Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 544

Ps5 Im playing Black Myth Wukong and its definitely one of my favourites this year. Switch I just received The new Famicom Detective Club and Ace Attorney Investigations demo

Valkyrie Profile 2 on PS2 and a 14" CRT with MONO audio!
this game, FFXII and Haunting Ground look and feel amazing still.
these are on the list too:
Tomb Raider Anniversary, Hitman Blood Money, Genji, Fatal Frame 3, Code Veronica, Magna Carta Tears of Blood (anybody knows this one? never finished it back then).

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’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.

Finished Jedi Survivor so went for
Star Wars Outlaws (via Ubi+) set all the mini games to the hard settings like a true masochist, and will get stuck into that this weekend, I think. All I've done so far is walk around the first area a bit, absorbed some of the atmosphere, and picked a few locks.

FYI: Just look at the light on the right and press the prompt a couple of times in time with that, come on people, lockpicking is easy 😛😛

Edit: game looks great

Vampire Survivors and Valfaris Mecha Theriion.

Subnautica Below Zero for me again this weekend. I've been taking my time with it and just soaking up the game world. Such an amazing game, as good as the original in my opinion. The seatruck is fantastic, like a modular combo version of the seamoth and the cyclops from the first game. Pretty deep into the game world now, so suspect I'm nearing the end. I'll be sorry when it's over.

Once I'm done with Below Zero, I was thinking of giving NieR Replicant ver.1.22 etc a spin as the general consensus seems to be to play that one before Automata...

Have a great weekend all.

Need to play Nier Replicant, will probably just play Overwatch

Still playing Shadow of the Erdtree, think I'm on the penultimate boss. Tried it once, killed me in two hits lol

I’m playing nothing but Vampire Survivors until Astro Bot falls through my letterbox on Friday!

This weekend I'll continue working my thorough GT7, have some endurance races to do. I've done 2 episodes of Alan Wake remastered so I may dive back into that or I may finally start Dragons Dogma 2 after having it on my shelf for over a month now 😅

I’m playing Disco Elysium. Just started a few days ago. Kinda getting information overload with it, so I’m breaking it up with Brotato sessions

@Zuljaras I played Village recently and loved it! Only my 2nd RE game

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 😊

Vampire survivors for me too. The ultimate "I'll just have one more go" game.
Would recommend anyone to pick it up as it costs less than 5 eure

I will be playing one of the best video games ever.in the incredible nioh 2.im on the afterglow.i beat the game.and i do have the season pass dlc story dlcs ready for me.i got my fire and lighting sword.nioh 2 got a incredible gameplay.graphics.story.soundtrack and yes the boss fights are incredible.i will be also continue playing the amazing darksiders warmaster edition.and i will continue be playing the excellent kingdom of amalor re reckoning.i will be watching legendary sitcoms. Comedy tv 📺 shows.in good times.family matters.the Jeffersons.sanford and son.and saved by the bell.word up son

Zenith: The Last City

Finally got around to this VR MMO and felt I had to play it now in case its eventually shut down completely from a lack of players. I'm having fun playing it solo, while saying hi to a few other players here and there, mostly Quest players I guess.

It's a standard MMO in most ways, but the VR interactions make it shine. I'm playing the Cyber Ninja class which has access to a bow that can be split into two halves and used as dual schythes/kamas, as well as a grappling hook and temporal invisibility and backstabs - its almost like my Skyrim VR build!

Aeterna Noctis

Another week, another Metroidvania... Just started so I don't have a firm opinion apart from that the graphics look wonderful and that it plays pretty well. It's supposed to be a very hard game so we'll see how it goes.

@KyushuTrail loved Disco Elysium. Enjoy

It's all about sabacc, sneaking and slicing this weekend in the very atmospheric Star Wars Outlaws. Loving it so far.

@Ravix Agreed on the slicing being easy. I was expecting early level KCD lockpicking the way that people were mentioning its difficulty.

About 3/4’s of the way through Alpha Protocol’s second playthrough and should 🤞 be able to get the plat done with a partial 3rd playthrough and some specific save and reload management.

Then I have to decide what’s next on the ps3 backlog agenda… at the moment it’s between Star Wars; The Force Unleashed 2, Alice: The Madness Returns and Final Fantasy XIII 🤔.

May the force be with you.

...and picked up Vrising on sale. I'll slowly build my castle

More and more of the fantastic MH Rise Sunbreak. Just love the vivid, sharp, cartoony style graphics along with the obvious fantastic gear. Will probably jump a bit into World Iceborne as well, I feel like there's still monsters I haven't met even after 1500+hrs.

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. Play games and enjoy them.
Cheers everyone and happy gaming weekend to us all

Absolutely addicted to Vampire Survivors and I don't see that ending anytime soon.

