Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 612

I'm still playing Ender Magnolia, it's another case of "I'm not sure I like it that much" for the first 10 hours (like Ender Lilies), then "OMG I love this!". Apparently I can't have enough Metroidvanias. I'm still chipping away at the GT7 Power Pack and weeklies, and I've finally caved and got Clair Explorer 33 that all you kids have been talking about, so that's next!

Have a great weekend/Chrimbo/Holidays Folks!

My eldest daughter is now home from uni for Christmas, and I'll mainly be spending time with my two girls this weekend, as well as some last-minute festive preparations. However, if I manage to fit in any gaming time I will be playing Owlboy, and I also have some wildly ambitious notions about starting Red Dead Redemption after that.

Have a great weekend!

Playing:

• Detroit Become Human
• Natural Doctrine (this game is kicking my ass!)
• The Legend of Dragoon
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, Hard diff (just finished Normal diff)

Have a great weekend everyone 🍻

Still escaping from Father in Hades this morning but got tickets to my local football team so gonna watch them, a few beers afterwards and hopefully a curry.

Have a great gaming weekend Pushsquarians 🍻

I've been playing Star Renegades

It's a roguelike turn-based SRPG. A bit like a mix of Roguebook and Darkest Dungeon, but without cards. Perfect game for listening through music, and this week has seen a deep dive into Quincy Jones and Robin Trower, amongst others.

Just got the plat for Bioshock 2 Remastered - the best game in the series ! Now for the amazing Minervas Den, one of the best slices of DLC ever .
Doing a rerun of Metroid Dread which is as tough as old boots ! But brilliant.
Will also carry on with Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition a fantastic JRPG
Have a great gaming Christmas guys and gals 🎅🤶🍾🍸🥂🎄

It's 4:30 AM on a Saturday. I have no reason to be awake besides a needy cat. Ugggh.

Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven has been fun - I will likely continue through that. I am off work for the rest of the year, so I may take some time to finish a game or two that I've left unfinished for the year.

Edit: I played the Pragmata demo - it's actually a whole lot of fun. And it even ran beautifully on my dumpy little PC, so that's a win in two ways. I'll be getting it on PS5 for sure.

Have a great weekend.

Started Ultra Age last night. It’s a pretty average character-action game in all honesty but wanted to find something relatively short to finish off my years trophy hunting with a round number.

Also, I’m still on Resident Evil: Revelations! My co-op partner sent me some homework to study last night, as we hit our umpteenth roadblock during yesterdays session 😅

I'm not sure of the free time I will have this weekend, the plans are in flux. I was reading the SNK fandom wiki this week to pass the time, so I think I will give a spin on Metal Slug Anthology, long time I played the franchise. I'm doing the last things in Yakuza 6 before I jump to the next game, Judgement. Tomorrow, I will cheer for my soccer team, Corinthians, in the final game of the Cup of Brazil. We need that trophy.

Almost done with Cat Quest 3. 4 more trophies and the plat is mine. I like the second game more.

Hell let Loose. Love this game. Almost 1700 hours played.

I have KC2, but havent touched it yet. Im away next week and will start when Im back next weekend.

Have a great weekend!

Since I’ve been done with the Cronos New Dawn Platinum I’ve been in a funk. Played some Arc Raiders this week, but also got back into Wuchang Fallen Feathers and the Phantom Liberty DLC. I’m leaning toward Divinity OS 2 but I never finished Baldurs Gate so I’m not sure.

Also tested out Marvel Invasion and it’s very fun but also not as much fun by yourself so there that.

Anyway, I think Wuchang will be my next platinum and then maybe I’ll know what I can really sink my teeth into next.

