What Are We All Playing This Weekend?

Adam: I'm replaying Hitman: Blood Money. Recently, I've found that when I refer to a game as either an exemplary model of its series or a particular form, I'm keen to go back and work out why that is. There's a tendency to use certain games as short-hand for GOOD and other games as short-hand for BAD, and I want to explore why that is. With Bloody Money, I'm planning to play as much as possible so that I can analyse each level - look at what is actually accomplished and why it stands baldy head and shoulders above the rest of the series.

Philippa: This weekend I suspect I will be mostly playing MOBAs of some kind. There are Dota heroes I want to try having watched The International but I'm also determined to get better at League and I still haven't taken that squirrel, Ratatoskr, out for a spin in Smite. That said, I've just caught sight of Cradle in my unplayed list on Steam so I might sack off "playing with others" entirely and curl up with that.

Graham: I have a beta key for the first-person videogame SUPER HOT, and have been enjoying it a lot thus far. I've exhausted this early build's story content and have moved on to its endless mode, which pits you against respawning enemies for as long as you can survive. The game is quite Hotline Miami-ish, in the rhythm and violence of its action and in the meta-narrative that surrounds it, and I'm enjoying slicing and blasting through red goons.

Alec: I am playing Dear Esther follow-up Everybody's Gone To The Rapture and alternately marvelling at its fidelity to middle Englandism and recoiling from it, but I can't talk about that here, because PS4. I'm also playing Thomas Was Alone follow-up Volume, but I can't talk about that either, at least not until next week. I'm also playing a prototype of a thing I'm doing some things for, but I can't talk about that yet either. Hmm! What can I talk about? Well, I bought a really big Transformer because I'm a ridiculous man-child, and I'm playing with that a bit whenever I need to gather my thoughts. Relaxes me, see. All being well I should be playing Shadowrun: Hong Kong before too long too, which I'm very excited about it, presuming it can continue the escalation in complexity and flexibility that the returned series has managed so far.

John: This weekend I am at my mummy and daddy's house, but when I get back I want to squeeze in some more GRAV, an early access space building doodah that I rather enjoyed a quick peak at. It's been out for ages, but the dev pointed me toward it after my interest in Empyrion. I have a lovely house with a balcony.

Also, I really want to get around to some Hacknet, but there are too many games and too much family. One of them has to go.