What are you playing this weekend?
What a month already: May Day, Derby Day, and Star Wars Day - all in the first week!
Today is Star Wars Day, which returns every year on May 4. It is also the day that people say a certain phrase I refuse to utter let alone type out. I would rather take a brutal whacking from a plastic lightsaber - you know, like the one I had as a kid with a lightbulb in the handle - than say the dreaded thing people say on this day. It’s right up there with Live Long and Prosper, and I love Star Trek as much as the first three Star Wars movies - but it still bugs me when people say it.
It is also KY Derby Day if you are into that sort of thing like most Kentuckians (Phantom Track was robbed. Why wasn't an inquiry called on the jockey riding the winner Mystik Dan?). There’s a saying around these parts that goes something like: “It doesn't matter which horses you pick or which bourbon you drink... said no Kentuckian ever,” and that’s pretty much the truth. Folks here love horses as much as they love bourbon, especially Woodford Reserve, and if you prefer a different bourbon, we can't be friends anymore. Okay, Blanton's and Knob Creek are excellent as well, and so is Wild Turkey Rare Breed - and I can smell the Wild Turkey distillery on a good day when the wind blows just right - but Woodford Reserve is so damn smooth it's sinful.
Presently, those living in the UK are enjoying a long weekend thanks to the Early May bank holiday on Monday. US folks will have to wait for the end of the month when Memorial Day rolls around. Come on end of May! We US folks need a three-day weekend too, ya know.
So, what are the UK folks from VG247 doing for the holiday weekend? Playing games, of course, while your's truly - the only US person here - will be going through her absolute shedload of clothes, washing them, and taking pics so she can sell them online. Maybe purses too. And shoes. Lordie, Lordie, Lordie I own too many shoes - 75% of which are heels. Stereotypical gal, right? Oh well. We all have weaknesses.
That said, here's what the VG247 folks who ARE playing games are getting up to this weekend.
James Billcliffe, Guides Editor - Hades
Look out for more on this on the site next week, but Netflix has added an iOS version of Hades to its line-up of bundled games - and it rules.
Bite-sized play sessions really lend themselves to roguelike runs, even if the touchscreen movement isn't quite as responsive as one would like. When the voice acting and soundtrack are as good as in Hades, you need to have your headphones handy if you can't have it blaring out of your phone speaker, but it's still a really fun way to play a special game.
Kelsey Raynor, Guides Writer - Hades, Town of Salem 2, and more
I've been itching to play more of Hades for a while now, and last night, my prayers were answered when it went on sale on Steam. I picked up that alongside Hylics - recommended as a real trip by a friend - and I'll be spending my weekend enjoying both while continuing to recover from having my wisdom tooth pulled out. The worst of that is over, thank God, but I'm still struggling to talk comfortably, which sucks when you love yapping away as much as I do.
I'm likely also going to check out Town of Salem 2 with some friends if I find the time, and I'll still be casually playing Card of Darkness on Apple Arcade most nights. It's currently one of my favourite mobile games to wind down with.
Mark Warren, Senior Staff Writer - Manor Lords
I’m generally quite terrible at strategy games, but Manor Lords has me hooked. It’s set in medieval times, which helps because in addition to shamelessly ripping off Tom’s podcast bits, I’m shamelessly ripping off Jim Trinca’s personality in a bid to get people to like me. It’s going alright-ish, I guess.
Back to Manor Lords. My little village is quite nice, everyone has little jobs, but seasons come and go. They’re all going to get curb stomped worse than what William the Conqueror did to Harold II at the battle of Hastings because an invading force is coming to raid them in a matter of days and I’ve utterly failed to assemble an army. But in the meantime, we’re making ale and foraging berries, baby.
Rebecca Jones, Guides Writer - Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, The Sims 4
It is a truth universally acknowledged that while you typically can't rely on the British weather, it's all but certain to be miserable out for the duration of a bank holiday weekend. Still, I'm an optimist at heart, so let's say, I will elect to be outside enjoying the spring sunshine (alongside some books and maybe a glass of wine) if there's even a hint of a break in the cloud cover.
Realistically though, will this weekend see me curled up under a blanket while icy rain hammers outside, comforted by my current playthrough of Dual Destinies in the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, or else using that extra day off to check back in with The Sims 4 for the first time in what feels like forever? Probably.
That's that for us. What about you? Are you playing anything this weekend or just kicking back and relaxing?