Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 519

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for me
Great with some decent headphones 👍

Having recently platinumed The Man who Erased his Name, I’m now playing through Infinite Wealth. Very few games can convince me to buy them full price, at least outside of VR, but the Yakuza series is my favourite of all time.

Yesterday I created my DD2 character so now I’ll go back to playing Control. I started it a few days ago and I like it so far…

Hogwarts Legacy: I've only just begun the dive but am quite impressed with the graphical fidelity and the faithfulness to the source material. It's great fun wrapping your head around the history of Hogwarts while still running into the occasional familiar face.

I've longed for a new Harry Potter game since the Lego versions and this is proving to be a great one so far.

Finishing off the Steelrising platinum. It's no Dark Souls or Nioh, however for a small french , it's an admirable attempt.

I'm into Tales of Berseria at the moment. I think it's so much better than Tales of Arise, especially the characters and skits.
Also continuing with the fantastic Infinite Wealth.

Absolutely loving Pacific Drive! Strong S.T.A.L.K.E.R vibe but more chill. Scratching my survival/crafting itch. Have a great wekend folks!

PS5 wise:
MGS 2
Returnal
FFVII remake rebirth
The legend of the dragoon
Star ocean the second story r

PS4 wise:
ESO
Doom 3
Tunic
GTA 3

Currently at chapter 14 of ff7 rebirth and when im done im ready to take a long break from new final fantasy games perhaps forever! :/

After starting my second play through of Horizon Forbidden West a few months ago, I’m now nearing the end of the main campaign. Then, it’s on to the Burning Shores expansion! Thoroughly enjoyed playing this game again, and is definitely one of the best games on PS5 imo. Also playing Expeditions - a Mudrunner game, and Astral ascent. I like AA, but some of the zodiac bosses are so damn hard!

On PC I'll be gunning my engine to finish Pacific Drive.

On PS5 I'll be enjoying the sun at Costa Del Sol in FFVII Rebirth.

However, I'm also feeling like I might try and catch up on Shogun and the New season of True Detective.

Still playing Rebirth on PS5 and I've been having a lot of fun with it. Much better than Remake and also taking my time instead of just rushing the main story.

On my third sojourn to Nioh 2. This time to finish everything off. The more I play, the more I appreciate its combat system… great game!

Ps5 Final Fantasy Rebirth which is outstanding. Queens Blood is so addictive. Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload. Also watching Shogun and cant wait for Rise of The Ronin

After earning enough XP this week my attention turns to the long Bonus XP grind in Red Faction Guerilla with the boosting crew. Anything else would be a bonus.

Have a good one everyone 👍

I’ll be switching between Final fantasy 7 rebirth and star ocean integrity and faithlessnessless. Maybe punch some air in synth riders too.

Finished Banishers after 83 hours. So, working my way through Alan Wake 2 and plan on playing Unicorn Overlord and WWE2K24 and maybe some CoD since it's double XP weekend.

Cyberpunk 2077. Heading into the PS4 version of Night City to finish up my monowire Lucy run. Holds up pretty well even without all the updates the PS5 version now has. Have a good weekend all!

Having wrapped up the excellent Dead Space remake last night, I can finally start Final Fantasy VII Rebirth this weekend. I was thinking about playing Crisis Core Reunion first, but I can’t do it. I need to play Rebirth now!

Contemplating going back to Baldur's Gate 3 (just started the 2nd act) or Tears of the Kingdom. Alternatively I might give Balatro a spin.

I’ll be playing Rebirth, which is continuing to impress the further I get. I simultaneously want to continue the story but also do all the side stuff as well. Just got to Cosmo Canyon and it’s exactly how I hoped it would be.

I will also be giving Outlast Trials a try later with my girlfriend and some Saturday night drinks.

Season 2 of Foamstars just dropped so I'll be playing a tonne of that ^__^

I am still trying to get the 100% completion trophy in Tchia for the platinum. I just need to get gold on a couple of more races and one diving challenge that is giving me problems. Also a little OverWatch with my son and daughter. We are all fairly excited about the Cowboy Bebop skins releasing next week. Best anime ever. The plan is to get Spike, Jett and Faye and then all play together on a team.

