Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 31 - September 1)

Atlas Fallen.
Playing BG3 in co-op with the wife.
Getting a save ready for Starfield DLC.
Medieval Dynasty VR on Quest.

And HOPEFULLY some TTRPG goodness with Mutant Epoch.

This weekend I’m playing Black Myth: Wukong. Wow. What. A. Game. While it shares some superficial similarities with Soulslike games, I think it’s more accurately described as a modern boss-rush game with a structure akin to God of War. The focus seems to be on tightly designed levels, thrilling boss battles, and an emphasis on exploration and secrets, rather than the punishing difficulty found in FromSoftware titles.

As for difficulty, the game doesn't penalize you harshly for dying, which contrasts sharply with the traditional Soulslike experience. This makes it more accessible and possibly more enjoyable for players who appreciate a challenge but don't want to be frustrated by constant setbacks.

Speaking of accessibility, there is a robust combat system with different stances and upgradable abilities, all of which makes your playthrough unique in how you approach fighting enemies. The ability to defeat mini-bosses and acquire their spirits as abilities adds a strategic layer to combat, making each encounter feel meaningful.

For me, Chapter Two is where the game was elevated from good to great. Despite its linearity, there is a wide mix of side quests, secrets with additional areas to explore, and boss fights. This design from the developers created an engaging experience for me that is very memorable. The game's ability to balance linearity with exploration—offering secret areas and hidden bosses—adds to the sense of discovery. Let’s keep in mind, this is Game Sciences’ first foray into the console gaming space.

This leads me to presentation. When it comes to enemies, there is a large diversity in enemy design, particularly the boss fights like Tiger Vanguard, Whiteclad Noble, Kang-Jin Star, Cyan Loong, and Fuban to name a few, keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting, especially environmentally. In fact, some (optional) boss fights, if given time, can perform moves that will open up new areas to explore. But what I really want to praise is the artistic direction—for its minimalistic yet stylish approach. The stop-motion cutscenes, in particular, are a real highlight that I don’t often see spoken about enough.

There are areas where the game can improve, but it never hindered my experience. There are a lot of invisible walls. While this may be a detriment for some, I think the controlled exploration is a result of budget constraints. The trade off is worth it given the high production value in other facets. The absence of a map is another (mild) complaint. While the game is linear, and the sense of discovery is rewarding, a map would ensure that no hidden item or character is missed.

Ultimately, this game has impressed me significantly, and is this year’s Lies of P. It’s been a phenomenal experience, with rich cultural elements, and varied, vibrant environments. It’s a game that has successfully combined fictional storytelling with modern action-adventure mechanics, and is undoubtedly one of the best games of the year. Sorry, Dragon’s Dogma 2, I have a new GOTY.

I'm all over the place playing Stellar Blade (ps5), Forza Horizon 4 (Series X) and Smash Bros (Switch). Have a good weekend!

This weekend I'll alternate between Trails into Reverie and Rise of the Ronin on PS5 with some Pizza Tower(and possibly Signalis) on Switch on the side.
On Xbox I'll most likely try to get back to INDIKA or something, maybe I'll just continue with Visions of Mana instead.

After giving up on Star Wars Outlaws I have been enjoying Assassin's Creed Mirage thanks to Ubisoft +.

Mirage is much more focused experience compared to Valhalla, the previous game. This is either a good thing or bad depending on your preference. I am having fun in any case so all good.

While I have Ubi+ I am also downloading Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I enjoyed the demo but never got round to buying it so while I have the opportunity I will give it a spin.

Some Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor

@BIG3 Is the Switch any good?, I'm seriously considering buying 1

This weekend I shall be playing:

Saturday:
Xbox: Baldur's Gate 3 - Continuing my solo Dark Urge Run.
Xbox: Gears Of War 5 - A single 50 wave run of Horde as a duo on either Elite of Insane.

Sunday:
Xbox: Baldur's Gate 3 - Continuing my solo Dark Urge Run.
Xbox: Gears Of War 5 - A single 50 wave run of Horde as a duo on either Elite of Insane.
PC: Xbox Baldur's Gate 3 - Continuing a co-op Dark Urge run as a duo.

Basically, the same games as each weekend (and weekday!)...