Going away on holiday this week, so around the pool or beach I’ll be playing “let’s keep trying to learn Japanese to better experience Japanese games and other media content”. Suffice it to say, I will not complete it and may rage quit a few times.

Maybe I’ll get to start Vampire Survivors for an hour before leaving for the airport.

@iPaud Thanks!

I will have a blast or two on Brotato and hope to make a few hours progress on Horizon Forbidden West.

Have a splendid weekend fellow Square Pushers.

Welp after getting pretty far into Bloodborne (I beat Micolash) I gave it up for lack of interest. Just wasn't very compelling to play for me 🙈 So I tried the Unicorn Overlord Demo and after 8hrs I bought the full game so I'll be playing that this weekend and until Sparking Zero releases.

Have a great weekend!

Had a hankering to replay Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (that music!), I still can’t believe it came out 9 years ago). It’s firing in nicely with having to catch up on some work.

Have a great weekend folks!

@colonelkilgore Nice choices. TFU2 is great but I cant pass up an opportunity to recommend FF 13. It's one of my favs and it really good once you give it a chance.

@3Above cheers for the recommendation buddy, it might well tip the scales tbh 👍

Star Wars Outlaws

Been playing it since Tuesday and I'm highly enjoying it so far. I don't care what the divisive reviews say.

This weekend I will travel to see my girlfriend, so no gaming. But I wanted to say, what an addictive game is Vampire Survivors!! And with a so low price, it's a must buy for everyone!

I’ll be finishing Strangers of Paradise FF Origin. Plot is meh at best but neat to be set in the FF1 world. But it’s a Team Ninja game so I’m having a blast.

I’ll also work on Rise of the Ronin, but mostly I’ll be playing Black Myth Wukong. I’m a chapter deep and it’s definitely a boss rush game. I love it. Not difficult, but not easy, and I am having a blast with each enemy.

@ApostateMage Slicing and lockpicking are two different things. Yes, the slicing in the game where you just guess what the three symbols are is easy. The regular lockpicking when you use the data spike in what is essentially a rhythm mini-game is what is giving people like myself some trouble early on.

There is an option in the accessibility menu to turn the difficulty down to Easy on it, which is what I did and it's not as bad. I'm sure @Ravix is having a much easier time with it. If I start taking my time instead of trying to rush through it, I'll probably get better at it. As I've said before, it's not something that is a dealbreaker by any means. It was just annoying at first for the most part.

Made it to Baldur's Gate in BG3, too much to do really. I've also been playing Stellar Blade and Sonic Colors Ultimate as a change of pace. Stellar Blade is pretty good. Colors has its moments but the 2D sections suck.

@ApostateMage Sabacc has properly suckered me in, hate having to leave the table after every win/loss though. Agree with you guys on the lockpicking, really easy but kinda fun

no gaming for me this weekend as I am doing a lot of housework but hope everyone has a great weekend

I’m desperately trying to get stupid Medusa’s stupid head for Dragons Dogma 2, will be here for a while. 😂

Trails Through Daybreak for me. Can't really believe I'm finally on the latest game to release in the west. I thought it would take me years to get here but in the end it was only just over one. The game is great and really reinvigorates the series after the slightly excessive length of Cold Steel.

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.

The DS Castlevanias. This is a damned good collection. I also am a hypocrite and bought a PS Portal. My sticking point has always been the ridiculous lack of Bluetooth, but I didn't know it had an aux also. So I'm really excited for that. Like to a silly extent. I'm not sure what I want to play first on it though. It's coming in tonight, but I am working. I just keep repeating that they need me at work. I can't call out. They need me. I can wait til labor day. We do have that new lady, though...and she seems to be a ringer too. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Nah I can't call out.

@KilloWertz

Quite hypnotic 😁

Honestly, when it clicks you will be fine. Just spend a few seconds looking at the yellow light, and if it goes blue you know you got it. Because I'd heard people were having trouble is why I set all the stuff on mine to hard settings to give myself something to master. But I did find it surprisingly easy once I stopped doing the wrong thing as initially the description just plain fooled me 😅😅

Just popped the Ender Lilies plat, now onto Vampire Survivors. Have a good weekend all!

Sonic Superstars: Having played a couple 3Ds but never completed a 2D, this has been an interesting experience. Sonic and his friends move how you remember, just with a lot more fluid animation that definitely helps out in some of the tougher spots. There have been a couple of truly awesome boss fights and innovative zones, and the artwork is a perfect update to the classics.

My personal favorite has been Sonic: a good all-rounder with a decent moveset, but if I want to kind of cheese a level it's nice to have Amy. While I don't see it becoming one of my all time favorites, entries like this and Wonder from the Super Mario Bros series have definitely helped to change my mind about 2D platformers.

