What are you playing this weekend?
Games. Games. Games.
The workweek is over, and it's time to enjoy being away from your co-workers, customers, your boss, and the stagnant air of the office - if you work in one.
Whether you are doing something outside this weekend, working on a home project, taking care of the lawn, shopping, or what have you, try to make some time to play some games. That's what we're doing.
Here's what we're into at the moment.
Alex Donaldson, Assistant Editor - Deathloop, Legend Bowl
This weekend, I'm mostly going to be playing stuff I've written about quite recently! So I'll keep it short, as you can click the links to see my expanded, detailed thoughts.
First of all, I'm going to spend a chunk of my Friday evening on Legend Bowl, the new small-scale, indie American Football game that I've absolutely fallen in love with. As I've already written on the site, I think this is a handily better game than Madden NFL - in fact, I don't even think it's particularly close, despite the huge difference in style and development resources.
And, of course, I'll be continuing to play Deathloop, which I gave 5 stars in the VG247 review. After reviewing it on PS5, I picked it up on PC on launch day - and I've been enjoying that version. I'm right at the end on PC now - at which point I'll be hopping into people's games as Juliana to ruin their weekend. If I kill you, sorry-not-sorry, innit.
Oh, and I'll be stripping wallpaper. Pray for me. See you next week.
Dorrani Williams, Video Producer - Destiny 2, Eastward
The weekend is here again and I'm excited to jump back into Destiny 2’s Trials of Osiris game mode.
The changes they've made are night and day, and it's a way more enjoyable experience overall. If you're a Destiny 2 player I highly recommend you jump in and see what it's like. I've also compiled a tips and tricks video to get you started.
I'm also playing this awesome indie game called Eastward which I absolutely will make a video on because it's got so much charm and personality.
It's definitely going into my top 10 games of the year for 2021.
James Billcliffe, Guides Editor - Pokemon X and Y, Sword and Shield
The backlog is indomitable, and if I think for more than a single second about the combined monetary value of all the games I own but have never played, I start to hyperventilate and clutch at my own chest involuntarily.
I don’t quite fancy a main console this weekend, especially since it’s that weird time of year when the football season has started, and playing the old FIFA feels even more gauche than usual, so I’m taking on one of the two main-series, fully-fledged Pokemon games that I’ve played absolutely none of.
I’ve not decided whether I’m going to go for Pokemon Y or Pokemon Shield first, since they’ll probably be very similar - let’s face it. But I’ve always been a big Pokemon fan and just have that itch to build up a new team.
Sherif Saed, Staff Writer - Call of Duty: Vanguard beta (PC)
Look, I am as tired of Call of Duty as anyone else. I am typically not a Call of Duty person to begin with, but as a shooter fan, I feel compelled to play most of the big shooters every year. Despite having no love for Black Ops Cold War, I ended up playing it for about a year, spending time almost exclusively in Zombies with a friend.
The point I am trying to make is that Call of Duty games usually have so much going on that you’re bound to find some redeeming qualities that hook you. Maybe Vanguard will have something for me.
The game’s open beta goes live this weekend on everything, but I’ll be playing it on PC. More than anything, I am curious why so many players are negative on it from the alpha and last weekend’s beta.
Besides, with Battlefield 2042 having been delayed, early November looks to be wide open for COD to dominate.
Stephany Nunneley, News Editor - Age of Empires 4 (stress test)
I was planning on continuing to play Nioh: Complete Edition a little bit more this weekend, but since I allow my intended to use my Epic Games library on the laptop, he will (and is) playing it instead. I need to have a serious talk with him about commandeering my things at some point before the wedding. Maybe I should incorporate “I promise not to hog the laptop or take over your games” into our vows.
Instead, I will be giving the Age of Empires 4 technical test whirl this weekend - which I planned on anyway - and I am just hoping the servers hold up.
I am sure there will be some hiccups, as Relic wants to make sure that matchmaking, lobbies, and additional systems hold up with an influx of players. The reason the test is being held over a single weekend is so as many people as possible can participate, and there’s plenty of Age of Empires fans out there, so it’s quite possible there will be loads of latency and maybe even a server crash or two.
But again, it’s a technical test so things like that are to be expected.
The friends I play Age of Empires 2 & 3 with are also planning on jumping into the tester this weekend, but we may not be able to play together. We’ll have to see.
Speaking of AoE 2 and AoE 3, it will probably be an Age of Empires weekend for me in general. We haven’t jumped into a game together in a while, because things, life, whatnot keep getting in the way. Adulting is ‘the suck,’ but is necessary sometimes.
I would like to get back into these titles as there are a few more easily attainable achievements I need to earn in AoE 3, and some of the harder ones in AoE 2 to work toward. I never thought I would be an achievements hound, but my friends and I are trying to beat each other to the punch on some of them - all in good fun, mind.
I probably won’t achieve “Wololo” before my friends because I don’t create a multitude of monks, so it will be hard for me to convert 1,000 units. Both have also already beat me to “Losing Your Religion” where you have to convert an enemy Monk. They have also beaten me to “Relic Hunter” where you have to collect 100 Relics because I am not a Relics hog. I try to share so everyone can get one, but not everyone is keen on equal distribution. Sounds like I need to create and use more monks than just one lone dude trying to comfort the villagers with pleasing thoughts of the afterlife while also snagging Relics.
Tom Orry, Editor-in-Chief - Superliminal
I've had my eye on this for quite a while, almost buying for PS4 before having the now common thought of: "I bet this will come to Xbox Game Pass at some point." And would you believe it? That's exactly what happened!
I'm rather glad I waited, to be honest, as the forced perspective and optical illusion puzzles on offer in Superliminal aren't really hitting the mark for me at the moment. I absolutely appreciate how smart this game is, but I think that's part of the problem. As someone who has a baby that still wakes up multiple times in the night, I'm not what you would call "rested." I am what you would call "tired."
This game won't even give the time of day to a tired person. If your brain checks out for a moment you'll end up lost in a sea of oddly sized objects that just make no sense. So I think I'm going to put this one on hold, at least until my brain is able to focus on a puzzle for more than a few seconds at a time.
Tell us what you're playing this weekend! Or, if you aren't firing up the console or the PC, what other plans do you have?