In honor of Nintendo finally bringing Gamecube games to their modern hardware, i’m playing F-zero GX & Metroid Prime 1 via dolphin for free. I’m hooked on F-zero GX, the gameplay is so ******* good and it plays and looks so much better vs when i played on gamecube. idk if it was the blurry resolution or the gamecube controller but im actually making more progress now

Hopefully get back to Outer Worlds 2 and probably a bit of Battlefield 6 later on with my brother. I'm about halfway through Still Wakes the Deep so maybe try and finish that off if I've got time.

I will continued playing one of the best video games ever made in the excellent dark souls remastered.i will also be continued playing the smash hit the incredible sifu.i will also be continued playing the instant classic the amazing dead cells. And I will continued playing one of the best video games ever made and othe best non from software souls like game next to nioh the phenomenal remnant from the ashes and all the dlcs.i will be watching my michigan wolverines 💛💙 play.i will be watching my boston celtics 💚 🖤 play.i will also be watching my pittsburgh steelers 💛🖤 play.i will be watching legendary sitcoms TV 📺 comedy shows in family matters.good times.the Jeffersons.sanford and son.different strokes.martin.the wayans brothers.and saved by the bell.word up son

Octopath traveler and core keeper still. Great games.

Back on DivinityOS2 following the update, still quite infuriating when enemies continuously bombard with move upon move upon move, stuff like decaying where you can't heal, global cooling - tf are you cooling... all sorts of bs moves 😆, dunno when I'm going to finish this but BG3 was manageable. Then of course the game that doesn't run out of interesting immersive stories - KCD2. Will keep exploring the worlds of GoWR. Keep hunting and crafting in MHWilds and then explore The Continent in Clair Obscur a bit.

i’m still farting away at breath of the wild, going to run around a bit more before starting the end game. also will be playing the psychosis asmr walking simulator known as hellblade 2 on pc, Senua's complete lack of peripheral vision is concerning and the internal voices start to give me a headache after 20 minutes.

I’ve picked up Death on the Nile, as I fancy a cozy mystery. I’m also planning to start Dave the diver, but mind hold off until the dlc releases.

Equalicious (Windows Phone) - Nearing the end of this from a gameplay standpoint (Xbox Live is now gone).

Angry Birds Seasons (Windows Phone) - On the last five Christmas levels I need to three star. The problem is that these levels are straight from hell and want me to suffer while I try to complete them...

Angry Birds Space (Windows Phone) - I've been largely ignoring my playthrough over here while I focus on Seasons.

Zeroing sicarios in Ghost Recon Wildlands. The views from travelling along the Death Road in this game are spectacular.

Greetings festive video game enthusiasts. I finished Shinobi in time for Christmas so I can focus on the new games I’ll be getting. Have a festivus weekend everyone.

PS5: Arc raiders (just purchased), battlefield 6, Yakuza zero and dead island 2. I am also looking forward playing GoW and GoW: Ragnarok again.

I will be attempting to finish the boss rush mode in Terminator 2D, great game proper old school & Hopefully get chance to try out my NeoGeo 2 collection on Evercade for some Ninja Commando (what a name for a game).

Tempted to pick up Dispatch to play before Xmas but we'll see.

Happy gaming folks

Having a lovely time with Cat Quest 3. Purrfect.

Just got into Ghost of Yotei and just cannot put it aside.

Dispatch - finished and platinumed! Such a good game, really enjoyed pretty much everything about it and playing through the different choices felt rewarding. Looking forward to what they do next!

Now with Christmas coming I'll be spending less time playing games and more time with family and friends so I wont start anything new for a while, which is nice timing as I dont know what I want to play next. Hoping to get some inspiration from all the comments here 🙂

Happy Holidays!

Last night I finished Still Wakes the Deep, great game. Next I'll be starting Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, the PS5 version. A very different kind of marine predator, yet just as deadly in his own way.

@kyleforrester87 it's why i haven't finished it since forever. I mean how many negative effects can one person take - burning, stunned, decaying, crippled, they just pile it up to bomboclat! But I still like it tho, the satisfaction when you win.

stalker2 player here. It's great game, with PS5 opimization and dualsense adaption.

