What are you playing this weekend?
Time to play.
Hello, lovelies. How was your week? Was it terrible? Uneventful? Busy? A massive blur of nonsensical happenings you would rather repress? Or was it a good one with many enjoyable moments? Hopefully, the latter.
No matter how it went, the weekend is finally here, and it’s time to shed ourselves of responsibility and indulge in self-care - because everyone needs to relax, clear their minds, rest weary bones, and replace days of eight-hour shifts with propped-up feet or a good nap.
To survive, one needs to work to obtain money to exchange for important things, like a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, clothes on our backs, and relief from sickness. But, you can't live to work. You have to give yourself some downtime to rejuvenate your body and mind.
One of my favorite authors, William Faulkner, summed it up in one of his most famous quotes:
"You can’t eat for eight hours a day, nor drink for eight hours a day, nor make love for eight hours a day - all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy."
Exactly! And that is why self-care is extremely important, and weekends are the perfect time to practice it.
Unless you are hardcore Goth, you don't want to be miserable, yet one can become miserable within minutes and somehow, carry such an achievement on their shoulders for years. Yes, it's impossibly hard to look at life through rose-colored glasses, trying to convince yourself the vessel is half-full. But, misery can lead to depression - or make it worse - and that's why you need to stop it in its tracks when you feel it start to surface.
Look, I'm not going to delve into the ins and outs of depression. It is a serious mental illness that, for whatever reason, has carte blanche to systematically erode people's everyday lives. Depression sucks. It is the suckiest bunch of suck that ever sucked. If you are on the doorstep, a little bit of misery here and there can full-on open the door to this monster. Practicing self-care can help keep it at bay, or at the very least, file its fangs down a bit.
That's why this weekend, like most, the VG247 crew will spend the next couple of days casting real-life aside for a few precious hours of playing video games - a form of self-care that allows us to enjoy just "being."
Connor Makar, Staff Writer - Tekken 8, Pacific Drive
This weekend I'll be in Barcelona, playing zero video games. When I return, it'll be my birthday on Monday, during which I'll be playing plenty of Tekken 8 and finishing off Pacific Drive. That second one is a banger, by the way. Don't listen to the haters. It has a genuinely relaxing vibe - despite all the near-death car crashes I've been getting into.
James Billcliffe, Guides Editor - Starfield
My weekend will no doubt contain a whole lot more of the much-maligned Starfield.
I have been enjoying burning through quests without feeling like I have to savour every second, and it's a great cosy game that's not too taxing and can evoke a great sense of place as you explore.
I feel like your imagination still has to do a lot of the heavy lifting, which is where I think a lot of the disappointment with the final product lies. It's absolutely not reactive enough to be compelling either as a sim or as a deep story, but you can't argue with much of the visual design and the ships (although I wish there were cooler outfits, or at least a vanity mode so you don't have to walk around with mismatched pieces for the stat buffs).
Some of the later game quests are twistier than I gave Starfield credit for originally, but in my experience, it's only made more plot holes where they don't line up with your adventure. Whatever its weaknesses though, I still think Starfield has a lot to give.
Kelsey Raynor, Guides Writer - Helldivers 2
This weekend, I fancy getting cosy and spooky, so I'm going to sit and watch the Silent Hill movies just for the sake of it. I guess you could say I am slowly gearing up for the upcoming Silent Hill revival with Christophe Gans's new movie and, of course, the Silent Hill 2 Remake, but I'm trying to not get too excited and set myself up for disappointment. I've also convinced a friend to play Silent Hill 2 at the moment, so I think I'll spend some time watching them and seeing what weird horror games Itch.io has to offer too if I fancy it.
Other than that, I am constantly being reminded that there are more automatons to kill in Helldivers 2, so I'll probably spend a few hours spreading democracy with friends. That's whenever I am not scaring myself silly, anyway.
Mark Warren, Senior Staff Writer - Burnout 3: Takedown in several different languages
What? I want to brush up on my French, Spanish, and Italian, ok? Why Burnout 3: Takedown? Well, while it’s loading on startup, it says the word loading in several different languages by default, basically making it the Duolingo of video games.
Did you know ‘cargando’ means loading in Spanish? I mean, the answer’s probably yes if you’re from Spain, or somewhere else in the world where Spanish is the most common tongue, but it’s probably not if you aren’t, and didn’t pay much attention at school. Or if you’re ten-year-old me. Did you know that ‘laddar’ means loading in Swedish? Okay, now maybe put your hand up if you know that and you’re not Swedish.
So yeah, anyway, I’m going to be le racking up le tákedowns during le road ragés and causing - how do you say it - un ruckus dans le crash mode, because je m'appelle DJ Atomika. Oh, wait, that’s le wrong Burnout game.
Stephany Nunneley, News Editor - El Dorado: The Golden City Builder - Prologue
Over on Steam is a neat-looking game in Early Access titled El Dorado: The Golden City Builder - Prologue, and that is what I will be playing this weekend.
It's a strategy city-building game where you plan, build, and develop a Mesoamerican settlement in the Yucatan peninsula while doing your best to protect and guide your Mayan people as your empire expands. I have always been fascinated by pre-Columbian cultures, and you can build marvelous stepped pyramids in the game, so it sounds exactly like something I would play. I can’t wait to get started with this small slice of what to expect when the full game releases this year.
There are other city-builders I am looking forward to trying as well. Here they are in no particular order: Manor Lords, Land of the Vikings, Of Life and Land, Pixelshire, Foundation, Kingdoms Reborn, Going Medieval, Timberborn, Pioneers of Pagonia, and Dragonscale Monastery.
What I really want at the moment is another Banished. If you have never played Shining Rock Software’s debut, you owe it to yourself to grab it off Steam. I promise it is worth the $20. There are also plenty of extras for the game, thanks to Steam Workshop. If you want the ultimate experience, grab Black Liquid Software’s MegaMod 9. It contains all of the most popular Banished mods in one package - including Colonial Charter - for a grand total of 400 individual mods.
Suggestion: before you install any mods for it, play the vanilla version of Banished for a few hours first. Trust me.
What about you? Planning to play a game or two this weekend? Please share!