This week we bid a fond farewell to freelance news rascal Nat Clayton, who's leaving us for exciting pastures new. After a year and a half on evenings and weekends, she finished her final shift in the news mine on Thursday. Say thank you, goodbye, and good luck to Nat, gang.
And while RPS will officially be active all the way through Christmas Eve, half the staff are sacking it off early so this is a week of smaller Christmas goodbyes too. A few of us will still be around, mind. And I've heard the sound of cracker snaps in the treehouse so, god help us, I think Nate has been creating his own Christmas crackers with his own jokes.
What are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!
Alice Bee
I cheated by booking next week off (although I have compensated by editing and scheduling about a million things, nbd) which means this weekend I'm free! I can play whatever I feel like playing! Wheeeeee! Unfortunately this probably means I'll be sweeping up a bit of Cyberpunk 2077 even so. But, like, I don't have to if I don't want to.
Alice0
Cyberpunk 2077 is janked to heck, but I am so very happy running around the streets of Night City. This is the first iconsplattered open-world game where I've actually cleared many markers, because I'm forever running around seeing everything there is to see. I grew up on 1980s visions of our future, so it's both nostalgic and weird to dive into something that's - still - very much of that era.
Colm
Consumables are pointless, I haven't crafted a single thing in about 30 hours, a lot of the dialogue is jarring, I'm wearing the worst clothes imaginable and I've had a few missions bug out on me... but something is compelling me to play more Cyberpunk 2077. So, I guess it's more jacking for me.
Graham
I've more side quests I want to mop up in Cyberpunk 2077, but now I've finished the review I'm going to take it more slowly. I'll probably also return to Hollow Knight, which I'm enjoying a lot so far.
Imogen
I'm currently playing both Cyberpunk and Stardew Valley, and the whiplash I'm experiencing jumping between edgelord world and peaceful farm sim is something else. I'll likely try and get some Christmassy things in to break it all up - Valhalla has some festive events now, and my usual haunts of Apex and Overwatch have their winter brawls to get stuck into as well.
Jake
I rolled credits on Cyberpunk earlier this week, so I'm probably gonna put it aside until some more patching is done. I've decided to finally play through Kentucky Route Zero, I expect it'll be very good indeed.
James
I'm going to have no access to Yakuza 0 this weekend. Devastating stuff, to be honest. The story is getting very exciting. Alas, instead I'll probably revisit Hearthstone Battlegrounds and a bit of Baba Is You. It's my last day before the holidays, so big thanks to you RPS gang - staff and readers - for being lovely and welcoming me into the team.
Katharine
I'm on holiday for the whole of Christmas now, so I suspect that most of my gaming time will be spent playing Grindstone on my Switch, which is just the best puzzle game of all time. I've also been itching to play the new Hyrule Warriors game as well (love a good Zelda musou), but as is always the way at Christmas, I'll probably spend most of it reading and eating my weight in chocolate. Happy holidays folks!
Nate
Nate has already scarpered.
Ollie
I'm off until the new year, so I've got a whole lot of time to play all sorts of different games that have slipped under my radar over the past year. Naturally, that time will pass in the blink of an eye, and I'll probably only play one or two different games, as is my way. I think I'll start with the latest Humankind OpenDev scenario that Amplitude have released. Played a bit last night, and it's bloody good. Wonderful music, too.
But you, dearest reader, what are you playing?
