Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 500 1
Image: Push Square

We’ve got an extra-special edition of WAYP lined up this week, as we’re celebrating our 500th issue anniversary. This regularly recurring feature was first published on 2nd March, 2013 – although initially we had the bizarre idea of running it bi-weekly. It wasn’t until an entire year later – with Issue 33, on 9th August, 2014 – that we transitioned to weekly instalments. We haven’t missed a week since.

Obviously, almost ten years of this feature is impressive, and so we wanted to do something a little extra special this time. As such, we’ve opened up entries to the entire Hookshot family, so you can get an idea of what everyone across the entire Push Square, Nintendo Life, Pure Xbox, and Time Extension family is playing this weekend.

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To give you an idea of how long we’ve been running WAYP, some of the games being played in the first ever instalment included Lumines, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, and Far Cry 3. However, not much changes when it comes to our esteemed Robert Ramsey – then a mere Staff Writer, by the way – as he was playing Persona 4 Golden for the first time.

While we put the team’s contributions in the body of each WAYP article every weekend, we’d be remiss not to mention the community, which truly makes this feature shine. Ever since we introduced this idea, we’ve been attracting tens of comments every single time, and honestly it’s you that are at the heart of it.

Push Square

Aaron Bayne

After blitzing through Alan Wake 2 for our review, I'm super tempted to go back to Control and finally try out the AWE expansion. I'm really feeling the Remedy love right now. Although, I still haven't been able to sink much time into Marvel's Spider-Man 2 so New York is also calling my name. Decisions, decisions.

Brett Posner-Ferdman

While everyone was busy playing Spider-Man 2 last weekend, I was still trying to wrap up Sonic Superstars. Now that I'm ready to move on from Sonic, I'm stoked to dive head first into the adventures of Peter and Miles this weekend! On the Nintendo front, I am still continuing my journey through Super Mario Wonder, which has been a joy to try and complete. And, if timing permits, I would love to celebrate the spooky season by getting started on the Xbox version of the Dead Space remake, now that it has been added to Game Pass. So many great games to play, and not enough hours in the day!

Graham Banas

This weekend is a monumental one, both for WAYP and for me. Because I've been waiting over a decade for a sequel to one of my favorite games of all time. And now, Alan Wake II is here, and that's all I've been thinking about all week. Hopefully it's not another 500 WAYPs until the next Alan Wake!

Jaimie Ditchfield

My weekend is going to be ridiculous for gaming – I’ve got so many options! I’m making my way towards the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which has been an emotional journey as a lifelong Spidey fanatic, and I will probably wrap up the story over the weekend. Then there’s Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a fantastic game that has subverted all of my expectations I had for it. Also, I just purchased Alan Wake II and Baldur’s Gate 3 on PS5, so I think I’ve got plenty of games to sink my teeth into for weeks to come…

Jamie O'Neill

Obviously, I'm not alone in considering Marvel's Spider-Man 2 to be one of my favourite games of the year so far, but it seems especially apt to play Insomniac Games' top-class 2023 PlayStation game to celebrate Push Square's WAYP 500 this weekend.

Khayl Adam

I’m back on the review train, and so am actually playing something on PlayStation, but I’ve been putting any available free time lately into Total War: Pharaoh on PC. Creative Assembly’s latest historical grand strategy game, I think it’s fantastic, but it’s bombing in a big way, which is not great following the cancellation of Hyenas. My dreams of their Frankensteining together Pharaoh’s map to the one in Total War: Troy to make the ultimate Bronze Age setting are looking like they will, tragically, go unfulfilled.

Liam Croft

I’ll just be making a start on Alan Wake 2, and I really need to get back to Honkai: Star Rail. Happy 500!

Robert Ramsey

500 issues of WAYP? Absolute madness, and in hilariously typical fashion, I won't actually have much time for gaming this weekend! When I do get a moment, I'm going to try and nab the Platinum Trophy in the top-tier Cyberpunk 2077 — something that's been on my to-do list for a while.

Sammy Barker

In addition to my usual rotation of Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact, I'm getting started in a new gacha game this weekend: Reverse: 1999. Happy 500, everyone!

Scott McCrae

I was away in NY this week and have come home to four reviews that I can't talk about! So those as well as Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will probably keep me busy for a while. But knowing me I'll probably be playing a bunch of The Binding of Isaac Repentance too!

Stephen Tailby

It's amazing to think Sammy's been asking us all what we're playing for 500 weekends straight, but even better is that the community has taken part every time! I'm sure Sammy has said much the same elsewhere in this mega-issue, but thanks for reading, and for joining in. As for what I'm checking out this weekend, I really want to play The Finals open beta a little more. I actually dipped into it the other night and it seems incredibly solid. Aside from that, I picked up Tangle Tower for a couple of quid in a recent sale, so I'm looking forward to that too. Finally — and this really is a curveball — Puzzmo is a new, browser-based take on the newspaper game page. It's currently only accessible via a limited number of codes, which are refreshed daily, but once you're in, it offers a variety of puzzles to solve that change every 24 hours. If you're into word puzzles and other short brain-ticklers, it's worth investigating!

Hookshot Media

Alana Hughes

My partner has a lot of work to do this weekend, so that means a lot of Final Fantasy XIV on PS5 for me. Time to level up those crafters and make some money! I’m also playing through the epilogue of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete on PS1, and oh my word are some of the encounters infuriating. Almost beat it, though.

Anthony Dickens

I've recently got my hands on a DriveHub, so this weekend will be spent testing it along with my Playseat and PlayStation-compatible G29 wheel and seeing how it works with my Xbox Series X for games like Forza and then with my Steamdeck playing some classic retro racing games and more recent PC ones. There will be a lot of messing about with wires, but I'm wheely looking forward to it.

Felix Sanchez

This weekend, I’m properly going to be in Mario Wonder mode. Having reached the 5th world, I’m hoping to make great progress towards the end! I’m also almost done with Rhythm Heaven Megamix on my 3DS, which I’ve been playing on and off for the last couple of months. And finally, I’m hoping to get some hours in Persona 5 Royal on my PS5 again. I’m around 95 hours in, but other games have been distracting me for the last week or two, so I’m ready to get back into the persona mood yet again!

Gavin Lane

My plan this weekend is to get in the Halloween spirit with some Ghostbusters games, old and new. Spirits Unleashed recently launched on Switch and BillyTime!Games' romhack of the Mega Drive Ghostbusters has been updated, too, so if SU doesn't get the ectoplasm flowing sufficiently, I've got a fall back. Beyond that, I'll hopefully squeeze in another Mario Wonder world, and I'll try to avoid 'just one round' of Suika Game turning into a three-hour session again. Bloody addictive, that.

Ollie Reynolds

There's only one game I'll be playing this weekend, and that's Alan Wake 2. The original, with its Twin Peaks and Stephen King influences, always felt like it was made specifically for me. As such, it remains to this day one of my all-time favourites. I've been a fan of everything Remedy has put out over the years, so I can't wait to see how the sequel pulls connections from the studio's various works.

And that just about wraps up this epic, celebratory edition of WAYP. Thank you so much for joining us, everyone, and for participating every single week. All that's left for us to say is: what are you playing this weekend? Let us know below!