Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 14-15)

Fallen order was pretty awesome. I didn't care about getting all the ponchos bit the story was fantastic as were the graphics and combat.

Deaths door was also a fantastic game. Really loved the art style and the music/sound effects was stellar. I would need a second playthrough to get the 100%, i started one, but I just don't have the time to chase achievements vs playing something new.

Lastly i still have to restart and finish hellblade, finished the first level 2 years ago...with guides cuz the puzzles get annoying at times.

I'm trying to finish nobody saves the world but i might be coming up short by the 15th, we'll see how it goes.

PS5
Horizon Forbidden West
Made it to act 3 over the week and will plow through when free this weekend. Got my weapons and skill trees to a good place. The combat, visuals and narrative are awesome, but the performances, dialogue and UI are just as grating as with the first game...dont know what it is, but that aspect still doesnt gel with me this time as well.

PC GAME PASS
Pentiment
Slowly playing through this one via cloud streaming on mobile. Pretty much passed the midpoint. A rich and involving narrative here, really engrossed with where the story is going...

QUEST 2
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Playing this title for the first time via Team Beef's fantastic mod. Its a pretty old school FPS i missed back in the day, but playing in VR gives the whole thing a fresh layer of fun, in what is considered the best Wolfenstein...good stuff.

Judgement has actually grabbed me and im keen on playing more this weekend. Love the detective stuff.

Whatever your playing, I hope you have a great time...

On Series X, I’ve finally started Psychonauts 2 and what a gorgeous, clever and fun game it is! Having an absolute blast with this one.

In between longer sessions I’m also desperately addicted to both Vampire Survivors and the surprisingly excellent PowerWash Simulator – which I didn’t realise was developed by FuturLab, the talented folks behind Velocity 2X.

Whatever you’re playing, have a great weekend everyone!

I’m almost done with Persona 5 Royal and will probably either start Kirby and the Forgotten Land or River City Girls after.

Besides that I’m thinking of starting Gran Turismo 7. I also still have to finish High On Life and I have a lot of battlepass rewards left in Fortnite.

It’s a quiet month before February with Like a Dragon: Kiwami Ishin, Theathrythm Final Fantasy Final Bar Line, Octopath Traveler 2 and Hogwarts Legacy.

Will be playing One Piece Odyssey on Series X. I don't know anything about One Piece but the game is so far rather enjoyable. I like the turn-based battles and the characters are all unique and likeable.

Finished Ghost of Tsushima last night. That's one of the best games I've ever played.

Today I will be starting Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception. I still haven't finished my Bioshock playthrough, I'm about halfway through the game. I don't really like, but will still finish it.

Finally I started Final Fantasy 7 Remake a few days ago. Its the first Final Fantasy game I've played. I'm so disappointed by this game. The combat is very unsatisfactory, its just a button mash. The boss fights also so long and boring. I was one of those people who was hoping for this game to come out on xbox last year. However after playing this on the Playstation, xbox player's are definitely not missing out on anything. The game looks really nice but that's about it. The Gameplay is very boring. I think people gave it high ratings just because of the nostalgia train.

Got back into FH5 (when time allows). Trying to pick up some of the achievements I'm close to completing. Dropped 5mil Cr on a castle today..oof! Need to build up Cr again now LOL

On my Xbox it's Sword and Fairy Together Forever and One Piece Odyssey. Sword and Fairy 7 is.a fun Chinese action Rpg. Not the most polished but I love the Chinese vibes. I never watched a One Piece episode but the demo convinced me on getting the game. So I'll be playing that as well somewhere this weekend.

On my Ps5 it's Marvels Midnight Suns. Such a great game. It's a mix between a social sim like Persona and a strategy Rpg with card elements. The day and night cycle where you do different things keep it fresh and entertaining. The battles are extremely fun to do. Never played a card battle before but this one is a lot of fun. Really would recommend this game.

Stared playing Quantum Break after hearing mixed things but I’m loving it so far. No idea why this game wasn’t a bugger deal

Xbox Series X - Grabbed By The Ghoulies which I haven't played since I was young. Thankfully, the game holds up well and definitely has that Rare charm to it.

PS5 - Recently finished Returnal which was amazing. Might buy Resident Evil 2 since it got a current gen upgrade last year.

