Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 554

Just made a start on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 today. It was never really on my schedule, I just picked a copy up for the collection but I was so pleasantly surprised by the original LoS earlier this year I thought that I may as well give the sequel a fair shot too.

The general consensus seems to think it’s a fair bit worse but there are a minority out there who swear that it’s a great evolution of the original. Well the prologue was fan(g)tastic, so I’m feeling it so far.

Finally started Baldur's Gate III in the week with a Lolth sworn Drow who's a Warlock having a pact with a Great Old one.

Having a great time with it so far, I'm loving the companions so far and hoping to get some decent playtime in over the next few days.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Greetings fellow gaming enthusiasts. I won 30 days of Xbox Game Pass after buying a box of Cheerios. What should I play in this span of time?

No interest in the PS5 Pro for me and will happily continue using my original that I bought at launch.
I'm still playing Metaphor and so far 75 hours in..easily my GOTY!

@Eduard_Brenton if I was ever to get Gamepass, personally Forza Horizon 5 would probably be my first port of call.

Alan wake 2 the final chapter on my pro, it’s running smoothly so far

I’ve been holding off on Alan Wake 2 until the Pro came, so having fun with that. Wow, it’s a pretty game. Just got to the diner which is almost identical to the RR in Twin Peaks, nice little nod. Have a great weekend folks!

Dragon Age Veilguard on PS5 for the RPG fix and Black Ops 6 on Xbox for the multiplayer fix. Have a great weekend everyone

I bit the bullet and dived into The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. About 5 hours in and loving it so far.

Have an amazing weekend nerds, enjoy your games. 🤓

Balatro and Switch Bowling (211 this morning)
Undisputed which I’ve just gone pro, still think the game is nowhere as punchy (excuse the pun) and as fun as Fight Night round 3 but it’s still early days.
Bit of Wildlands and possibly Snooker 19 with a mate 🤞
Enjoy your gaming weekend people!

HZD Remastered.

I'm currently in The Cut collecting bluegleam for the best gear and weapons.

Finishing up Astro Bot after a week. It's a pretty great platformer with lots of experimentation, including some ideas reused in innovative ways. The challenge levels are tough, but going for completion has been fairly breezy.

I look forward to Team Asobi's next effort.

Rollercoaster Tycoon.

I'm playing Sonic Frontiers on the PC and Sonic Unleashed on the PS3. I might start Dragon Age Veilguard this weekend, Metaphor ReFantazio is not holding my attention at the moment.

Just Veilguard. After this, I'm buying Ys X and Metaphor ReFantazio. I did start a playthrough of ME1 before Veilguard, being in a Bioware mood, as well as all three previous Dragon Ages - basically the gaming equivalent of when my dog tries to carry a log in her mouth instead of a normal stick. I might go back to them at some point.

@ApostateMage snap! I'm doing exactly the same thing. It's a stunning looking game and I'm enjoying it more than I did the first time round..have a great weekend everyone especially those with the ps5 Pro 👍

Finished Dead Island 2 yesterday. Now I am going tot start HZD remastered mixed with some Helldivers 2.

Have a nice weekend.

I've been trying out a few PS5 Pro games such as The Last of Us 2, RE4 and Horizon Zero Dawn, all of which look and run amazingly and will be playing through them all in the upcoming weeks.

For now though, I've settled on Sonic X Shadow Generations, the original game still looks great and is a testament to how good the Hedgehog engine is and the Sonic Jam skin is cute. But the first level of the Shadow portion just blew me away, as a big fan of the Sonic boost games, I'm really going to enjoy this

Stardew Valley 1.6 Update. I recently unlocked the Plat, so now going for perfection!

I finished Sekiro so I’ll be playing Tails of Iron. Also might try and get the last few trophies for the Doki Doki Literature Club platinum. I did a blind play through a couple of days ago. It was… interesting…

I will continue and play one of the greatest video games ever made in the incredible dishonored definitive edition.incredible gameplay.graphics.story.boss fights.that soundtracks.corvo attano is a incredible protagonist.and i will continue playing the excellent one of the greatest horror video games ever made in the evil within.i finish the main story.now im going to do the dlcs Sebastian castlellanos is a excellent protagonist.the gameplay.the graphics.the story.the boss fights.the soundtracks are excellent.i will be watching my Pittsburgh Steelers 💛🖤 and my boston Celtics 💚🖤 play.and i will be watching legendary sitcoms tv 📺 shows in family matters.good times.sanford and son.and saved by the bell.word up son

Horizon Zero Dawn on the Pro and a little Diablo 4.