Stellar Blade - I´ve just finished my first playthrough, loved it in the end. Great game - good story and looks and plays very good. Love the art design of the world and the soundtrack, Sure Eves costumes are a bit cringe but I can live with that. Very much looking forward to a new game + playthrough but I think I will save that and play some other game first and also Astro Bot is just a few days away now 😊

Star Wars Outlaws and some more Starfield which I continually dip into

Mostly playing Star Wars Outlaws, which I’m loving so far. It has a good balance of exploration, combat, and stealth, and I haven’t even done any space combat yet! Have mostly been doing stuff on Toshara (the windy planet), including side quests and unlocking abilities through the experts. Nix is quite cute, and often very helpful. This is the first game probably since Stellar Blade where I actually look forward to getting home and playing it 😀

About to start Star Wars Outlaws this afternoon

@Vipor007 The Switch is great, loads of brilliant exclusive games.

Hello there fellow gamers;
This weekend I´ll be playing Star Wars Outlaws and Street Fighter 6 on my PS5 and replaying Control and Lies of P on my Series X.
I´m really enjoying SW Outlaws, there is a lot to like and enjoy, plus it is a Star Wars game that looks and feels like Star Wars.
Don´t understand the negativity surronding this game and others for that matter.
People should just enjoy playing what they like. That´s what I do.
Cheers everyone and happy gaming weekend to us all

@Kraven Well written mate, I agree with everything you've stated.
I too am playing Wukong and loving it. Goty contender for sure for me.
Many more games to play and I intend to play some Diablo 4 too ahead of the expansion.

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have fun!

I’ve been super disillusioned by gaming at the moment. Tried multiple games but can’t get into any of them.

This week I bought Akimbot which wasn’t quite the budget Ratchet & Clank experience I had hoped for. The game suffers from screen tearing a lot of the time. The voice work is kinda annoying and I’m general it’s just not been fun playing the opening level. It had potential but I don’t feel myself wanting to continue.

After playing Dead Cells for a couple of wills I think I’m bouncing off this one too. Love the game quite a bit but found it to be a bit stressful. Not the ideal game to play in the evening after work.

Finally Core Keeper which is fine but I want to play it in multiplayer. Single Player is fine but I think it’d be better with multiple people.

So yea, just not feeling gaming at the moment.

For me it's Avatar this weekend, with some brotato for gamepass points.

I loved the new Like a Dragon games, so I tried Yakuza Kiwami last night. Might stick with it for a while. I've been meaning to play the whole series because I've only played Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Like a Dragon Gaiden, and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. I definitely prefer the turn based and English dub of the newer ones. I only played Gaiden because it bridged the Ichiban Kasuga games.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) - I love Sully, he is always funny to listen to.

Microsoft Wordament (Droid) - Still Adventure mode and Dailies.

NBA Jam (Windows Phone) - Playing daily as well.

Star Wars Outlaws for me. Really fun game that of course gets hated on because it's Ubisoft.
It has some great missions and honestly, I'm liking every character, especially ND-5.
I might watch the Avatar movies to try the game, too.

I think I'll check out the back ops 6 beta. Otherwise I'll also start diablo 4. Haven't played it yet so will be starting from the beginning. I figured with dlc coming nows a good time to start a character.

Just bought Hogwarts legacy on steam deck so I'll probably play that on Sunday when I get home.

Sea of Stars. Still.

God, I’m slow.

Falout 76 and maybe I'll start COD BO6's beta

Just signed up to Ubisoft+ and downloading Star Wars Outlaws. Seems like one of those games where you can watch a bunch of negative YT reviews and agree with them, then watch a bunch of positive ones and agree with those too. As a big SW fan, I figure throwing £15 and a 3-4 hrs at it is worthwhile to see if I take to it.

On Xbox:
*Atlas Fallen
*FM
*Harmony:The Fall of Reverie(love this gem)
*P3R
On PS5
GoW Ragnarok , working my way towards the platinum trophy.

Doing a bit of a bounce around Harold Halibut, Forza Horizons 4, Vampire Survivors and of course Brotato… have a fun gaming long weekend!

I'm gonna start Flintlock Siege Of Dawn today on Gamepass.. Happy gaming weekend everyone..

@Vipor007 I love it. Bought it at launch and have enjoyed a bunch of Nintendos exclusives like Splatoon, Astral Chain, Zelda, Fire Emblem, Smash Bros, Xenoblade and much more. I also love that I can play it handheld.
With that being said, I'm not sure if I would buy one now because Nintendo plan to release their next gen console next spring. So if I were you I would either buy a Switch second hand just to try it or wait until the next one comes out.