Mostly Elden Ring and Valkyria Chronicles 4.
Also testing some games on my Steam Deck on the side. Rediscovering games that I've long forgotten about, like Mortal Kombat X, which looks and plays great on SD.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!

I just finished a plague tale, so now I start high on life 😃

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (PS2) - Finally at the final stage. Also need to clear the bonus stage and then it is 100% complete!

Tetris (Windows Phone) - I played alot of this during appointments this week.

Age of Sparta (Windows Phone) - Still playing this from time to time as well.

Playing The Great Ace Attorney on PS4, on the last case already.

Echo Generation on Xbox, since this was the first time it was on sale after leaving Game Pass (I think).
I'm enjoying it a lot, it's funny, but it's also creepy and has a great atmosphere. A little grindy at the beginning but I don't mind.

@MrN0vmbr those were my thoughts exactly when i was playing it at first. Though after a while the experience started to grow stale. So much that I couldn't finish it.

Fenyx rising.. having a blast

This weekend I’m back to the Sniper Elite 5 (Xbox Series X) grind. I played the game when it first released last year and loved it, but eventually moved on to other games. Now that I’m back, I’m tackling the DLC and collectibles I missed prior. I adore this game from top to bottom. I’ve seen some people finish the game in 8-10 hours and that blows my mind. I spend about two hours plus in one map alone, taking my time and exploring, methodically planning my kills, hiding all bodies without being seen, etc.

The level design is also superb, and each map is a huge sandbox that lets you approach how you tackle objectives. As you explore the map — if that’s how you decide to play — you’ll uncover a plethora of stuff: New starting locations, collectibles, intel that will lead to other objectives, great sniping locations, and more.

The DLC maps are just as fun and well thought out. I can see Rebellion took a page from the recent Hitman games and added more way to kill your target(s), and Hitler. You can use poison, dropping chandeliers, etc.; SE5 may not have the same depth as those games, but I think it most certainly plays better mechanically.

People can scoff at this if they want - I think this game is absolutely essential. To me, I find it to be one of the very best stealth games ever made.

I’m also playing the first great game of 2023: Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider (Nintendo Switch). Games like this are why I bought a Switch to begin with. The 16-bit pixel art is sublime, and really nails down the retro games from a time past. With that said - some of the controls do feel a little unresponsive at times, but maybe it’s because I don’t have a firm grasp on the combat and traversal mechanics just yet. But the upgrades are fantastic, and really remind me of the gem of a game: Cyber Shadow.

Nonetheless, I’m having a fantastic time with the game. I was a big fan of Blazing Chrome, and I’m glad to see this game delivered and then some. I’ll be playing this title for a while due to the replayability with acquiring all collectibles and ending the level with a good ranking score.

Ashen and maybe Destiny 1

Hoping to finish Chain of Echoes. Overall enjoying the game but as story has become a bit more interesting, game play has become stale towards the end.

Got together with the guys last night and played a whole bunch of old Dreamcast games like Power Stone 2, Gauntlet Legends, and Rush 2049. We also played some GameCube multiplayer classics such as Wario Ware, Mario Power Tennis, Kirby Air Ride, and Geist. What a night!

Solo, I'm playing more of F.I.S.T. on PC. Its good so far, but the combat feels a bit clunky - you must commit to your attack moves in a way that doesn't feel fluid or dynamic, but it's not enough of an "issue" to ruin it for me. Also, I learned from Digital Foundry that you have to force the anisotropic filtering outside of in-game settings for this one, and I'm glad I did because it made a significant difference!

@Titntin I'm playing Yakuza Kiwami. Similar..ish 👍

I'm playing Pokemon Violet..

Xbox Series X - Ridge Racer 6

Switch - NieR Automata

PS5 - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion

@Bruvas I'm a big fan of Limmy's twitch streams. He's been playing it all week, looked fantastic so I've downloaded it on gamepass now !

@fabisputza007 Im about half way through and I get what you mean the game play can get abit repetitive but I’m so invested in the storyline I’m still loving it still.

All sorts of stuff on GP. But I settled on NFS Heat. I'm also playing RE3R. On switch, I'm playing Chained Echoes.