Can't believe the game I have the most screenshots is Elden Ring. 600MB worth of screenshots, game's just too artistic. Trying to find more hidden bosses and areas in ShadowOTE, I've left that Consort bored up in that tower. And some evergreen Bloodborne on the side. Still on the fantastic Metaphor Refantazio but take breaks because y'know your average Atlus game can be overwhelming with all that TEXT sometimes. Plus tarrying in RDR2 and GTA5.

I will be mostly playing Alan Wake 2 which like other I have waiting until the Pro came out to play, it is really good and pretty spooky at time,s it's dripping in Twin Peaks cool!!
Wanna try out some VR games on the Pro too and obviously some GT7.

Happy gaming folks

Horizon Forbidden West

Arizona sunshine remake and maybe some cyube. Likely I’ll play a bit of monster train on the portal while watching TV. Nothing new this week. If the wife is game we’ll play a bit of Resi5 together.

Ps5 Pro has impressed me so far Final Fantasy Rebirth and Alan Wake 2 look excellent. Silent Hill 2 on the other hand seems to look worse on Pro which is a problem

Hollow Knight again for me this weekend. Made lots of progress over the last week. The game is constantly drip-feeding me new charms to experiment with, areas to explore, new moves to try out, enemies to conquer, and lore to puzzle out, that there's no chance of ever getting bored. It's so good that I'm starting to think this might be up there with Symphony of the Night as my personal favourite 2D Metroidvania. I'm in awe that such a small team put this together. Now for yet another attempt at that second challenge in the Colosseum of Fools...

Have a great weekend, everyone.

@Eduard_Brenton I would advice using this list of Gamepass games to see what games you have time for:
https://howlongtobeat.com/xbox

When I had a Gamepass trial I finished Tunic, great game!

Loving Black Ops 6 on GP...the multiplayer really is peerless, with a great array of new maps. Fantastic campaign too
Also, I'm around 16 hrs in on DA Veilguard and it's really starting to.open up with new skills and areas. Absolutely loving it - but I understand the criticisms of its character art style.
Have a great weekend guys and gals ❤️

@colonelkilgore LoS 2 is just OK, big disappointment after the 1st game. Just wait until you do the 'Rat stealth' sections. Good God what were they thinking

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat is life right now. It really is reminding me of why I used to love Fallout. Just finding a stash of weapons and ammo can be such a lifesaver. Miss this kind of atmosphere.

@HallowMoonshadow an absolute treat ahead of you there !

PS5: I have been playing Dragon Age Veilguard daily since release. I have already clocked in 40+ hours and have enjoyed every second of it.
Xbox: Resubscribed to Gamepass to play Cod 6. Finished the campaign which was a blast. I might play MW2 and 3 now even though I have heard their campaigns are weaker.
Switch: I have made a new habit lately of sidequesting in TotK when the TV is busy. Such a brilliant game!

@Zuljaras Resident Evil 2 on N64 was a miracle and the extra content is a bonus, enjoy

@Eduard_Brenton Starfield. Black Ops 6. Forza Motorsport or Horizon 5....that should keep you going

@LikelySatan STALKER 2 inbound. Personally cannot wait !

I’m playing DA:V and I am fighting the urge to restart and play as a mage. Currently playing as a rogue and I wanna just play with lightning. Apart from that I might tackle another of Ace Attorney cases.

I played around with a few games last night on the new Pro before settling in to Lies of P this morning. Right at the start so we will see if it clicks.

Very much standard Souls stuff so far.

Will likely VR a bit on Pistol Whip and Drums Rock plus I'm considering a new run on Stardew valley with the latest update.

Balatro and Vampire survivors are always a possibility too.

ARMORED CORE VI consumes my every waking moment. I defeated Balteus in an epic battle. Seriously such a good boss fight! He has FLAMETHROWER SWORDS!!!!!!!! I just beat Cinder Carla a few minutes back too. The combat and movement is so good! It confirms my thoughts that I'm a sucker for games that have fast combat whether it is DOOM, Vanquish, AC6, Returnal, Bulletstorm or Titanfall 2.

