Happy 2020, everyone! New year, new you! Sweep away the vast heaps of sweetie wrappers and try and stand up from the sofa, where no doubt you've been living for the past two weeks. But while you and the year might have changed, the video games haven't! They're still all here! Much like the leftovers from Christmas day that your mum insisted were still totally alright even a week later, they've got to be worked through, doggedly, without hope of reprieve. Probably should have given that last round of bubble and squeak a miss, eh?
What are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!
Alice Bee
I dunno what I'll be playing this weekend. I watched the first few episodes of that Netflix show starring Henry Cavill's impossibly square jaw, so I have a sort of hankering to try and play The Witcher 3 again. I've taken a lot of runs at it, and while I respect the artistry and achievement, I've never actually managed to enjoy it. So maybe if I play it whilst humming Toss A Coin To Your Witcher, which does, in fairness, sort of bang, something will finally click.
Alice O
Playing? Mate I'll consider myself blessed if I can roll myself out of bed after these two weeks of roast potatoes, cocoa, and mulled apple juice. Maybe it's time to try out voice control software. Apologies to the neighbours who hear me shouting "SHOOT HIM YOU GIT" as I fail to understand how voice commands work.
Astrid
Astrid is on holiday.
Dave
Normally, early January for new game releases is about as barren as the salt plains in Bolivia, but I'll be knee deep in snow this weekend thanks to Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. I've already smacked around a few new monsters, as well as drastically different variants on returning creatures. I've barely scratched the surface on what Iceborne has to offer, which is refreshing. This will likely be my go-to game for the foreseeable future, though a couple of runs of Dicey Dungeons to give some much needed variety might be in order.
Graham
I did not play a single game during the Christmas holidays, because I was too busy watching my small child's face light up with pure and joyous wonder. I'll likely buy him copious amounts of stuff every day from now on, so I can keep that feeling going. If I find some time in between all the capitalism though, I quite fancy an RPG - maybe time to return to Disco Elysium?
Katharine
Katharine is also on holiday.
Matt
Matt, too, had the foresight to book holiday this week.
Matthew
On Sin's recommendation I've ventured into Wildermyth and have been totally enchanted by it. It's a properly brilliant story generator, with a cast of randomised heroes forming into legends over the course of campaign; all my bad decisions manifesting in their prosthetic limbs or, er, the lady with a shard of crystal sticking out of one eye.
Nate
It's finally happened to me. I've gotten really serious about being good at an RTS. In this case, Age Of Empires II, where I spent an embarrassing amount of time over Christmas watching tutorial videos about optimising rushes, booms, fast-castles and boar-luring. I'm still absolute cack at the game, mind, but I'm fascinated to find a side of myself that actually cares about APM - especially in my mid-30s, with my reflexes thickening like scrambled eggs under a heat lamp. I'll also be playing some Wildermyth, since Sin, and now Matthew, say it's well good, and trying out my first polar bear enclosure in Planet Zoo.
Ollie
Over the Christmas break I found myself looking for a game that gives me the same feeling as watching a spectacular torrential thunderstorm from the safety and warmth of your home. Last year I found it in They Are Billions, but this year I've found it in Northgard. Games that are cold and harsh and dangerous are always ten times better when you're wrapped up warm and snug and protected, insulated from the horrors befalling your villagers at every moment. Or it could be that I'm just an evil prick who delights in any suffering that isn't my own. Who knows?
Sin
I have been on a space kick recently, in another doomed effort to find a sandbox in which I can be a wandering salvage broker. This weekend will likely involve a lot of Evochron Legacy, a heavily modded X3, and for a change of pace, some S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly, which I have dabbled in enough to have hope, and lots of irritation.
But you, dearest reader, what are you playing?