Very tempted to pop into my local Smyths this evening on the way home. They have Sonic Crossworlds and Death Stranding 2 for €40 a pop.

Finally picked up Days Gone.

Reminds me of TLOU.
It's quite a chilled open world zombie game, not too much pressure. Even has RDR2 vibes. The zombie mechanics are great. Lacking in a few areas, story not the greatest, side missions nonexistent, sometimes boring, but I can see why a sequel may have been great, or had potential at least

Hello again, and merry upcoming Christmas, y'all! This weekend I'm playing:

Switch:
Animal Crossing New Horizons: just the usual. I won't be participating in Toy Day either since I already have all the items for it. Just one more house storage upgrade to go... until the version 3.0 update adds two more!
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: some extended family is coming over on Sunday and staying at our house over the next few days. One of them is my uncle that likes playing couch multiplayer games with the family. We will definitely play at least some Smash just like his last visit. How much I'm unsure.
PS4:
Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online: since we're very close to Christmas now, after today I will put this game on hiatus for a while and return to it in a few months hopefully. All of my most used characters are above Level 70, with Blanc slightly above Level 80. All I have left to do now in the story is defeat the Paramount Pair (the Demon King's generals), and then the Demon King himself. But I found the last boss rather difficult, and I had to grind levels quite a bit just to defeat that one, so I have no idea how much more grinding I'll need for the last few bosses.

It's end of the year so a confession feels right. I have never beaten an Uncharted game so I'll start with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. High quality game which doesn't take long to beat but has a good story, pleasant gameplay, nice visuals and audio to pair with the Pulse Explore buds. Have a great weekend, my dear enthusiasts.

Was playing Alan Wake 2, love the setting and characters but couldn’t get on with the combat at all. So now to decide on which other PS Plus game to start. Likely Pacific Drive, Assassin’s Creed Mirage or Cat Quest - bloody love the Cat Quest series.

A little bit of Arc Raiders for a multiplayer fix and Fortnite with friends. Merry Christmas all.

Going to do the ivory king dlc then wrap up DS2 to complete the trilogy. Will probably skip frigid outskirts though, the runback for sir alonne was annoying enough. Enjoy the weekend everyone.

I’ve picked up quite a few titles in the Steam Winter sale so will mainly be dipping in and out of those this weekend. I really need to get back into Yotei though otherwise I will never pick it up again so may give that a few hours as well.

Recently started playing Rhythm Doctor. Catchy music, fun gameplay, I'm really enjoying it so far.

And also doing some Like a Dragon: Ishin. I've beaten the main story, so I'm going through the various substories.

Mega Man
NORCO
Shy Cats Hidden Orchestra
Earthworm Jim 2

My Nemesis 'plat' game on the Vita, Darkest Dungeon....which I've been trying to plat since 2017.

Finishing Cat Quest 3 which was ntb but felt a little directionless. Next up is Biomutant.
Have a splendid weekend everyone.

Probably gonna pickup Mad Max today, so I'll be playing that when I'm not playing AC Syndicate (trying to wipe out backlog before end of year).

Might throw in some Outer Worlds if I can.

@kyleforrester87 Where's Big Boss's Santa hat this year? 🤔

Metal Gear 3 on Vita and Diablo4 on PS5. Diablo looks and runs amazing on the PRO

I started NG+ on Expedition 33, I haven’t played it since launch and it being so front and center in the media right now had me wanting to jump back in. I will say the Gommage certainly hits a lot harder after everything I’ve went through with family this year.

I’ve also been playing through Metroid Prime Remastered. I’ve played it a few times and it never clicked with me until now. I’m really enjoying it so far, though some of its mechanics feel like a product of its time.

This weekend I am playing Divinity Original Sin 2 for the first time. I’m unsure why it took me so long to sample it considering BG3 is one of my all time favorite games. My assumption was that Baldur’s Gate 3 was a culmination of the Divinity franchise, so am I really missing anything? The answer is a resounding yes.