100hrs done in AC:Valhalla as of now but starting Sifu and a bit of Power washer simulator now the trophy bug has been fixed!
Happy gaming everyone!

I'll be continuing with Rebirth finished chapter 6 last night and I'm really enjoying it though some of the mini games are annoying. I'm also going to try and start something from my backlog if i get time determined to get through some of it this year.

TLOU - finished part 2 earlier in the week. Such fantastic games! I appreciated the story in part 2 more this time around than the first, guess the beginning was less of a shock and I could enjoy the different aspects of the story more. Could write a lot but it would be very spoiler heavy. Simply wonderful games, true masterpieces imo!

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth - I’ve only played a few hours but it was love at first sight. So great to play a version of a game I played and loved all those years ago, where nostalgia kind of affects the new game but at the same time its different enough that it feels like a new experience. This is going to be awesome!

Happy gaming y’all!

I will continue the raid of Francia in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and the revolution in the amazing Tales of Arise. Planning to fit some Yakuza 3 too (the game is bettter than I expected). And, I will rewatch Dune Pt.1 in preparation for Pt. 2 next weekend. Happy days chums!!

@Mintie Shogun is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The show of the year already!!

Just finished Ghostwire: Tokyo. Such a great game! Somehow it kind of stayed under the radar, but I loved its atmosphere and gameplay. For the people that haven’t played it - it’s on PS Plus until March 19th and is quite a short game.

Now I’m finished I’ll try that Silent Hill showcase (don’t expect too much of it) and after that either Scarlet Nexus, Steelrising or Humanity (my Plus subscription ends July 4th).

The lack of weekly races in GT7 meant I had to fill my gaming void by starting AC Mirage, it feels like a mini Origins so far, but I did like Origins a lot, by 'eck.

More Final Fantasy VII Rebirth this weekend which continues to suck me in with the side content. Unicorn Overlord arrived today but whether I get to playing it yet is another question

Once again ff7 is the only answer.

Like most it’s still Rebirth for me, and still smiling from ear to ear every time I boot it up. I’m really taking my time (and I’m a relatively slow player anyway), about midway through chapter 4 and it’s just a joy.

Really, really want to play Unicorn Overlord, but think I’ll at least wait until the credits have rolled on Rebirth. Speaking of Unicorn Overlord, I did pick up Dragon Crown Pro for £4.99 in the sale atm, so that’s also lurking in the ever growing library to play.

Helldivers 2. I just finished 2 priority orders worth 30 medals and got thrown another shed load for some reason I'm not too sure about so in total I ended up with 145 medals. Have a great weekend everybody 👍

HellDivers 2

Followed up by trying to finish Crisis Core before moving onto Rebirth but I doubt I’ll be able to resist.

Lastly quick runs in Trinity Fusion, which is growing on me the more I play it.

I’m heading towards the finale in Infinite wealth and I don’t want it to be over. Although I do have like a dragon 7 lined up to retackle that final tower for that sweet sweet plat. Apart from that I am being forced outside to see people. 🤣🤣

Raining outside this weekend so I'll be investigating in the 'cozy' Alan Wake II to set the mood.

Im still playing the incredible dragon dogma dark arisen.im also still playing the excellent judment.and im still playing the awsome underated days gone.i will be watching my boston Celtics 💚🖤 play.i just finished watching the horror movie Thanksgiving on Netflix.it was really a excellent movie.i will be watching legendary sitcoms tv 📺 comedy shows in Sanford and son.good times.the Jeffersons.martin.and saved by the bell.word up son

I dont know why im not finishing my RE4 remake playthrough but all of my free time this weekend will be spent with Dave the Diver and Helldivers 2

I vowed to platinum Octopath Traveler 2 by the end of March so I'm working on that. Not sure I'll play much more of Granblue Fantasy Relink now that I reached level 100 with my main. Theres more upgrading to do but I'm not really seeing the point beyond bigger damage numbers. And the new season of Foamstars just started so I'm playing that.