Man, I absolutely hated Fallen Order. Maybe I'll give it another chance one day.

The intro was fun, but the first planet ruined it, haha. It gave me Super Mario 64 vibes in terms of the level design (as in, it felt like a bunch of random geometry cobbled together instead of an actual place).

These days, I don't even bother "playing the previous one before the new game comes out" and just watch the older game(s) on YouTube instead (the "movie version") and go straight into the new game. Makes the new game feel fresh instead of "Gah, I just played this game and this is more of the same, not really feeling it."

That being said, I'm getting a jump on Gears 6 by starting at Gears 1 (the only one I ever finished), and reading The Slab. I figure I've got at least a year to catch up, haha.

Chronicles of Riddick Dark Athena on xbox 360

Assassins Creed Origins on 1x. Maybe its me but I love this game !

@stinkyx. Like your thinking 🤣

Finally got around to playing Edith Finch...really wish I hadn't waited so long for that one!

Trying to play as much as I can of Nobody Saves the World before it leaves game pass.

space invaders, dig dug, pitfall, pele soccer and phoenix. I hope I have time for all of them.

@stinkyx the slab was a good read. I only played a portion of gears 1 so i still have to play through the whole series at some point

I’m playing tales of Arise on series x and Metroid Dread hard mode on switch.

Disney Dreamlight Valley, Capcom Fighting Game Collection, and King of Fighters 15.

Just finished Plague Tale Requiem right now, not sure what I’ll be picking up tomorrow. But tempted to give Skyrim a spin (I played it and beat the campaign a few years back on Switch, if I play it again it’s likely going to be to fool around a bit around the world.)

I'm like halfway in Immortals Fenyx rising on my xbox series s. If my brother occupies the xbox I will play fortnite with him. I'm planning to play Ocarina of time on the Nintendo switch with the N64 online software.

I finished Chained Echoes, I enjoyed it so much I managed to get the full 1000/1000 achievements, such a great game I highly recommend people check it out if they haven’t.

I picked up Industria in the sale over Christmas so I’ve started that, about 3 hours so far and it’s good I like it. It’s a little janky but was only made by 2 people I think and takes heavy inspiration from Half Life 2. Enjoying it.

Been busy with The Callisto Protocol, finished it on medium difficulty and started again on easy to try and get all the collectibles. It’s a good game despite the performance issues. Also still playing High On Life. Got lots to get through actually.

Started Elden Ring and ouch, so punishing I will try to persevere but not sure to be good enough for this game , I watched some beginners guide on YouTube to help me but it’s so frustrating to be killed by some mobs and loose all yours runes then try to recover them and get killed again. Not my goty for sure..

On the Xbox Series X I have been caught up going through the Quake expansions. Curse the countless Vore and Shamblers that have killed me haha. For previous generations I recently finished Quake 2 on the ps1 and I am knee deep in RLH (Run Like Hell) on the original Xbox. I do hope once Microsoft buys Activision that we get a new bundle of backwards compatible games. Quake 2 and 4 on the Series X would be incredible 😍

Fallen Order is such an odd game. I loved the first half, maybe 2/3rds and then it seemed to become insanely boring and I had to force myself to finish it. No idea why. It does from a solid 8/10 maybe pushing a 9 to a 6/10. Maybe less.

I've just finished off Lacuna on the Switch (really good story/adventure game) and just starting Spiritfarer which my wife loved. Such a beautiful game from watching her playing it and looking forward to playing it myself. It has an incredible soundtrack

@Jacket_p I had the same feeling when I played Fallen Order a few years ago. I loved the story and platforming. I think maybe I got fatigued by the combat? I just remember looking online for how much longer I would have to play to the end which is never a good sign.

@Mrzoomer I think you might be right on the combat. I also think the chests only containing aesthetic upgrades took any joy out of finding or searching for them. Felt there was a degree of jank with the combat at times which you don't get so much in souls game.

I'll give the new one a go for sure and hopefully it irons some of the problems out.

Still super tempted to get a steam deck… right now I’m playing cyberpunk (very janky but I am liking it), persona 5 (stuck on a boss atm) n think ill start norco- I do live in south Louisiana

Persona 5 Royal - 100 hours in

Halo 3! Legendary