video game consoles are among our favourite pieces of home technology. No matter how powerful our PC might be or how many ‘smart’ gadgets we might have around our homes, we still love spending time with our PlayStation or Xbox more than we enjoy spending time with any other piece of kit. Most of us have been around game consoles since we were very young, and although we were told by our parents (and then our partners) that we’d grow out of the habit, we never have. Nor do we want to!

If you, like us, are a big fan of games, the next month is going to be a very exciting time for you. It’s launch time for the latest generation of video game consoles in November, with both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X becoming available to players. These will be the machines upon which we play our games for the next five or six years. But which games should we play? How do we know what to spend our money on and what to steer clear of?

The truth is that the best games to be made for these new platforms probably won’t be made or released for a long time. It takes developers a while to get used to new hardware, so it’s likely that we won’t see it pushed to its limits for another year or two. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be anything worth playing until then, though. In fact, the range of games available for the PlayStation 5 on launch day looks very impressive. There are over a dozen games confirmed as going live on day one, but the ones we’re about to list look the most promising to us.

Borderlands 3

If you’re a keen gamer, you might be wondering why we’re listing “Borderlands 3.” It is, after all, already available for the PlayStation 4. The reason it’s here, though, is because it’s getting a major overhaul for the latest generation of consoles. It will be available as a day one release for both the PlayStation and the Xbox, and there will be significant upgrades compared to the ‘last-gen’ version of the game. Among those upgrades is a brand new game mode, along with additional skill trees and split-screen co-op play if you have someone to play against at home. The graphics are getting a big overhaul again, jumping up to 4K with an impressive 60fps rate. In short, it’s going to look and feel like a new game. Not bad considering the fact that you can upgrade for free if you already own the current version.

borderlands 3

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

This is an “Assassin’s Creed” game. That will be enough to sell it to most people. This enormously popular franchise has been going strong for well over a decade now, and its popularity doesn’t appear likely to wane any time soon. New “Assassin’s Creed” games are treated almost like movie releases by their fans, which is probably not surprising as the wait between them has started to feel like the wait between films in franchises, too. We don’t think this “Valhalla” entry into the franchise is going to make anyone feel like the wait wasn’t worth it, though. Who doesn’t like Vikings? The year is 873, the Vikings have just reached England, and we’ve arrived at the eve of war. You know what you have to do, and you’ll enjoy doing it.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Destruction AllStars

Those of you who’ve been around video games mostly in the car games, since the days of the first PlayStation console (which is 25 years ago now) will remember a great early PS1 game called “Destruction Derby.” Gameplay involved little more than smashing your car into other cars as hard as possible, with the last car in drivable condition winning the day. There might have been an occasional element of racing involved, too. This isn’t literally a sequel to “Destruction Derby,” but it has “Destruction” in the title, and it follows a similar theme. You’re inside a car, you’re driving it in an arena full of thousands of baying fans, and the only way to win is to destroy all of your opponents. It’s a spiritual successor to “Destruction Derby” at the very least and takes full advantage of the new platform’s graphical capabilities.

Destruction Allstars

Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War

Just as we said “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla” will sell many units because it’s an “Assassin’s Creed” game, “Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War” will sell millions of copies because it’s a “Call of Duty” game. That title can sell anything. We even include online slots websites in that. Visit almost any online slots website like MoneyReels.com of your choosing, and you’ll probably find a slot called “Call of Duty 4,” based on “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.” It takes the look and feel of the video game and adapts it to the online slots format. If the name alone is enough to sell a “Call of Duty” online slots game where you can’t even shoot at anyone, it will sell this. There’s way more to this game than just the familiar brand name, though. Solo campaigns are back, the graphics have never looked better, and you have a particularly shady period of history to deal with. Good luck, soldier.

Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War

Observer: System Redux

We hope this game gets a lot of attention because the original didn’t get half as much attention as it deserved. That’s probably because it was a PC game rather than a console game. The first “Observer” came out in 2017 and was set in Krakow, Poland, in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event. The central character was a policeman who had the useful ability to read the minds of criminals, sent into the middle of a violent slum to solve a case. It was as compelling a horror genre game as we’ve played in a long time. That’s why we’re excited about this ‘redux’ version of the game, which takes the original tale and gives it a next-gen treatment. Much like the first “Dead Space” many years ago, this is a game that will live on in your memory long after the credits have rolled and the nightmare is over.

Observer: System Redux

We’d like to think we’ve given you a good range of genres to choose from there, but more importantly, we’ve identified five fantastic games. Very soon, they will be yours to play, so go and get them!