I had the day off work Tuesday and zero obligations for the day, so I decided why not. What I thought would be an hour of time wasted before returning back to Night City turned out to be eight hours—my wife’s entire work shift—and I’ve just now left Fort Joy.

I’m already attached to the party members I have. Their questlines have started off significantly strong, and with the brief quests I’ve tackled in the first area, I can see how my decisions will more than likely have long-lasting implications.

What I find impressive is how rich and alive the world feels. There is an abundant amount of options to approach each quest. This level of player freedom provides an immense level of independence that results in reactionary results from NPCs and the game world. The world is your oyster, and it’s up to you on how it turns out.

With that said, I hope there is an option to respec your character. More often than not I struggle in RPGs with making particular builds—whether that’s from equipment, what stats and attributes to give each character, and party composition. I could remedy this by watching YouTube tutorials but it dampens my experience with discovering things myself.

My only complaints are the mission structure, but that’s becoming easier to navigate and understand; and the controls. It’s a bit archaic in terms of managing party members and equipment - it is clearly meant for PC (I’m playing on the Nintendo Switch 2) so I can’t fault it entirely. Nonetheless, those grievances are minuscule compared to the overall product.

I don’t understand how Larian does it, but they are masters of their craft. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them, but I can presume it will turn out incredible.

Been playing Arc Raiders. They've fixed the Yakuza Kiwami £1.69 upgrade, as I was finally able to buy the upgrade this morning.

i’m playing where winds meet and i think i’ll keep playing it it’s an excellent souls like with very fun combat mechanics

@Czar_Khastik I've beaten all the Uncharted games and love them all, but you know, despite the fact it's not as cinematically impressive as the other entries, Drake's Fortune might well be my favourite. There's just something really special about it. Enjoy!

Arc raiders and kingdoms come deliverance 2 🎉👹

Nothing, Darts, Darts, Darts

Excited for the new Tomb Raider games, I’m actually replaying the survival trilogy starting with the 1st game. I’m also playing Resident Evil 3 Remake.

Arc raiders for me and the obligatory rally session. I just bought painkiller in the sale so I'm also up for a bit of silly turn your brain off doom style mayhem. I must get back to BF6 as well because I've really been neglecting it and it deserves more respect from me but you know..Arc raiders. Anyhow have a great weekend folks 👍

@Kraven exceptionally well timed. I too (finally!!) finished Yotei, a very good game that got spread out longer than it should by my gaming time reducing significantly for a while, but I decided randomly I needed to play a true RPG next. And Divinity: Original Sin 2 is very much that! It of course means E33 and DS2 are on the backburner, but this is all the gaming I need. It is fantastic!

How long did it take you to exit Fort Joy may I ask? I had multiple chances to, but just kept exploring which I role-played as 'working out the magisters strengths and weaknesses, and making sure we are equipped well enough to survive out there in the unknown' so it never felt like 'we must escape now' from that RP perspective. Which means I think I managed to pretty much clear everything, even some optional fights that were pretty tough, one that i'm proud of my solution for! Blocking two doorways with giant obstacles to cut off the melee attackers while I focused on taking out the magic weilders, an awesome mechanic how you can shape the battlefield! But my last session I finally made it out of the fort and out into the world, and now I feel the 'what now' and it is almost like a new game to explore once more 😁 so i'm heading off in a random direction to a potential hide out that got marked on my map, and I think I left it as I was just about to chat to a dismembered head on a pike, as you do!

DoS2 really is a great game and well worth playing for anyone, like us, that hadn't yet tried it. Larian also announced this week there will be some continuation in their new game, too. Even though it will be pretty much a standalone again. Things sometimes just work out really well. I think a lot of people are similarly getting on to DoS2 at the same time because of all the recent announcements and upgrades, so it almost feels like a new release.