I’m still going strong in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, playing it for the first time, but at around 30-40 hours already. Clearing up parts of the map before I keep the story going and also doing tons of side quests and upgrading my different capacities. Just bought Astro Bot Deluxe and looking forward to check it out. I usually play a couple games in rotation, so also on Alan Wake 2, but took a break after starting the Old Gods chapter. Also looking forward to Lego Horizon, but that’s next weekend. Surprisingly, I started Dragon Age and liked it but decided to keep my focus mainly on Horizon Zero Dawn. I will get back to it as soon as I finish a couple of these games. Horizon Forbidden West was my very first PS5 game and the one that made me buy the console. I’m a full convert and have all my favorites multi platform titles already and a couple more. Also got the DualSense Edge and admiring the PS5 Pro but the price tag in Canada is too much for me right now, maybe next year.

Something from this list:

or potentially buying Dragon Age The Veilguard or Nobody Wants to Die 🤷‍♂️

I'm now fully hooked with horizon zero dawn all over again.

Also just bought a 2nd hand copy of croc on PS1 for my 6 year old to play

Still playing Wukong, finishing chapter 4, it is a good game but Still thinking stellar blade or líes of p were way better

For this weekend I shall be getting a bit more tidying done and build some more of my Lego set of Bumblebee.
PS5 wise: progress further with Star Wars Outlaws, TR1, SMTV:V, Hades and Cult of the Lamb. Start going through Stray.
PS4 Wise: ESO for daily log in’s, Spyro and Tunic.
Xbox wise: Lost Oddysee and Sonic Adventure

Will be playing Assassin's Creed: Valhalla on PS5 this weekend. I'm 15 hours in and absolutely loving it! It's so much fun, just as you'd expect from an open-world AC game. It's also noticeably different from Odyssey in terms of missions and structure. The world is more condensed, there aren't tons of markers on the map and the side quests are shorter. Not to mention there aren't an abundance of weapons to find like in Odyssey. In short, the gameplay feels more meaningful, which is nice to see for a Ubisoft game.

Started Metaphor's demo last month. Then went out of state for a wedding (was a great time!). Picked up the full game in my travels. Got reacquainted with the game thru finishing off the demo & transferred that over to the full release! Will get fully into it tomorrow!!!

Im about 70% through Avatar and would like to finish that this weekend.
I started Dragon Age Veilguard on ps5 pro and have to say it looks great and Im enjoying the gameplay loads. The opening story piece (leading up to the titles) was a bit 'off' tbh, but its improved a lot since then, and the acting seems fine and characters are likable so far.

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

that thumbnail caught me off guard , i thought it was real 😳

on topic tho, i’m playing infamous 2 on my ps3 & some other games i bought like asuras wrath . i missed some bangers back then when i was a big call of duty head

I’m playing Dragon Age Veilguard and attempting to ignore the internet discourse for this game. I’m having an absolute blast, and will definitely be striving for the platinum. I, as a rogue Antivan Crow, made a crucial decision to betray my own city. Afterward, I met Doctor Strange—erm, I mean, Emmerich. He is a pretty cool dude. Also, this game strongly reminds me of Kingdom Of Amalur. I know it’s not a spiritual successor, but it certainly feels like it in some areas. And if you haven’t played that game, go do it ASAP.

Slitterhead my friends!!

Along with the Infinity Nikki Beta, Black Myth Wukong, and Metaphor. So much to play!

Started Wo Long this week, what a game.

Also Dark Souls and The Crew Motorfest.

@get2sammyb LAD IW is such a great game and my personal GOTY so far (Sonic, well Shadow may pip it) and it is almost an Infinite Wealth of fun content. I'm about 3/4 of the way through but am constantly distracted 😆

Halo MCC, the project digsite team finally brought a playable version of Halo 2's legendary E3 demo to the game.

@breakneck amen to that! Loved AC6. I feel like you might enjoy GhostRunner if you can get past the one hit one kill aspect. The breakneck speed of dodging perfectly through a level mowing down enemies is fantastic.

@Ravix Nobody Wants to Die is a lowkey GOTY contender for me. Loved that it was a chill detective narrative game with no risk of failure.

@Daleaf Stellar Blade is my GOTY so far. The combat is a blast and I loved the boss fights so much I regularly dip back into boss rush mode to play it again.