I'll also be watching the Android saga of DBZ with the wife in honor of Akira Toriyama.

Game on!

I carried out the betrayal of a character in my cyberpunk DLC ending. Now I have two characters, male and female who each took a different binary choice path way to the endings.

So, I finally tried the Devil ending which made me stop up and reflect on all the dilemmas and choices that made up that playthrough.

I still need to see out 2 different endings, but my first ending with Lesbian V was very special and good. The other male ending V was tough in a good way.

That means I am so close to seeing "all" of the story this game offers. The size of this game is such that there are still things I didn't see or do and lots of skills I haven't fully tried out.

I set out to be done with Cyberpunk but... you can never truly finish this game I feel. There's still 30-40 hours of Nomad path to try when all is said and done. I want to go back to Baldur's Gate III soon. Or Forbidden West. Considering to restart both games because of the time spent away from them.

Just started Outer Wilds and I'm already obsessed - can't wait to delve into this more

This weekend I’m playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. I’m seven chapters deep, and I’ve 100%’ed each region. I’m taking my time and really absorbing this sprawling world. It can feel a little too bloated at times, but the story (which I won’t discuss due to spoilers) and moment to moment gameplay is a genuine blast.

So far, the game is living up to my lofty expectations. The combat is a lot more balanced than its predecessor, and more dynamic too. It might be my favorite battle system in an RPG ever. It’s a wonderful mix between exhilarating action and classic turn-based decisions. It’s an impressive feat that keeps you constantly engaged.

One thing I really appreciate is how everything has a purpose. Mini-games such as Queen’s Blood and Fort Condor (and more) have their own mysterious yet compelling storylines, and are worth experience. Side stories are somewhat bland from a design perspective, but feature brilliant character development.

I’ll try and be as spoiler free as possible — there are two quests I’ve been involved in that expound on the characters. The first one revolves around Barret’s relationship with Marlene, and how he expresses his love for her and is worried about her future. The second relates to Cloud’s incentive on his asking price of 2,000 gil for his mercenary work. It becomes an inside joke within the party which is heartwarming in and of itself, but there is also a backstory to that particular price that has emotional weight behind it.

While there may be a Far Cry-esque nature to its open world, nothing feels like wasted space. The game simply respects your time. I can’t wait to explore further into some iconic locations from the PS1 original, and even though I know what is to come, I still find myself curious as to how things will unfold. To me, that is a sign of a masterful game that respects its legacy and modern audience.

I also purchased Vanillaware’s Unicorn Overlord. I’ve only put two hours in. Initially, it was a little jarring, not being able to strategically choose your actions like your typical turn based (S)RPGs, but once I came to terms with it and found enjoyment in unit management, the game really started to become special. This is shaping up to be a brilliant ride.

Massively inbetween games at the moment, plus my son keeps using my account to play his games so I can't get a look in. Might check out the Spiderman 2 update

Looking forward to finally digging into Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I've had it since launch, but haven't been able to start it. I did play it for a little bit yesterday, but the weekend is when I can game a lot more usually.

Final Fantasy VII Remake on PS5. Some FF XVI as well, been making pretty good progress in both. I don't know why I didn't really get into XVI sooner, bought it day one and loved the combat but then kind of stopped to focus on some other games and didn't go back until recently.

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5) - have just finished the Jotunheim story arc and am back in England.

Gears of War: Definitive Edition (XSX) - finished the first chapter.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection (Switch) - the games are showing their age but the presentation and overall package is excellent.

Balatro (Steam) - have won my first run after a half a dozen attempts with a "two pair" strategy built around the Spare Trousers joker which I levelled up to a 100x multiplier. This game is insane.

@Kraven I agree with just about everything you've said, very well put! The combat is so much fun to experiment with.

My take: I feel a little of the Remake "jank" has carried over (ducking, slow walking, hold Triangle, spend 2 minutes finding the right "spot" to get the prompt to show to pick up that materia on the edge of a rock) and I see all of the open world "tropes" throughout. Muddy-ish textures on performance, a bit stuttery on graphics. I can 100% see what some people are unhappy about.

