What are we all playing this weekend?
Well?
Sheesh, what a week. Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard for $69 billion is so weird that it's easy to lose your head and forget to say "Nice." Alice Bee has considered some of the implications while I'm also groaning hard about nostalgic navel-gazing reviving old Activision series. But it was nice to close out the week with news that Raven QA are unionising. Sheesh! Settle down, Actiblizz. Tell me gang, what are you playing this weekend?
Alice Bee
Strange Horticulture is out! I'm going to play some more over the weekend, because even after you finish the story there's more to do and I want to 100% my plant collection.
Alice0
I'm enjoying Fallout 4 more than I expected, mostly because of the city. I find the rolling wastes of modern Fallout and Elder Scrolls games quite boring, just grass and hills dotted with huts each containing: two skeletons holding hands; three items of food I will never use; one hat I will never wear. But inner Boston's multilayered open warground is nice. I was also glad to learn that not every building is signposted with a place name and fast travel marker, rewarding exploration. Yesterday I found Cheers!
Ed
is on holday.
Hayden
This weekend, I'm torn between some Apex Legends and Warzone. Similar premises, but such different execution. I'm leaning towards Apex for its smooth movement, but Warzone is usually my favourite of the two. Outside of video games, the Curse of Strahd D&D campaign I play in seems to be setting up some kind of endgame. In this week's session, we need to journey across Barovia to revisit some past locations and find treasures that could help us defeat the grumpy vamp once and for all. My little gnome wizard, Stumbleduck, doesn't quite know where it all leads, but his journey to learn more about Ravenloft’s dark magic continues to prove fruitful.
James
Either God of War or Death's Door. Both have been untouched on my SSD for over a week and I'm starting to get Tell-Tale Heart vibes.
Katharine
It's more Dad of War for me this weekend. I'm enjoying it immensely, but I can also feel it sinking its teeth into me in the same way Assassin's Creed Valhalla did last year. So far, I think I've spent as much time exploring the nooks and crannies of its big central lake area and getting distracted by sidequests as I have playing the main story, and goddamnit, why do I do this to myself? The completionist in me is winning and I do not have the time to spend the next three months playing this game to exhaustion. I must move on, but my curiosity will not allow it. My battle with big blockbuster games continues...
Ollie
I've been thoroughly enjoying playing Rainbow Six Extraction lately. Still getting absolutely stomped on the higher difficulty levels, but I think I actually prefer to make things just a little too hard for me. If I'm really forced to think on my feet to survive, it makes each mission much more dramatic and engaging than if I were just sneaking around popping alien heads and never slowing down. Setting the difficulty level up beyond my comfort zone makes the dangerous enemies seem truly frightening rather than just bullet-spongey, and forces you to properly consider the risk-reward trade-off of doing certain things, which is what I think Ubisoft intended.
Rebecca
I've been at RPS for just over six months now and apparently my reputation as "the dating sim weirdo" is starting to pay dividends, because this weekend I'll be playing Sucker For Love at Katharine's suggestion. If I survive my attempts to woo three eldritch goddesses of the apocalypse (seems unlikely) I hope to be back with some words about it next week.
But you, reader dear, what are you playing this weekend?