Xbox:
Star Wars Outlaws
Just finished Gears of War Ultimate Edition.
Just started Gears of Wars 2

Dying Light 2 & Diablo 4. Very much in a grinding MMO-esque mood.

@Fiendish-Beaver
Lightening has stuck my TV.
Right in the middle of Saturday night prime time tv in the UK an advert with the Xbox logo and noise.
Was for SW outlaws but joint with Xbox.

What the hell is going on Microsoft 😊
Joking aside it was nice to see.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Helldivers 2. The crew of the SES Fist of Opportunity are doing their part for managed democracy.

25 hours into Black Myth: Wukong and loving it. With a little bit of trickery, it actually runs fairly decently on Steam Deck so I was able to bring it with me on vacation and everything 😎

I'm very close to finishing Luigi's Mansion 2 HD. I also got Star Wars Outlaws on PC off a key website and it's really good so far.

I did download the Black Ops 6 beta and it's surprisingly great. Legit the most fun I've had with a CoD game since the 360 days. I'll definitely be playing it once it fully releases, plus I get it with GamePass.

@Lup the Avatar game is nowhere near as good as Star Wars Outlaws, and I liked the Avatar movies. Avatar (the game) looks gorgeous, but that’s about it. I got bored with it very quickly. Obviously this is just my humble opinion, I’m just saying watch some YouTube videos first, or if you can try the game for free first do that. Glad you’re enjoying Star Wars Outlaws, I’m loving it so far.

Will just turn on my Xbox and improvise which Game Pass game I'll play.
It won't be Flintlock anymore. Fired it up for the third session yesterday and it just doesn't grab me. Very sub-par world and story building.

So many things I've been playing. Ranging from working on my brother's Nact Der Bloctoten map in Minecraft, to playing every Call Of Duty in anticipation for BO6, and actually playing the BO6 Beta. The omni-movement is fun and I'm liking most of my experiences, meet me out on the battlefield, my gamertag is literally my username.

Well here we go with another jampacked WAYP. Been a stupidly awesome week around here. Lots of new games came out, I got those JJK volumes I mentioned and it’s another jam packed week like that again this week too. Loved that dual direct inside world I think my favorite announcement was Atelier Yumia tho I also picked up the Castlevania Collection so that’s probably hyped thing number 2. Most of the week was just the usual games like Dawntrail and SMTV: Vengeance and some Trails Through Daybreak. Also tried Concord and yeah it really is not as half bad as people make it out to be I had some solid fun with it on my day off it’s not like I felt it ruined my day off or something. Also got a preorder in on that new Life Is Strange so very excited for October when it comes out. But then yesterday I got to boot up both Emio and Visions of Mana and man oh man the good gaming time has arrived. Both were absolutely amazing and cozy. Emio felt like a warm blanket on a cold winters day. And Visions feels like the brightest most colorful thing in the world and I love the story so far. Characters too. Rest of the weekend I’m thinking is gonna be some SMTV: Vengeance as I still would like to beat that game before The Answer and Metaphor come out. Otherwise I’m thinking this week is mostly gonna consist of some Monster Hunter Stories, Trails Through Daybreak, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, Paper Mario, Bakeru, Dawntrail, Dragons Dogma 2, Emio, Concord, Star Wars Outlaws and Visions of Mana. Got the new Splatoon amiibos coming in this week and this is also when Astro Bot and Ace Attorney Investigations Collection comes out as well as Bakeru so I’m very excited for all of it. WWE Bash In Berlin was super hype I loved it. The best match was probably a 3 way tie between the Rhea Ripley match, the CM Punk match and the Gunther match they were seriously so incredible. Now we just wait until October and Bad Blood. That one I’m so hype for. Anime of the week gotta go to Oshi No Ko and Mission Yozakura Family. Yeah only got two anime this week as I saw the new Alien movie Alien Romulus on anime day and having never seen a Alien movie outside of Prometheus I have to say it was pretty freaking good. Podcasts of this week gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast, Minnmax, Jeff Gerstmann, Kit and Krysta, Last Stand Media, Easy Allies, Second Wind, Nextlander, Cultaholic Wrestling and Remap Radio. As always yall stay safe, be stupidly awesome to each other. Have a totally wacky weekend and of course Happy Gaming.

Still slowly making my way through Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, which has been a trip. Champing at the bit to start Space Marine 2. Also my weekly co-op group has been working through Dead Island 2.

I've been busy, but managed to get around an hour of Baldur's Gate 3 in. Just got to level 5.