What are you playing this weekend?
Helloooooooooooo, weekend!!!!!
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It's that time of the week again: time to relax and have some fun.
Hopefully, you've got plans to do something other than adult things you were unable to during the week and will be able to put your feet up, kick back, and play some games. There are quite a few news ones out there, and two big ones you may or may not have heard of along with some nice indies.
We're going to spend our fun time playing some games. This weekend, we're going hardcore, hunting monsters, learning the ins and outs of being an up-and-coming yakuza, deciphering ancient tongues, exploring the stars, getting involved in teenage drama, and contemplating a trip to the Lone Star State.
Connor Makar, Staff Writer - Classic WoW
This weekend I'll probably still be playing Classic World of Warcraft on the newish hardcore servers. I've currently had like 60 hours of my life wiped away and deleted forever.
Last night, I died to two regular bears in Darkshore which meant my level 15 Druid had to get thrown into the blender. An absolute nightmare. I'm having a great time!
Dom Peppiatt, Editor-in-Chief – Monster Hunter Now
Are you really surprised that I’m going to be shuffling around London, nose in my phone, trying desperately to find out where the next Rathian I need to take down is in order to level up my silly little booties? I am a massive Monster Hunter fan, and cramming the promise of the game down into a tiny little project that fits neatly in the palm of my hand was only ever going to be a serious problem for me.
It’s an eye-melting 33 degrees Celcius (91.4°F) in London right now, so – after I take my dog out when it’s nice and cool in the morning – I’ll likely be floating from bar to bar, cooling myself down with local East London pints, hunting whatever poor creatures had the bad sense to get in my way that day. Monster Hunter Now isn’t properly out on iOS or Android until next week (Sept. 14), but when it lands, I sure hope some of you join me.
James Billcliffe, Guides Editor - Yakuza Kiwami
In my eternal quest to begin a new 100-hour RPG every week that I'll never finish, I've decided to give the storied Yakuza series a try.
The fighting is clunky but the vibes are unmatched. I love the digital tourism aspect of Yakuza Kiwami's stylised recreation of the Kabukicho red light district in Tokyo and will never cease to be tickled by the over-the-top antics on screen.
It does feel a little bit like starting a new TV series that has seven seasons already aired - if I like this one, that's like 800 hours of more game to play, right - but I'm not maining this too seriously and have just been playing it 30 minutes at a time here and there.
Jim Trinca, Video Producer - Chants of Sennaar
I've always been jealous of people with a Languages Brain. My wife speaks fluent German, and Dutch, and is making a good go of Japanese at the moment. When we last travelled abroad, to Portugal, she spent a couple of weeks just absorbing language books in order to get some basic phrases together. I'm fascinated by it. My brain only has one gear: English. Despite years spent trying to learn Welsh and Italian (the languages I really should be able to speak, given my heritage), non-English words just get filtered out. My brain has nowhere to store them, it seems, in amongst the reams of useless trivia about Star Trek and the Roman Empire.
So Chants of Sennarr is hugely appealing to me in much the same way as Heaven's Vault was. The gamified version of deciphering ancient tongues, matching words to actions and symbols, has a satisfying ping of user feedback when you stumble upon the right answer, and turns the process of "learning" languages into something my idiotic monolingual brain can get its head around.
It's a very specific kind of escapism, but it's one of the best kinds: being able to pretend that you aren't an ignorant Brit.
Kelsey Raynor, Guides Writer - Starfield
With how hot and humid it is in the UK right now, the last thing I want to be doing this weekend is sitting at my PC in the attic. It's like a greenhouse in there, with spiders to boot, and no air-con.
I'm going to move my Xbox into my living room and probably continue playing Starfield, which is an alright game so far. There are quests and other moments that I've found really fun, but there are honestly more quests and moments that I've found to be vapid and dull. I'm hoping I might warm to it some more over time, but I've not got my hopes up. It just isn't really my type of game so far, and that's okay. I've given it a good chance.
When I'm not planet-hopping for something interesting to do, I'm probably going to keep watching shitty action movies, or sleeping to avoid feeling the worst of the heat. Also, for anyone who was invested, I did find some banana milk last weekend. It was great.
Rebecca Jones, Guides Writer - Goodbye Volcano High
As promised, I cleared my dance card of other emotional teen dramas in time for the release of Goodbye Volcano High, so now it's time to actually play it!
It's only about six hours long, so perfect for a weekend gaming session. Considering that this late-summer heatwave in the UK is due to last into early next week, the prospect of meeting a fiery death is an especially relatable one right now, so I'm sure the characters and I will get on like a planet on fire.
Stephany Nunneley-Jackson, News Editor - Depends
I don't have big plans this weekend because I am still trying to recuperate from a Guns N Roses concert I attended earlier this week. No, I didn't get soused. I had a blistering migraine the day of the show, and it's stuck around for a few days and I haven't been able to sleep much because of it. But, the extra pain from the loud music was worth it: GNR put on one helluva show, so I regret NOTHING. I'm even contemplating taking a flight to Houston to see them again later this month. I know that sounds nuts, but: the show is on my birthday, Alice in Chains (eff yeah!) is opening for them, and Houston has a fun vibe. You only live once, and I am tired of never leaving the state. Like the song says: "In the end, we are just dust n' bones" - so why not live a little? Right? Right!
So, other than nursing myself back to semi-health, I plan on mainly resting over the weekend. If I do play any games, it won't be one that makes me have to think. I will probably fire up LOTRO on the laptop and redecorate my many houses, clean the cosmetic clothing clutter out of my bank and chests (I need to do that in real life too!), and check out some things I may have missed recently. Of course, I could fire up the Xbox One and play some Skyrim as it's not installed on the laptop. I need to do a bit of cleaning out of the chests, drawers, cupboards, tables, etc. in that game too. Don't judge me. There is nothing wrong with looking swish while slaughtering bad guys and monsters, right?
That's us for the week. What are you doing to beat the heat? Are you staying inside to play games, or will you brave the elements and venture outdoors?