Why Every Gamer And Movie Fan Is Excited For October 27
There are 24 hours in a day. On October 27, 2017, that's not going to be enough. For pop culture junkies, the last Friday in October is shaping up to be one of the busiest and most exciting days in recent memory — if not ever.
You've got new video game releases. You have a brand new season of one of the most binge-worthy shows on television. You have an entire slate of geek-friendly feature films making their long-awaited debuts. For fans, the question isn't which one to watch or play — you're going to get to all of 'em. The hard part is choosing which one to go after first. After all, you only have so much time — and on days like this, every second is precious. Here's why.
Stranger Things Season 2
The first season of Stranger Things practically perfected the art of the cliffhanger, and the finale ended on a doozy: Will Byers, fresh off his adventures in the Upside Down, excuses himself to go wash his hands — and promptly vomits a slug into the bathroom sink.
On October 27, we'll find out what that means — it just might take a while. Netflix will release all nine episodes of Stranger Things' sophomore effort at once, giving fans plenty to chew on as they unravel the show's lingering mysteries while getting tangled up in all new ones. Is Eleven still alive, as Sheriff Hopper's Eggo-laden visit to the woods implies? Are the experiments at the Hawkins National Laboratory really finished, or is its mysterious work continuing elsewhere?
Expect some answers, and even more questions, alongside all of the '80s nostalgia you can handle when Stranger Things returns. Just don't expect to see poor Barb this time around, God rest her soul.
Assassin's Creed Origins
Over the past nine games (plus a handful of spin-offs), Assassin's Creed has tracked the centuries-spanning Assassin versus Templar conflict through the Crusades, the Renaissance, the Victorian era, and two separate revolutions. In the 2017 installment, Ubisoft is going all the way back to the beginning. Assassin's Creed Origins will drop would-be killers into a vibrant recreation of ancient Egypt, and promises to explain exactly why the Assassins and the Templars have been slitting each other's throats for so darn long.
But this isn't going to be the same Assassin's Creed that you remember. In 2016, for the first time since Assassin's Creed II, the main Assassin's Creed series took a year off. It looks like the break did the series a world of good. Sure, you'll still be scaling buildings (and in this case, some pyramids) and sneaking up on foes. But despite the ancient setting, Origins is shaping up to be the most modern Assassin's Creed yet. Instead of climbing towers, Origins' hero, Bayek, can dispatch an eagle to scout out the land around him. Camels join horses and boats as methods of transportation. Combat is getting a Dark Souls-inspired overhaul, while a Destiny-like loot system will make exploring Assassin's Creed Origins' massive open world much more satisfying.
Or, to put it another way: in Assassin's Creed Origins, you can ride a war elephant and fight a hippo with nothing but a blade and some good timing. If that's not a recipe for a game of the year candidate, we don't know what is.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
Nazi punching never goes out of style no matter what year it is, and game publisher Bethesda is set to get in on the fascist-smashing action this fall with the release of Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. If you played 2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order, you know that's a good thing. Like the 2016 DOOM reboot, The New Order took the best elements from older Wolfenstein games and gussied them up for discerning modern audience.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus looks like it's going to be more of the same — just, y'know, better. In The New Colossus, hero B.J. Blazkowicz returns, ready to take the fight to America's Nazi occupiers yet again. No spoilers, but if you finished The New Order, you'll know that Blazkowicz is a little worse for wear this time around. Like its predecessor, The New Colossus will feature old-school gameplay — no auto-regenerating health here — and alternate spins on iconic American locations, including Roswell, New Mexico and a bombed-out New York City.
Meanwhile, the story will play an even more prominent role this time around. Reportedly, there are twice as many cutscenes in The New Colossus as in The New Order. Meanwhile, the wacky, off-the-wall tone that made The New Order so popular will be preserved in the sequel. "We're doing things that are decidedly outside of a well-trodden path," writer Jens Matthies promises, and if that doesn't get you excited, well, you don't know Wolfenstein.
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women
Wonder Woman's record-breaking theatrical debut was one of the highlights at 2017's summer box office. But Princess Diana's story doesn't hold a candle to that of her creator, Dr. William Moulton Marston. Not only did Marston, a trained psychiatrist, help invent the polygraph, but he believed that women were naturally better than men, and that true happiness could only be found by giving in to "loving submission" – literally—the guy was big into BDSM. .
Oh, and did we mention that Marston was one-third of a polyamorous relationship between himself, his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and their partner, Olive Byrne? And that all of this was going on in the highly moralistic '40s, when the early feminist movement was in full swing and World War II raged in the background? And that Wonder Woman was conceived as a way for Marston to make kids comfortable with his decidedly unique worldview? C'mon, the girl carries a magic rope that doubles as a lie detector. A subtle guy Marston was not.
All in all, there's tons of drama to mine from Marston's life even before Wonder Woman gets involved. If Professor Marston & the Wonder Women delivers on its potential, it should be an even better origin story than the Amazon's big-budget counterpart.
Jigsaw
Don't write Jigsaw off as just another mindless slasher. Oh, sure, after terrifying audiences in seven Saw films, the trap-happy hunter has more than earned his place next to Freddy Krueger, Jason, and Michael Myers in the horror movie hall of fame. But he's not like them. Not really. For one, Jigsaw thinks he's a legitimate hero. "His entire life is based around making people appreciate their lives," Saw II, III and IV director Darren Lynn Bousman explains. "He wholeheartedly believes that by putting them in an extreme situation, it's going to force them to wake up."
Also unlike his peers, when Jigsaw dies, he stays dead. Saw's signature villain met his demise at the end of Saw III, and the rest of the series is carried on by his proteges, who consider themselves responsible for continuing Jigsaw's good works. But is that changing? In Jigsaw, bodies start piling up, and according to the evidence Jigsaw is responsible. There's just one problem: he's been dead for 10 years.
Even without Jigsaw's brand-name appeal, that's a compelling set-up for a mystery, and should be enough to get gore-hounds of all types into theaters when Jigsaw premieres on October 27. Don't expect a typical Saw film, either. Co-director Michael Spierig describes Jigsaw as "Saw for 2017." That means the series' brutal traps return — and "plenty of gore" along with them — but with a new and updated tone that Spierig says is "not quite as vicious and more fun," as well as a few plot twists that Pierig promises will blow audiences away.
Super Mario Odyssey
In March, it was hard to imagine that the Nintendo Switch would get a better game in 2017 than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Then, Mario happened. In Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo's plucky plumber ditches the Mushroom Kingdom for strange new worlds, where he'll hunt for the Power Moons that fuel his extradimensional ship.
Thankfully, Mario won't be travelling alone. In Super Mario Odyssey's biggest gameplay twist, Mario can hurl his hat — which is now a sentient chapeau named Cappy — onto friends and enemies alike, possessing them and taking their powers. Need to cross a wide gap? Put Cappy on a Bullet Bill and sail across. Need to clear a room of enemies? Take over a tank and make quick work of your foes.
The hat-tossing mechanic was everything that Super Mario Odyssey needed to walk away victorious at E3 2017, but there's more to Super Mario Odyssey than that. Like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Odyssey emphasizes exploration over progression. There are secrets everywhere: Super Mario Odyssey has more collectibles to find than any other game in the series. The levels, meanwhile, look to be the most diverse collection of settings in Mario history. All that, and Bowser rocks an all-white tuxedo and top hat. How could you say no?