pictureEarlier this week, the Culture Division asked me to recommend four games for their annual Autumn Arts Preview. Readers: I’ve been struggling. The period from September to November is typically jam-packed with AAA releases as publishers compete for space in the historically lucrative pre-Christmas period. Even in the era of “live service” games like Fortnite, Destiny, and Genshin Impact (which ignore external sales patterns in favor of their own constantly-updated season passes), autumn is guaranteed to see a plethora of big-budget game releases.

But this year… not so much. September was mainly focused on The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (below). October brought the Silent Hill 2 reboot, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and Sonic X: Shadow Generations. For winter fun, the really busy blockbuster lineup will have to wait until November, including Slitterhead, Football Manager 2025, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, and Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl. The highly anticipated role-playing game Avowed has been delayed until 2025, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is not holding out hope, with no release date announced beyond “2024.”

Why? There are a few possible explanations. 2023 was a very busy year, overcrowded with big releases like Baldur’s Gate 3, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Starfield, and Diablo IV. Meanwhile, 2025 is already shaping up to be a very busy year, with GTA 6, Death Stranding 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Civilization 7 coming on strong. And the COVID-19-induced surge in development activity has now subsided, as we see a disgraceful number of layoffs and studio closures across the industry. Perhaps a sluggish year was expected.

The good news is that fewer big, attention-grabbing titles give smaller games a chance to find an audience. September has some really interesting original and indie titles, including the bizarre adventures Phoenix Springs (pictured above) and Demonschool, the charming retro collection UFO 50, and the Atari-era nostalgia Yars Rising. My son Zac wants to play October’s Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, and I’m an old fan of comics, anime, and the 1990s Konami arcade games, so I’ll enjoy TMNT: Mutants Unleashed. Life is Strange: Double Exposure should also benefit from the extra space given to its time-shifting murder mystery.

It may be comforting to have dozens of huge, multi-year video game series churn out in the space of a 12-week period. Like summer blockbusters, they inscribe the fabric of our years, informing us of where we were and what we were doing at key moments in our lives. In a world where old certainties are crumbling, entertainment rituals provide stability and shared expectations. We may no longer see people queuing around the block to see the latest Star Wars movie or lining up outside gaming and electronics boutiques at midnight to buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but the spectacle of consumer frenzy has always had real meaning.

Still, a quiet year gives us other options. It gives us time and space to break from habitual purchases. 2014 is often touted as a “bad” year for games because there were no big releases. But it was also the year of Alien Isolation, Titanfall, and Shovel Knight. It was also the year I poured hundreds of hours into Shadow of Mordor, despite not being a Lord of the Rings fan. It was also the year of OlliOlli and The Evil Within, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Games I might never have had a chance to play properly if I hadn’t had the means. I’m really glad I did.

Anyway, we were able to choose four games for our Fall Art Preview, but many more emerged when we thought more broadly. So this Fall, try something new, something original, something to share and recommend. These games will get you through the Fall and Winter, and by the end, you’ll have a story of your own to tell.

What to Play

With no dedicated Olympic games this year, it’s worth giving it another try. nintendo switch sports It’s a lot of fun, especially with the addition of basketball in the new update. Play alone or against friends (both online and locally). Shake the Joy-Con to dribble and flick your wrist to shoot. There are even mini-games to test your dunking prowess. The collection also includes five other Olympic sports, so you can easily organize your own slightly chaotic sports tournaments.

Available on: Nintendo Switch
Estimated play time: all you want

What to Read

• Indie studio Innersloth has released a new game for Traitor Between us He played games during the lockdown. Now the company is using that money to Providing funding to small developers with innovative ideas – A heartwarming story.

• New rumors are emerging new half life game A reference to Valve’s development codename “Project White Sands” Found in an online portfolio The site has since removed the reference to video game actor Natasha Chandel, but the rumors continue.

• I love very specific things Video game deep dive and Polygon is a great source of information. The latest article on this site is List of banned and unaired episodes of the Pokémon anime complete with explanations. It’s a wild ride.

What to click on

Question Block

This week’s question was submitted by user X Dan Chambers he asked.

“Will the Switch 2, or whatever it’s called, ultimately find a product that can rival the Switch, or is it destined to be a comparable failure? And what are the key building blocks for success?”

Regarding Nintendo’s next game console, it will be released by the end of March 2025. Rumored specs It’s got an 8-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage, which is fine but not all that exciting, and no one buys a Nintendo console for its techy appeal.

Aside from the SNES, the company has always done best when it has made major updates to the form factor of its machines, like from SNES to N64, or GameCube to Wii, while struggling (comparatively) with more tech-driven updates, like the GameCube (beloved by some, but disappointing sales) and Wii U. The Switch 2 seems to fall into the latter category at the moment, with no fresh ideas being heard in terms of interface or interaction.

What’s needed is a highly visual, easily understood, game-changing concept. Something that can easily be shown with a few seconds of footage from a new Super Mario game. Perhaps there’s a new feature for the built-in screen, or a never-before-seen local multiplayer concept. The design philosophy of Nintendo’s great tech wizard, the late Gunpei Yokoi, still holds true: think horizontally with dead technology. A big OLED screen just won’t do.

If you have any questions for the Question Block or any other comments about the newsletter, Please email us at pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.