What are we all playing this weekend?

I am slightly kicking myself for not taking Friday off to chase what was possibly the final good snow of winter. Well, I say "good snow", it wasn't great. It quickly turned to sleet in many places and was carried by monstrous gusts in others. I likely would have ended up sodden and sullen halfway up a hill. But what if...! Ah well, what are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!

Alice Bee
I'm going to spend the weekend playing Cobalt Core for the RPS Game Club and trying to like it. So far I do not, and I fear I will become the treehouse's unreasonable curmudgeon - a role which was vacated in 2019 and that does not need to be filled.

Alice0
I still have a few more Steam Next Fest demos to try, though I might just download a ton then naff off to Aberdeen to look at a load of real coloured lights.

Ed
Once again, I am not around for much gaming this weekend. I'm visiting a pal in Bristol and we're going to watch The Zone Of Interest, one that'll no doubt destroy us emotionally. If I have time, I'll be on the Helldivers 2 hotness!

Edwin
I'm unlikely to do that much gaming this weekend, after gorging on Next Fest demos and staying late on Thursday to play [REDACTED], but I might have a crack at Helldivers 2. I like the capes! Beyond that, it'll be a mixture of research, faffing around with creative projects and err, cooking? Yeah, maybe some kind of fancy cooking.

James
Oh my sweet shazbot, those Tribes 3: Rivals folks might just do it. The Next Fest demo build currently out and about is easily the best iteration I've played, with a far better sense of the face-ruining speed I craved from previous playtests. I want, and shall have, more.

Jeremy
I was messing around with the Capcom Fighting Collection the other day during a break and was kinda delighted by Red Earth, an obscure fighting game experiment from 1996 that's a sword and sorcery Street Fighter with light RPG elements, like characters who level up. Dubbed "Warzard" for the Japanese release (gosh, that is a cool name), it only received limited arcade distribution outside of Japan and never had a proper home release until Capcom Fighting Collection bundled it with a bunch of Darkstalkers entries and Super Puzzle Fighter. Really unusual game that was probably ahead of its time in many ways, and as an enthusiast of obscure retro fighters, it deserves more of my attention. The main dude is a guy named Leo, and he's essentially Conan if Conan had a lion's head. Pulpy, powerful stuff!

Katharine
It will likely be a big Final Fantasy 7 weekend in House Castle. Matthew (RPS in peace) is currently caning it through Remake ahead of Rebirth coming out, while I'll be doing my best to wrestle the PlayStation from him so I can finally finish the Intergrade DLC, and maybe have a little sneaky peak at the Rebirth demo as well. I do also have another couple of review games on the go, and some final Next Fest demos I want to try out before they (presumably) bite the dust on Monday. I have my eye on Realm Of Ink, NeverGrave and both Cryptmaster and err, Crypt Custodian. I'm okay, really. Completely unintentional run of death-themed games there. Honest. In the words of our beloved Barret, "The planet is dyin', Cloud!"

Kiera
In a bid to catch up on some great games that passed me by last year, I would like to finally give Dave The Diver a proper go. The silly humour appeals to me and it looks like a jack of all trades with the way it juggles between management systems and exploration. I have a touch of thalassophobia and really like underwater games because of the way they freak me out. With that said, I'm already expecting to love it.

Ollie
is ???

But you, reader dear, what are you playing this weekend?