USgamer Community Question: What Are You Going to Play This Thanksgiving?

With a long weekend coming up for most of us - except for those working in retail, in which case you have our sympathies - hopefully you'll be able to carve out some quality time for video gaming. If that's the case, what is it that you're going to be playing? Are you going to break out something old that you want to replay, or are you picking up something brand new in the Black Friday sales? Whatever it is, we're interested to hear about it.

Here's what the USgamer team are going to be playing after stuffing themselves with turkey, or tofurky as may well be the case with some of the vegetarians amongst them.

Jaz Rignall, Editor-at-Large

The big question for me is - do I take the leap into Fallout 4 or not? Generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of RPG games, but I did absolutely love Skyrim, so I'm wondering if I'll have a similar experience to that. Fallout 4 does sound like a hugely complicated game, and one that is an enormous time sink, but with at least a couple of days free over the Thanksgiving period, I'm thinking that maybe I should put some effort into Bethesda's exceptionally popular title to see whether or not it tickles my fancy. I'm just scared that it indeed will, and what that'll do in terms of my more obsessive gaming side. Usually when I get into something, I really get into it, to the exclusion of everything else. And Fallout 4 seems like a game you can really lose yourself in.

What I do know is that I'll be putting some time into Black Ops III. I'm slowly making headway through that game, having reached level 40 at time of writing, and I'm enjoying it a lot - although not quite as much as I enjoyed Advanced Warfare. That might be a surprise to some, since Advanced Warfare isn't necessarily considered one of the best entries in the CoD series, but I just really liked certain aspects of it, especially customizing my character and playing around with different loadouts and weapons. Black Ops III just hasn't quite got that same level of customization, and because of that, I don't feel quite as personally invested in the game. Still, it does play very well, and I am enjoying it, even though I wish there were more character gear customization options.

Maybe that's a good reason to go and play Fallout 4. That does sound like a game that I can really make my own.

Jeremy Parish, Editor-in-Chief

This is not me bragging about how I'm going to spend my holiday playing games that aren't out yet, with an undercurrent of "ha ha, you plebes." This is me wheeling about in wide-eyed panic because it's a 100+ hour game that I've barely had a chance to touch, and I'm going to have family in town all through the holidays, and oh god how am I possibly going to find the time? I feel like Nintendo has broken the sacred pact that says all big games for the year are out by Thanksgiving and the games press gets to take a few days off. Those monsters.

Mike Williams, Associate Editor

This is a hard question for me, because I just received a game for review that is probably my real answer to this question, but I can't really talk about it yet. And despite the frenzy that overtook the world, it's probably not going to be Fallout 4 for me. Instead, I'd like to dig into Square Enix' Rise of the Tomb Raider next week, because I've heard good things and we have to make decisions for our Game of the Year content soon.

Yes, this is the kind of thing that fuels the game I play day-to-day. Soon, we'll be completely out of review season and I can focus on my considerable backlog, other smaller titles, or just games I want to play for fun. We're still living in the tail end of it though.

I'm still pretty psyched to dig into Lara's latest adventure. I when out to GameStop to pre-order Fire Emblem Fates: Special Edition and I couldn't help but plunk down the $60 for Rise. Sure, a day one purchase is necessary, nor does it fit with my lifestyle. Sure, Black Friday is literally right around the corner. But damnit, when the need to play Tomb Raider hits me, I wanted to be able to just tear it open right then and there. At least now, it's close at hand. Like Halo 5, Destiny: the Taken King, FarCry 4, and Super Mario Maker.

Huh. I might be bad with money.

Bob Mackey, Senior Writer

The game-heavy fall season makes members of the games press more irresponsible than usual; anything we start on our own time is likely to be interrupted over and over again until the early weeks of December arrive. Then, we're finally given a break from Too Many Releases. And while I could use the upcoming holiday to dive back into one of the many, many RPGs I abandoned at the 15-to-20-hour mark, I'm going for something much more achievable by attempting to finish Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

That's not to say I haven't already spent dozens of hours Fulton-ing dudes and stealing diamonds—because I have. But since Metal Gear Solid V's world offers so many distractions, I rarely touch the critical path. I plan on rectifying that next week and actually, y'know, start making progress in a game I've been playing on and off for almost three months. And who knows: By the time the weekend comes to a close, I might actually know why everyone hates the ending!

Kat Bailey, Senior Editor

I'm going home for Thanksgiving, which means that my PC and my gaming consoles will be getting a well-deserved rest over the holiday weekend. Assuming that I bring a game with me - I do kind of want to take a break after reviewing Fallout 4 and MGS V this season - I'm probably going to keep playing Persona Q.

Yes, I'm still playing Persona Q after a year. You will be happy to know, however, that I've finally finished the first dungeon and met up with the Persona 3 characters! The funny thing about my 3DS these days is that it doesn't get much play unless I'm on the road; and even then, I tend to get distracted by other games. Last time I was traveling, for instance, I was engrossing in Plague of Shadows, which you should totally go play. My casual gaming schedule is uneven like that.

I do plan to finish it, however. I've thoroughly enjoyed what I've played of Persona Q to this point, and I think it does a very good job of mixing Persona's excellent demon fusion system with Etrian Odyssey's exploration. Oh, and it has a great soundtrack, which makes it easy for me to break out my headphone and just relax with it. That it's held my attention this long when I've had so many other games to play is a definite mark in its favor.

Then again, I may just play Hearthstone. That's just how I roll sometimes.