And yet every time I play, I have the biggest, goofiest grin on my face. I watched all of my cohorts climb up a rope, because everyone has their own climbing animation, and they're AWESOME. Seriously, watch Aerith when she dismounts a Chocobo, so adorable. I can see every bit of love poured into the world, the lore, the characters, the soundtrack, and I think it's all been one of the most amazing gaming experiences I've ever had.

It's not the best Final Fantasy game - I think there are far too many entries that I love to even try to choose one as the best. But I can say with certainty that it is far and away my favorite Final Fantasy game, and I can't think the devs enough for making this happen. I'm not done yet (2nd half of Ch 9), but even if they fumble the ending, it's been an outstanding 60 hours so far.

Rebirth might have the greatest music of any game I have ever played. It's incredible how it's on point at all times.

I am playing Destiny 2 😁

PS5- Unicorn Overlord and FF7 Rebirth
Series X- Tekken 8
Switch- Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy

Taxi Life - I like it, driving within the rules can be fun sometimes. Yeah it's got its share of jank but nothing a patch or 2 couldn't fix. Sometimes I can't tell if the traffic jam was supposed to happen or if the AI is having a meltdown. It stutters sometimes and once, after I picked up a client, something rammed my car so hard that it flipped over on its roof, while the passenger yelled about "something big" on the windshield.
And some more Stalker, so happy to be playing this again!

I'm playing an absurd amount of 'Brotato' at the moment. Exactly NOT the game to show off a £450 console. Damn good fun though.
Happy weekend all

Playing Persona 3 Reload and Valiant Hearts this weekend. Good gaming folks!

@Gremio108 my situation is similar. Waiting on Alone in the dark on 20th so Spiderman 2 new game plus is getting played in meantime

Continuing on with Cold Steel 2, Rebirth and a bit of the Unicorn Overlord demo. Thinking I should really wait on Unicorn Overlord as I just won't have the time to do it justice, and it truly deserves it.

CS2 has hooked me in (unsurprisingly), and on reflection I've realised I enjoyed CS1 more than I realised at the time. Can't wait to continue on with the series!

I’m playing the Stellar Blade demo!

Just kidding.

I am finishing Arcade Paradise, which is fun, but in a relentlessly adequate kind of way.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) - Time for Dante to get his just due.

Jet Car Stunts (Windows Phone) - Mostly dailies still.

Lode Runner Classic (Windows Phone) - Finally picked this back up after taking a week off from it.

@Darude84 I finished Ghostwire last week and I also really liked it. Atmosphere was great! I am really surprised this one didn’t make more of a splash. I thought it was very fun.

Not HellDivers apparently...

Between Tekken 8 and Ragnarök since waiting to finish update for my recently purchased Spiderman 2. Can’t wait to play it but as I always do with my new games, I update to latest before starting to play.

Some Star Wars Dark Forces Remastered. Spider Man 2

I’m playing The Last of Us Part 1 & Remnant 2.

Just finished Robocop Rogue City, which I enjoyed very much. Now I am playing Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster. Enjoy your weekend guys and gals.

Playing Ghost of Tsushima. Getting a hang of the combat, and becoming more formidable, which is fun. Also: one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played.

Bit more of jedi survivor and then a few lightgun games starting with hotd overkill

Started sifu,only barely 1 hr into the game and I can understand what the hype is around it over the last 2 yrs,what a ton of fun sifu is and I've barely got going,it's so empowering, I feel like John wick/Bruce Lee, if yr having a bad day ,this is the game to offload that frustration ,challenging but oh so very cool,when I've dealt with a group of guys I feel so gd because it's pretty difficult but I'd rather be challenging than to easy as much more satisfaction ,and maybe tomorrow some rdr2 and grid legends and I've been so tempted to get pacific drive as that game sds super cool as I love driving games and it's getting gd reviews from critics and people that have bought it

A buddy finally picked up HellDivers 2, so we've been having sessions of joining others games to help them spread democracy and freedom!

