As you may have heard,February is a darn busy month in gamer land. Even with a couple of games delayed out of the month into the relatively free pastures of March, you are going to need to lock in tight to get through the deluge in one piece. Lockruary, they should call it. BetweenKingdom Come Deliverance 2,Civilization 7,Avowed,Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, andMonster Hunter Wilds, plus a handful of smaller games sprinkled in there, it seems impossible to find time to play them all. Itseemsimpossible, but it’s not.
So I’m here to steer you through this difficult time with some handy prioritisation. With this handy dandy guide, you can leap from game to game feeling like Steven Tyler, baby. You ain’t gonna miss a thing. But to do that, I need you to make like Fergie and meet me halfway. Got a wedding coming up? Cancel it. Made plans with friends? Don’t go. Boss keeps calling you saying you’ll be fired if you don’t show up for work? Kill him and hide the body so well the cops won’t find it until March.
For legal reasons, I do not endorse you killing your boss. And for personal reasons, I do not endorse anyone at TheGamer killing their boss, as that would be me.
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
Before you even get to February, January has a couple of tricks up its sleeve.Citizen Sleeper 2, the sequel toTheGamer’s 2022 Game of the Year, just dropped on Jan 31. We know this game clocks in a little longer than its predecessor, asour reviewer Ben Sledgepegging this one at 12 hours to the seven to ten hour scope of the first.
However, he also felt it suffered from the increased scope a little bit, so taking the most efficient route instead of meandering through everything and feeling the game’s energy dissolve might be the better experience in any case. You only have a few days before February’s party actually starts, so ride this one hard and put it away wet.
Clash Of The Titans, If Titans Were Hyper-Detailed Nerds
The first heavyweight collision of February comes in the form of two spreadsheets turned video games, as the extra-authentic medieval sim Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 launches on Feb 4, followed a week later by Civilization 7 on Feb 11. A week is a long time in gaming, and while it might not be enough for KCD2 (you were looking at about 80 hours for the original), that will earn you a solid head start.
With KCD2 offering a narrative-focused experience to be soaked up and Civ more of a managerial exercise which will be patched and augmented over time, I would suggest that (for gamers looking to play everything, at least) Civ is the first sandbag cut from the balloon. Lightly dabbling or skipping altogether to allow you to finish Deliverance 2 means Civ will probably be better by the time you get around to it, and offers some breathing room before the hits keep on coming.
Avowed In Oceans Of Space, But Will It Drown?
AfterAssassin’s Creed Shadowsskulked away from Feb 14 withninja-like reflexes into March, Avowed is February’s Andrea Pirlo, with an ocean of space in the middle of the month. It launches Feb 13 if you preordered, which may be a little close to Civ 7, or Feb 18 if you didn’t (and it’s on Game Pass, so who did?) which presses up againstYakuzaon Feb 21.
However, whenever the game is actually available to you, it feels as though it has a little bit of breathing room.After a stellar showcase,rumours of Gears of War on the horizon, andmomentum from Indiana Jones, it feels as though Avowed will be setting the tone for what could be an important year for Xbox.
But how do you make time for it? Weknow it’s similartoObsidian’sprevious game,The Outer Worlds, which you could beat in around 15 hours. However, to get a ‘true’ playthrough with all the side activities, it’s more like 40 hours. How much time you have depends on whether you get the game Feb 13 or Feb 18, and whether this undercard matters more than the main event. I would suggest playing as normal, then hitting the accelerator if you’re not falling in love by the second half, or taking it easier if this ends up being the February game for you.
The Heavyweights Close Out The Month
At the end of February, we see two series that have increasingly grown in popularity over their past few entries - Like a Dragon andMonster Hunter. Pirate Yakuza, representing the former, launches the earliest of the duo, arriving Feb 21. Wilds, for the latter, won’t be here until Feb 28, where it then runs into March’s patch and goes toe to toe withSplit Fictionon March 6.
We knowPirate Yakuza is a shorter spin-off, closer to Gaiden, meaning it will be between 12-20 hours. That’s doable in a week, I believe in you. Of course, it’s less doable if you’re starting Avowed on Feb 18. Since Like a Dragon is a side game, as much as it pains me to say it, I think that is our second sandbag. Roll Avowed into Monster Hunter (a game I expect will be asking for 50 hours at least), then circle back around for Yakuza later. Of course, itcould be the finale for both Kiryu and Majimain a way that is open to spoilers, so you might want to ditch Avowed, or make Avowed and Yakuza a double stuffed 30-hour Oreo to guzzle before Monster Hunter arrives on a silver platter.
Don’t Forget About The Indies
While this guide is extended for extremely hardcore gamers (if this were real life I would make a rockstar hand symbol and stick my tongue out while wearing a backwards gamer cap), many of you may prefer to take your time with games, fully appreciating their themes and the emotional impact of their experience. If so, February is going to be a month of decision and sacrifice, which is probably also what you like to do in video games.
That also means, rather than cramming as many video games as possible down your gullet as if they were hot dogs and you were at a contest wherein you needed to eat a lot of the aforementioned meat product, you might be best placed to discover February’s hidden gems. It may be a stretch to putLost Recordsin this category, but itcan’t really hang with the triple-A crowdso it’s a big fish in this small pond.Rift of the NecrodancerandUrban Myth Dissolution Centerare fellow, slightly smaller fish that might be worth frying with rice as an alternative to endless hot dogs.
