It’s with both a satisfied and freaked out sigh that I admit it is officially November. In just over a week we have perhaps the biggest day of the gaming year upon us: November 10th. With both Fallout 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider arriving on that day, I think the collective gaming community is going to be hibernating for the week.

Wait. Perhaps that’s just me.

My excitement for Fallout 4 is a bit weird; I tried several times to get into Fallout 3 with no success. And when I say I tried several times, I mean I tried several times at many hours apiece to no avail. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to like a game so much as Fallout 3, which made the situation all the stranger.

Despite all that, I find myself increasingly excited for next Tuesday generally, and for Fallout 4 specifically. I am metaphorically keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that this entry clicks with me.

Even with all my excitement for Fallout 4, I have pre-decided that I will play Rise of the Tomb Raider first, as it’s a far more linear experience. With no idea how many dozens or hundreds of potential hours I will be sinking into Fallout 4, it just seemed video game responsible to play the far shorter game first.

I had had so many aspirations of finishing so many other games before the 10th, but I’m starting to see that I’m not going to be able to make the progress I’d hoped. I’m still going to do my best, but I’ve had to make peace with the fact that I’m not going to finish the year nearly as productive as I’d hoped.

Shoot.

I feel like if there weren’t quite so many open world games to play, I might have made better progress, but that’s all speculation, so all I can do now is try my best to experience as many games as I can both before the 10th, as well as the end of the calendar year.

So this month’s monthly challenge is a bit different in that it isn’t so much a challenge but a “Well, let’s see how much I get done.” Should be moderately interesting. I will try to keep current with what progress I’m making and when, but as for the challenge, it’s going to be a general challenge to be proactive and make as much progress as possible in any game on my radar.

Do you have a game challenge for November? If so, what is it? Are you excited for Fallout 4 or Rise of the Tomb Raider? If so, how do you prepare? How do you prepare for huge releases in general?

With that, I’m going to go stare at my backlog and try not to let the mass of it intimidate me. We’ll see how it goes.

To November!