I’m on Chapter 5 of Black Myth Wukong and it too feels like it has no business being the first AAA game from a studio. It’s long and is more a boss rush game than anything with areas to explore and cannon fodder between.

Still educating the masses on Two Point Campus and getting all the 3-stars. Great game.

I’ve been playing remnant 2 and titanfall on steam deck but I plan to finally finish Astro bit today.

I finished the campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and, although I enjoyed it a lot, I think I still prefer Cold War. At some point I’ll get back to the campaign for that veteran run and to mop up the other achievements; for now I’m going to focus on the multiplayer and a bit of zombies here and there.

I also recently started SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, both of which I’ve been enjoying so far.

All of the above I’ve been playing on Xbox Series S (Gamepass). I haven’t played my PS5 in a while and it will probably stay that way for a bit longer; I got 17 platinums this year (that’s a lot for me - full time job and married), so I’m showing some love to my other consoles right now.

Finally, I’m still playing Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD on Switch. It’s … good. I have to say, this series really should be my jam, and I DO like it, but … I dunno! every time I play a Luigi’s Mansion game I feel it has something missing for me. Still, I’ll carry on with it and expect to finish it sometime soon.

Wishing everyone a good weekend.

A-SPARKING -A-ZEROOOOOOOO!!!!!

I thought I might spend the weekend not gaming, but reading about every last minute detail of the ps5 pro I’m never going to buy. At great length. I wonder where I could do that…

Starting a new game plus in Horizon Zero Dawn remaster. The game looks awesome but... I think I always remembered it looking this good on the ps4. One thing I do remember is the awesome story and tone, not like Forbidden Wests white space gods floating around and Trinity from the matrix having the hots for Aloy.
I forgot how much HFW story stinks. LOL!

@LtSarge I agree, I had alot of fun with ACV and actually completed the game... Word of advise, do quests and side mission in a natural pace (stumbling and wondering around) if your a completionist ACV can be a slog.

Still on the excellent Ys X: Nordics two weeks after starting it, gotta love this Falcom goodness

I had to give up on Dying Light 2. I liked Dying Light so much, but the sequel made some tweaks to the formula that made the sequel one of the most annoying games I have ever played. And the story is bland and certainly not worth the hassle. Hopefully Dying Light: The Beast will be a return to form.

So I picked up an indie called Beyond Galaxyland and I am having a blast so far. I am only a couple of hours in, but the retro sci fi aesthetic and pixel art are fantastic, and the characters charming. Very fun.

Have a good weekend everyone! There are so many great and varied games out there-there is always something fun to play!

• Dragon Quest 6: Realms of Revelation
• Horizon: Zero Dawn Remastered
• Dead Space Remake
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Vampire Surivivors Castlevania dlc

A bit too much and I don't have a lot of time lately. I'm going to finish all of the above before buying a pro and start something else. That will probably be january

I'm only playing SF 6 all day.

I put Manon and Cammy to Master rank but i go back to my boy Ed because his gameplay fits perfectly with my playing style. But man, trying to reach 1600 MR is difficult. I even got down to 1300-1400 MR although i managed to get back to 1500 MR again. It feels like my skills reach a roadblock 😔

Slitterhead, some of the Infinity Nikki beta (pretty fun) and Ys9 (the ps4 version I got thru ps+).

Lollipop Chainsaw Repop and Marvel vs Capcom Collection.

HZD remaster - such a gorgeous game! So, turns out ng+ on an imported save messes some trophies up so started fresh which was annoying at first but it lets me enjoy it all again so now Im kind of happy about that 🙂 love spending time in this world!

CoD Blops 6 - playing the campaign, which Im enjoying. Best in many years! Doesnt run perfect on the Series S but good enough.

Max Mustard VR - about two thirds in, its not perfect but good fun!

Dont have the balls for the new Metro VR which looks awesome so kind of dissapointed in myself 😅

@ErrantRob I tried it on PS+ a while back but I don't think I was in the right frame of mind to play it. I may give it another go in the future.

Dragon age on PS5 Pro.

Bumbling around in Chapter 15 of RE4Remake on PS5 so hopefully will complete that today. Then think I need to play some non-horror games for a break... It would be nice to see some colour again!

Have a good weekend and enjoyed your gaming people.

Likely keep playing Dark Souls 3. I'm having a ton of fun with it.