@TimeDelayedGamer Thanks for the heads up, mate. I decided to do them in chronological order since I'm aware that those older entries are not as grandiose as the newer ones. Nathan deserves to be played as intended so I'll enjoy them one by one. And I hope to experience the Pulse Explore buds to their fullest, but I'm not sure if the PS4 trilogy has 3D audio or other fancy audio stuff implemented.

I'll continue playing Expedition 33 and likely some Peak with friends.

Actually playing Atomfall, a nice little “immersive sim”. Took it up this week after finishing Metroid Prime 4. I needed something relatively short before taking on the next massive RPG from the backlog. The choice was between Atomfall and Berserker of Khazan. But since soulslikes have a tendency to drag on I went with the former.

I'm wading through Octopath Traveler 0 right now and enjoying it after 26hrs. I also hopped on MH Wilds to fight Gogmazios with a friend so I'll probably do that some more this weekend.

Have a great weekend folks!

I'm playing through Tales of Bersersia for the first time. Enjoying it so far

I finished Ghost Town" on Psvr2. Partially, excellent. I liked the voice acting, the environments are well crafted, greate sound design. Though, the puzzles are not the most inventive ones, and I cannot say that I was super interested in the story. Overall very enjoyable.

MS Flight Simulator

Cronos :New Dawn & GOTY 2024 Astro Bot

The games I'm sinking the most time into now are GoW Ragnarok and AC Shadows. With a little Death Stranding here and there. I also have all the Resident Evil games waiting for me to muster up the courage to jump in.

I beat both Yotei and GoW 2018 in the last month, so I'm taking time to see what sticks for my next big game.

I've been playing Lorn's Lure - a first-person climbing game with great exploration and level design, and Viewfinder - that weird visual perspective game with a camera and... quirky dialogue 😁

Might wrap up Yotei but for sure we’ll be playing loads of Sonic Racing: Crossworlds. Happy gaming!

Silent Hill F - Lost in the Fog difficulty. Just this and I have the platinum trophy.

Just got the platinum for Skate Story and I love that game. Top 5 for me this year and best true indie game. Must play especially for PS+ members since it’s free.

I started Dragon Age Inquisition having never played a Dragon Age game before, but I'm finding it a bit boring and generic. I'll keep trying to get into it though.

I'm looking forward to starting Avatar in the new third-person mode. I just saw the new movie the other day so I'm pumped.

Picked up metal gear solid 3 🔺️ . Haven't played it since PS2 20 years ago so pretty much like starting a new game. Ready for tons of dialogue!

My house has been rampant with Covid (it finally caught up to us) so haven't been playing much, but I was able to get a little bit of time with Flight Simulator in, where I helicoptered over my house and accidentally crashed into it. What an amazing game.

OG God of War 1&2 from 2005-2007.
Also trying to run Chrono Trigger in emulation.

And Warrior season two on HBO.

Divinity 2 as its now on PS5 and was offer for £12.50. Always been meaning to play it especially after BG3 so now its on PS5 and going for such a cheap price i decided to jump on it and so far so great. Can't comment too much as i haven't played much but yeah its what i expected from Larian.

Still playing Remnant 2 Love the combat, exploring, and procedurally generated levels which make replays way more varied, but some of the bosses feel cheap and just kill the fun. Gonna start Dragon Age: The Veilguard in the next couple of days for playing during the break.

Battlefield 6 but gonna watch Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery shortly.

Where winds meet!

King Kong on gamecube and a bit of xfiles on ps2

@Leinad7 sweet, I'm planning a og gow playthough soon too - so good

Prime 4 (NS2), Mafia the Old country (PS5Pro), Total Chaos (Claw 8 ai plus) and Mandragora whispers of the witch tree (Claw 8 ai plus). Next will be borderlands 4 on PC

Blood: Refreshed Supply, Prime 4, and System Shock 2 remaster. I am very thankful for Nightdive. My youngest is getting really into Turok 2 and Blood because of them, and it is great. I can't wait to see him get into Quake and Doom. Fun stuff.
Happy holidays to those who do that. Hope you play some gems.

