Pinch and a punch for the first of the month - and no returns! Oh, and Merry Christmas. Fire up SomaFM, open the first door on your advent calendar, and enjoy four weeks of mulling the Dickens out of everything you eat, drink, wear, and play.
What are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!
Alec
My mind is torn asunder by two very different turn-based preoccupations: the slow, steely endurance of BattleTech's endgame-changing Flashpoint DLC, and the animal-themed sneak-o-tension of gonzo XCOM/Stalker/Beyond Good & Evil mash-up Mutant Year Zero (my thoughts on which I will subject you to on Tuesday). Ten years ago, my hard drive was full of shooters, but these days it's TBS all the way. I am so old.
Alice Bee
Alice is on hols.
Alice L
Another Alice is on hols.
Alice O
The RPS Destiny 2 community invited me to my first raid this week, and it was quite different to anything else in the game? So I'm hoping to see more raids for their surprising puzzles and challenges that are more than murder. I've been getting into the PvP more too, getting a feel for which weapons work well with my playstyle. I do like the various Bounties that challenge me to play with other ways too, ending up making odd decisions like whipping out a Dead Man Walking automatic bloopzap pistol which seems to catch everyone off guard because why would anyone use that? For the faction rep, baby.
Brendan
I'll be cracking skulls and playing dress-up in Hitman 2, probably. The only alternative would be to slap cards together with violent glee in Artifact, but so far I'm feeling all the violence and none of the glee. Either I should keep playing to understand it better, or I should accept that my brain doesn't like it. I don't know. Anyway.
Dave
In between some games of Artifact, mostly drafting if I'm honest as I've discovered this can actually be fun, I'll probably be tackling some of the backlog this weekend, maybe either The Room 3 or Return Of The Obra Dinn.
Graham
I didn't get any time to play more Hitman 2 last weekend, and so I shall try again this time. I am desperate to play something absorbing, I am desperate to be absorbed. Hitman's systemic murderboxes with their checklist of methods should be the ideal thing to soak up my puddled self.
John
This weekend Laura is away, meaning it's just me and Toby running wild around the house without a grown up. So who knows what's going to happen, but it's very unlikely to be PC games.
Katharine
Katharine is also away!
Matt
Valve have made another game with three lanes, numerous wizards, and overwhelming complexity. I think I'm going to spend a lot of time with Artifact.
Matthew
I'm ill, so whatever I'm playing will be done so to an alternative soundtrack of coughs, splutters and pitiful whimpers. But it'll probably be more Hitman 2. I made the foolish decision to add Tom 'All Those Things You Know Him From' Francis to my Steam friends list, so now have him to contend with on the leaderboards. Few people I know are so tuned into exploiting AI weaknesses, so I'm looking forward to being humiliated.
Nöa
Nöa has been aggressively mulled.
But you, dearest reader, what are you playing?