1. Wukong
2. SW: Outlaws

@Shigurui How difficult/long did it take to Plat Ender Lillies?

@KilloWertz I did mean the lockpicking, sorry. Not sure why I wrote slicing.

I also like the eating mini-game which gets you a nice perk for Nix.

I'm playing Jeanne D'arc. I'm in chapter 7. I'm really enjoying it. Hopefully I'll be done by Astro Bot day.

@3Above lol this happened to me with Assassin's Creed Black Flag. Reached the final few missions and just didn't find it compelling

@xeofate yeah reaching Baldurs Gate in Bg3 is overwhelming with how much is going on. You get so many missions, constant conversations on screen. I slowly lost my interest for playing the act. But I made sure to do Shadowhearts companion quest.

Concord

Lol just kidding. I'm playing Infinite Wealth and it's so damn good

Star Wars Outlaws for me. That'll be the only one this weekend. Really enjoying it.

Finally killed Radahn and the little boy last weekend. Hardest and most unfair boss in From history. Did a speedrun to start the replay of the dlc again. Getting fatigued now with ER and going to take a break. Getting back into GOT mixed with some Starfield. The new rover is awesome. I ended up accidentally running over and killing people in the main city and now everyone is trying to kill me. Also, it is college football time here in the States. Going to watch my favorite team, Penn State at noon EST. Go Nittany Lions!

@mac_da_man Glad to hear you enjoyed Stellar Blade! It’s a great game. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Astro Bot.

Will be playing Child of Light on PS5, Maneater on Series X and Sly 3 on PS3. I'm having a blast with the first two games, but I'm going to be honest, I'm not really enjoying Sly 3 as much as before. I just have a couple of hours left of the game though, so I'm hoping to wrap it up this weekend.

Bit of Sifu, bit of Cult of the Lamb. Maybe some Dark Souls

@Kraven I’ve actually pre-ordered Astro Bot, which I dont usually do but I still trust a few developers 😅 so its already installed with a countdown, cant wait. Can hopefully give my mfirst impressions in next weeks update 🙂

Spider-Man 2, nearly all wrapped up with the story and platinum trophy

More Dark Souls 2, Scholar edition. And will mix in Life is Strange: True Colors when I need to chill. If I get tired of all that then I’ll start up Child of Light.

Monster Jam Showdown

It's … okay

My copy of Star Wars outlaws finally arrived so had a blast of that. I think it looks and runs great on performance mode.

I'm at a wedding night do tonight so I'll be on it tomorrow.

Triis 2 hour trial of vampire survivors. Can see why it's highly rated. For less than £4 I'll definitely have to buy it for quick fixes

@breakneck It took me 117 hours to reach the city, I guess I'm looking at another 50-60 hours. I would say that it's one of the best games of all time but it's a bit too long for it to top Elden Ring in my list. It's definitely easy to get burned out on it. I will give Larian top marks for the amount of effort they put into the game.

I'm still playing AI: The Somnium Files, got Mizuki and Iris route ending. There's still plenty of route to finish.

But i'm also playing Tales of Vesperia remastered on PS4. Currently at the beginning of 2nd arc. Imho Vesperia story, characters, and combat are a lot more enjoyable than Symphonia. I never get 'locked in' every time i played Symphonia with how slow the story pace and the characters aren't that interesting. But i guess i will give Symphonia another try once i beat Vesperia.

Owing to a slight accident involving two broken bones in my elbow resulting in surgery yesterday… not really able to play anything this weekend!

But… the PSVR2 should be excellent physio for the recovery, so back to that when I can! 😄

Everyone enjoy some game time for me this weekend!

Balatro - stuck on green difficulty.

I need to uninstall this game before it consumes my life!

Switch: still playing The Minish Cap and enjoying my time with it, even if some bits are a bit obscure (like the button to Kinstone trade!). On the 4th temple now

PS5: played a bit of Sifu, levelling up and trying to get a better run but still can’t beat the last boss

Started up Immortals of Aveum - after a shaky start with a lot of exposition, I’ve started to really like the characters, world and combat mechanics

Finally got my platinum for PoP The Lost Crown, brilliant game and a fun challenge!

It's Star Wars Outlaws all the way for me now!

Happy gaming folks

Elite Dangerous PC, Hogwarts on my Deck and maybe RDR on PS5.

Star Wars Outlaws. A lot of flaws in the game, but I am having fun. The Star Wars vibe in this is off the charts (especially sound design) and that is carrying the experience so far.

My wife got me a shirt with Han Solo’s face on it that says: “I know” on our trip to Disney this year. I have been wearing it the whole time I play! This means I am approaching it with the right spirit, and also that my wife married a nerd.