Ghost of Yotei - I'm just having a blast with this one. Way less repetitive than Tsushima, which was a very good game to begin with. This game has such a beautiful world and the combat is soooo much better than the first game

Risk of Rain 2 - I'm still trying to get most survivor skins from the new DLC while playing at Moonson difficulty, which isn't that easy

Halls of Torment and Let Them Come Onslaught: both are horde roguelite games and they're REALLY fun

Games that are on my plans:

I'm still thinking about Grounded, which i recently purchased but decided to leave it on the side so i can finish Yotei first

I want to get the Platinum trophy for RE4 Remake, RE 3 Remake, RE Village and i still want to play Chrono Cross and at least one classic Final Fantasy soon

There's so many games for me to play...

Damn it, i love videogames

Dynasty Warriors Origins. Beat Yotei and wanted some wild pitched battles to get into

@themaladroit is there an active community for risk of rain 2? I’m itching for a shooter like that but like co op shooters a ton.

@themaladroit any suggestions on not sucking at Risk of Rain 2? I play old-school fps and a lot of twitch-reflex games, but I can't seem to git gud with RoR2. I want to because it feels great. Feel like I am missing something.

Still grinding away on Borderlands 4 making slow progress towards the platinum and on the last character I need to level up to 50. Other than that, I’m also still having fun with BO7 MP. Hope everyone has a good time w their games this weekend!

Street Fighter 6 and I just got Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater, I need to start playing it.

We gots 2 trails demos abound so I'm doing those two and finishing Decorations

Just started a new playthrough of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Played the new remaster of the first RDR (its barely a remaster, but it looks nicer). So now starting the sequel. Still on the prologue, so very early days.

And, yes, I know. Technically, I am playing the story in the wrong order. But I don’t care.

Monster Hunter Wilds on't PS5 and a lil Honkai Star Rail because I'm still not caught up.

@LikelySatan i think the best way is to play a lot of runs on Drizzle difficulty first (Easy Mode) but you can also search for some YouTube guides made by content creators who are experts in this game. Woolie is a good choice, i think, but you can just search for any videos on YouTube that are made for specific survivors. Try to look for guides that are specific to a survivor so you can learn how to use their kit properly. You can also use the game's wiki (.gg, not the "normal" wiki) for additional info on how to unlock items, alternative skills, how each item procs and whatnot. Don't feel intimidated because this game is huge and it's quite difficult, so don't feel discouraged, just keep trying!

One more thing: the Seekers of the Storm DLC had a very big update that changed pretty much every item that was initially released on that DLC, so be aware that any videos or guides made around the time of release of that DLC is pretty much irrelevant now. Just try to focus on the main items of the base game first or you'll be overwhelmed

@dgmgeneral07 you can find a very active community on Reddit but you can also visit their official Discord server, which has a very good number of people still talking about the game every day. I'm pretty sure you can find people there that are willing to play with you online!

Ghost of Yotei and maybe destiny renegade if I want to buy it.

Farcry 4 I'm actually enjoying it

AC Rally, still better than most full games. And RDR on PS5 legend of west weekend.

I tried and dropped several games from my backlog recently, I just did not have fun playing them or maybe just picked wrong time for them. So I finally started Spiderman Remastered! was on my gaming plan for a long time, just in the beginning so too soon to judge but graphics are amazing.

And of course, lot of darts to watch these days

Have a nice holidays and happy gaming!

Cronos the nEw Dawn and Astro Bot. Pure horror and pure joy.

@TrollOfWar - I still think about Norco to this day, three or four years after playing it.

@Cvantez i haven't finished NORCO yet, I'm just in act 2, but it's truly a unique experience. It reminds me a lot of Kentucky Route Zero.