What are you playing this weekend?
Ah, the weekend. Time to put the work week behind us, relax, enjoy the weather, and play some games.
Even though you might unwind during the week in the evenings with a gaming session, the weekend is a great time to play games, because you aren't busy with work, making sure the kids have brushed their teeth, or dealing with the stress of normal, everyday life.
Playing games can be cathartic too, and being able to bash a few baddies or live vicariously through a certain character can be good for one's mental state. Plus, it can help your brain either think or relax depending on what you are playing.
This weekend, we plan to tackle our backlog, play the latest release on PC, revisit a previously released game, and maybe even try something entirely new to us.
Here's what we're playing this weekend:
Dorrani Williams, Video Producer - The Last of Us 2 PS5 (maybe)
This is one of those weekends where nothing is on the agenda gaming-wise.
The backlog is building up and my Steam library is staring at me with disappointment. Saying that I might start my replay on The Last of Us 2 since it got the PS5 update but chances are, as soon as I relax and get ready to press start and begin a new playthrough, I’ll get a message from my friends to either play Valorant or Apex Legends and I’ll probably say yes.
Friends really are the biggest threat against gaming backlog progression.
Rebecca Jones, Guides Writer — Life is Strange 2
I've been on a bit of a Life is Strange kick lately. That might be down to the steady drip-feed of hype for Life is Strange: True Colors over the past few weeks; or that I'm currently reading the latest volume of the comic book continuation of the first game. Or maybe just that I'm always, on some level, on a Life is Strange kick.
Whatever the reason, this weekend I'll be trying to get the final few trophies on Life is Strange 2, the only game in the franchise I've yet to Platinum. I'm already on the last episode of my second playthrough, with only three trophies to go. Heavy subject matter aside, it sounds like a suitably low-stress way to spend a couple of hours this weekend.
I honestly love Life is Strange 2 — mainly because Sean Diaz is one of my favourite video game protagonists, even if he can't quite unseat his franchise-mate Chloe Price as the G.O.A.T. from my point of view. But I'm not overly looking forward to reaching the end again, since I don't really like any of the possible outcomes to this story. To be fair, the only Life is Strange game I felt stuck the landing was Before the Storm, and that's probably because as a prequel it was basically a foregone conclusion.
For me, the Life is Strange series has always been more about journeys than destinations — so I'll be sad to see it end again, in more ways than one. (Even if it will be sweet to ping my first Platinum trophy in a while.) Still, less than four months to wait until True Colors arrives and, I dare say, brings with it a whole new set of characters and scenarios for me to emotionally over-invest in. I genuinely can't wait.
Sherif Saed, Staff Writer – Days Gone (PC), Battlefield 5 (PS5)
I didn’t enjoy my time with Days Gone on PS4 when I played it at launch. The only thing I was really into was the loop of rummaging through cupboards and car trunks for components, crafting, and occasionally avoiding/taking out a few zombies in between.
Having no love for its protagonist, world and many of the design decisions Bend made with gameplay, however, made it impossible for this loop to keep me engaged beyond 20 or so hours.
But I remember thinking how much better it must feel on mouse and keyboard with framerates higher than 30fps. I got my wish this week with the release of Days Gone on PC, and I spent some time playing it. Unfortunately, so much of what I hoped would feel better on PC just doesn’t.
The framerate is significantly higher, sure, but Days Gone’s hefty, animation-lead character movement is a nightmare on a keyboard. Aiming, another area I felt the precision of a mouse would really make smoother, feels about as scrappy as it did on a DualShock 4, and I regularly have to rely on the bullet time mechanic to have any real chance of landing killing shots.
But I want to salvage whatever I can from this irredeemable game, so I am going to turn to the old art of cheats. I want to boost all my stats, unlock all weapons and see if I could take on the game’s famous big hordes, which is really the only thing I just couldn’t do on PS4. I suspect once I push those limits, that’ll be the end of my time with it.
You might recall that a couple of weeks ago, I decided to given Battlefield 5 on PS5 a shot. Though I usually can’t aim worth a damn on controllers, I wanted to see how well I could do nevertheless.
The influx of new players from PlayStation Plus, matchmaking landing me in skill-appropriate games, and DICE’s work with aim assist over the course of BF5's life all combined actually made it fun to play.
I was surprised to find that I am shockingly okay at it. I landed in the top five on my team in every game I played, and though I am still nowhere near good enough to play shooters on a controller, I am not struggling – I feel competent – which is more than I honestly imagined.
I want to play some more this weekend, perhaps try and work on my long-range accuracy. Dorrani and I recorded our thoughts on what we’d like to see in the next Battlefield earlier this week, and I am in the mood for some of that Battlefield chaos.
If Battlefield 6 – or whatever it ends up being called – knocks it out of the park, I could see myself playing it on two different platforms, so this training should pay off.
Stephany Nunneley, News Editor - Skyrim, something on Switch
I have tons of things to do around the house this weekend, like finally hanging up the storm door. I also have so many boxes from the move I still have to go through, and then there's the yard. It really needs mowing. But in between doing things I don't really want to be doing, I plan on having a bit of fun
I plan to play Skyrim: Special Edition this weekend, because last week while I was on vacation, I never got around to it. I was busy doing vacation things, like sleeping in, reading, getting caught up on the Netflix show Lucifer (yes, I like the show), going to my niece's birthday party, and finally being able to see two of my best friends after all these months of social distancing. Needless to say, I was too busy to devote time to Skyrim, but I did get in a few more sessions with Resident Evil Village.
Then again, I might play something on Switch. I was late to the Switch party and just picked one up in February. Looking over our Best Switch Games list for suggestions, I am thinking about picking up either The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Link’s Awakening. I usually love Zelda games, The Wind Waker being one of my favorites, so I am eager to try both out.
Then again, New Pokemon Snap looks like a fun, relaxing game I might consider picking up instead. Even though I heard it's a bit of a grind, I am used to that since I play MMOs, so hearing that doesn't really faze me.
If you have any Switch suggestions, please feel free to share them with me.
Tom Orry, Editor-in-Chief - Resident Evil Village
I've not got a great deal to say this week as I've mostly been playing a game I can't talk about until Monday, but I did finally get going with Resident Evil Village, which is as great as I'd hoped.
I've read a lot about the final sections disappointing somewhat, but I'm hoping they don't sour what is shaping up to be another brilliant entry in the series.
Adjacent to this I've been playing the game I've called: "Quickly scroll past the Resident Evil 8 spoiler gif." I know this happens with pretty much every big release these days, but I've already had at least two neat, rather gory moments ruined and I'll never know how cool they would have been when encountered during play. It's part of the modern world, I guess, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.
Side note: I'm so tempted to pick up Returnal. I've even got the credit sat in my PSN account. I just know I won't have the time to play it, but the FOMO is real with that one.
So, those are our plans for the weekend. Surely you have something you plan on playing over the next couple of days, and we would love to hear what games you plan on giving a go.