A simple and clean decision for this weekend. Kingdom Hearts 3. I played in plus to KH melody of memory and had a blast, it made me want to replay KH3 and tbh enjoying far more than the first run

Dragon Dogma 2, Street Fighter 6, and Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy. Capcom games.

Maxed out my level in the Black Ops 6 beta yesterday so I'm done with that until next Friday though I may dip into it here and there.

I just popped the final 2 trophies I had been waiting on to show up in Astro Bot's Playroom, so that makes 100% on that trophy stack. Such a solid, well-made game, and I'm not into platformers at all, really.

Probably won't play much the rest of the weekend until the holiday on Monday here in The States as I'm going to a concert tonight and have church and family stuff all day tomorrow. Though when I do get back to my PS5, I'll be starting on the story for Red Dead Redemption II, which I've really been looking forward to. Red Dead Online is fun and all, but I'm ready to move on from it for a while. Plus everyone raves how good the story mode is in that game so I'm very much looking forward to it! Have a GREAT weekend all!

@3Above - Its not overly difficult maybe 5 or 6/10 but it can be quite frustrating at times as Lily can die very easily and most major bosses can shred her health and kill her with one or two hits. It gets easier once you get the dodge upgrade as you can abuse i-frames. Plat took me about 30 hours, fully blind playthrough.

I'm playing the controversial ps5 exclusive wukong..you know the one with all the game breaking performance issues and I'm loving it and it could well be the best game I've played so far this year. I also went to the golf course for the afternoon because the weather was good..have a good one folks 👍

Probably no gaming ,I've been on abit of a break from gaming lately and really enjoying the time away from it to reset abit and do plenty of other things,when gaming is back on the agenda I'll be onto rdr2 in a big way as I've hardly ever played much of it since release nearly 6 yrs ago would you believe ,but what I have played of it so far Is hugely impressive (typical rockstar).

Will continue playing Concord. I have been having a good time with it, the movement and shooting feels really good. I never wait more than 30-40 seconds to get in a match so those long wait time stories are misleading. The only playlist with a long wait is the competitive no respawn playlist. I also get into some vampire survivors for a couple runs, best 5 bucks anyone can spend.

The dead space remake on the ps5, really wish it was a remastered instead of a remake, I personally think it looks worse than the og.
I will also be playing sims 4 on my lappytop and will be attempting to build a desktop pc for the first time so I can become a member for the pc subterranean species. team no RGB!! RBG???

Following the decision to let my PS Extra subscription expire a few months back, I've been working my way through the backlog of games purchased on sale but never completed.

Decided to start that workload by working my way through HFW Burning Shore and finished that early last week, so this weekend is something completely different - Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader.

It's lore is heavy, but the fact the game rewards you for leaning into the atmosphere of the 40K universe, and being a complete son-of-a-b to the peasents is very, very entertaining.

@breakneck Yeah, I just lost interest sadly. Interestingly Jean D'Arc is also on my list of "Play this later" games.

Everything came to a stop since Vampire Survivors. So simple, yet so addictive. Highly recommended.

Happy gaming everyone.

I got to squeeze in a bit of It Takes Two with my wife and after everyone went to bed I sunk in a couple of hours in Star Wars Outlaws.

Deliver Us Mars - worth a look while its included on PS+.
I would give it a 7/10

Dishonored, such a fantastic game, still..... for me.

@Ravix Thanks for the very detailed help there. It actually did click for me yesterday. Initially I was being stupid and just hitting it the first time instead of completing all of the "beats" before putting it down to Easy and then eventually getting it out of sheer luck. Now I'm actually paying attention.

I'm sure your comment will help others.

@ApostateMage It's fine. Maybe you've taken too many trips to Night City and your brain is permanently fried.

Yeah, the lockpicking isn't that bad once you really pay attention and it clicks (no pun intended). I still have no problem with games doing the very simple lockpicking, but this isn't bad once you get the hang of it. I haven't done the eating mini game yet, but I did look it up, so maybe at some point I will try that.

@RaZieLDaNtE I think with SW Outlaws, people did not like the long stealth missions where because of spaced out checkpoints, set you back quite a bit if you are spotted. How are you finding this aspect? I was ready to order but the stealth stories were mentioned in many reviews, so I held off. This happened in Avatar too, you needed to take over bases but if you failed at any point you’d have to start over from scratch and take over the base all over again.

Everyone is playing Concord

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.

@frankmcma Hello there friend.
So, the stealth missions can be a little anoying, because you don´t get many checkpoints and you can also loose points of a specific faction, wich might not be ideal.
Fortunately, they are not that difficult, once you know what to do and were to go.
And since the game has many upgrades and abilities to unlock, it also makes those missions easier to do.
But the game is quite fun and engaging. At least so far.
Cheers and have a good one