And dying a lot in the process.

Started pacific drive realised it was at 30fps and not a stable 30fps turned it off and deleted it. I’ll get round to it one day maybe if it gets a 60fps patch for the PS5 pro. I wish frame rate didn’t bother me so much now as it never bothered me in my 20s/30s but in my 40s 😱

Wwe 2k24! So far so good. Hopefully keep me busy for a bit

@Arisen not enjoying the game?

Well another week another WAYP. Kinda busy week? Kinda neglected my switch this weekend due to work on Friday amd having plans on Saturday. So we’re gonna remedy that with some Unicorn Overlord today. Very extremely excited to play that as I always love a good Vanillaware game. Also gonna probably take a couple minutes before bed tonight and do the Dragons Dogma 2 Character Creator Demo thing so I can skip that part when the game comes out because yes I did get to pick up a digital copy of that this weekend too. Usually I skip demos because I like starting the game as is when it comes out but I don’t exactly enjoy character creators as much as other people so I don’t mind skipping that. As for games I plan to tackle the rest of the week well all that’s left on the Nintendo DLC train is the Splatoon DLC after I beat Pokémon this week so on switch I’m thinking some Splatoon 3, Cold Steel IV, Another Code, Mario Vs DK, Unicorn Overlord and Rain Code. And over on the PS5 a rotation of FFVII Rebirth, Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload, Granblue Fantasy Relink, and hopefully finishing off the last of FFXIV: Endwalker content. Maybe crack into some Foamstars too if I get some free time. Anime of the week is short and simple. Gotta give it to Frieren, Delusional Monthly Magazine, High Card, Delicious in Dungeon and Urusei Yatsura as always. Also of course continued special shout-out to a show I’m loving Shameless. Podcasts of the week gotta go to Castle Super Beast, Big Think Dimension, Remap Radio, RPGsites Tetracast, Into the Aether, Windbreaker, Firelink, Press Start Turbo, Summon Sign, and Nextlander. As always a big huge lovely shoutout to my friend at twitch.tv/akibread and their lovely streams. And this week a personal and special thank you to Akira Toriyama and all he’s done may he Rest In Peace. As always stay lovely to each other, stay safe and have a excellent weekend. Happy MAR10 Day. And Happy Gaming.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that knows me that my weekend has been split between the equally excellent Dying Light 2 and Pacific Drive. And, lamentably, some housework.

I stopped playing AC Mirage after 2-3hrs because I could not resist and started FF16. Currently 11hrs in and having great time. Sure, there are lot of cutscenes but the story with combat are so good and interesting that I can easily forgive the game for them. I have to mention the music in the game, mainly during Eikon fights, it's absolutely stunning! Never paid too much attention to music in video games but that changed with Doom games and then of course with souls games. Now I will check out also other FF soundtracks too.

I also downloaded F1 23 from ps+. New F1 season started and I did not play F1 game for years so great chance to play F1 again. Just few trials and races done and it's really fun.

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Am enjoying SteelRising will persist with it.

FF7 Rebirth. I’m only almost done Chapter 9 yet I’m 60+ hours in. Absolutely love this game

Was playing Rebirth, downloaded Sifu.
Would I rather chase down a chocobo in order to progress the story or kick some tail?
Yeah it was all Sifu this weekend. I’ll get back to Rebirth, but I’m stuck in the Sifu loop. First game I wanted to just keep getting better and better at in a long time.

Nothing but Rebirth. This game is massive but it is so enjoyable doing the open world activities. Taking my sweet time but I feel like the combat will shine even more on hard mode just like it did in remake for me.

Having an absolute blast with NFS: Unbound. It seems I'm having a more positive experience with the game than those who've played the previous entries in the series (I haven't played NFS en about a decade)... Been a while since I felt such a thrill from a racing game, and I'm just loving the customization. I'm also actually appreciating the art style, though I was sceptical when I first saw it upon release... That and Rocket League, my forever game