May also play Helldivers 2 and Eggstra Work in Splatoon 3 with a friend.

Gonna be mostly Sparking Zero this weekend. I bought it but won't start HZD Remastered till I finish Unicorn Overlord.

A new season of Foamstars just started so I might check that out.

Happy gaming!

I'm all over some Black Ops 6 as much as I can be this weekend. Really good entry in the series! Hope everyone has a good time with whatever they're playing!

I’m on the last chapter of ys x, once that’s all finished I’m going to fully focus on dragon age veilguard and metro awakening.

Silent Hill 2 and ZZZ

I tried the Ys X demo last night, but Falcom fatigue is real. Can't do it. I haven't even finished Us VIII or Trails into Reverie, much less even cracked the plastic on Daybreak. The Romancing Saga 2 demo however is excellent. Really straightforward, old school feel with a coat of Gen 6 paint. I'll try to finish that this weekend if there's time. If I like it, I'll buy it. I only had about 45 minutes or so to play last weekend, and this one is looking about the same. My wife really wants to put up Christmas decorations this evening, so we're going to do that.

Silent Hill 2 remake. Just reached the apartment. Love it so far. Spooky

First game on my PS5 Pro is TLOU Part 1. It’s so damn good still.

Dead Space Remake

I haven't gotten to play as much as I would like to lately, but after starting this a couple of weeks ago as my one horror game for October, I'm enjoying it. There are parts that are incredibly frustrating, but at least that doesn't dominate the game and the really good parts still get to shine. I just started Chapter 8 today.

@HallowMoonshadow Some day I will finally play Baldur's Gate III. I've had my Deluxe Edition physical copy for months that I still haven't even opened yet.

I know the game is a huge undertaking, so the timing of starting it has to be right of course. Maybe late this year or early next year once there's not much in the way of new releases for a little while.

I think I’ll play either PS1 or Pokémon. Depending on if I can get them working. If not, I’ll probably watch anime.

@get2sammyb Infinite Wealth is amazing. Love the switch-up to Haiwaii. Hope you enjoy the back half!

Spark the Electric Jester 3

Last of us 2 remake and Metro Awakening for me on the pro.

Glad you're enjoying like a dragon.
I'm playing throne and liberty.

Balatro on PS5 Amateur 👍

Dragon Age: Veilguard.

..but I may play less purely because season 2 of Arcane kicked off.

@Eduard_Brenton Forza Horizon 4 and Microsoft Flight Simulator

Now that the Pro is here I jumped into Stellar Blade and wow does it run amazing while maintaining beautiful visuals. Oh and the game is just really damn good.

Horizon FW on the PS5 Peasant. Loving every second of it.
Black Ops 6 on xCloud. Almost done with the campaign and waiting for Stalker 2 to hit GP!

Microsoft Wordament (Android) - Dailies and Adventure mode.

Wordament Snap Attack (Android) - Done what I can with this now. Time to delete and move on.

Free Slots Fun Factory (Windows Phone) - Also done what I can with this one. One more WP title for the scrap heap!

@Lyedecker I’m still in disbelief how much I’m enjoying Infinity Nikki. It’s so…..chill.

I'm playing Fallout IV, it's taken a long time to get into it, but I think it might be an ok filler until the next big game.

@ErrantRob Lol, I hear ya. I'm definitely not the target audience for this but I'm like "yeah, this works for me"

I went ahead and tried Wayfinder, also, and I'm in love so far. If anyone was on the fence because of the hellish development, maybe give it a shot. It's an ARPG from Airship Syndicate. $20, and worth it just to explore the first hub. It's gorgeous.

Just tried Pacific Drive on the Pro and it feels a fair bit more stable now. I think I’ll be up for a replay next year

Back to HZD which has been fun. Prefer it to HFW to be honest. Quite a bit simpler

@colonelkilgore thanks. I haven’t played a racing game for a while.

@Perturbator thanks. I have taken a look but there’s so much choice I wanted to see what people here recommended.

@KingPev Thanks for the recommendations.

@Raffles thanks, I’ve always been intrigued by flight simulator.

Finished Alan Wake II + DLC, fantastic gam, but now I am in need of MOAR Remedyverse stuff and Control 2 is probably a ways off...

Now to continue my replay of all the Dragon Age games!

Is that an image from Yakuza as the banner picture?

Playing a couple of hours of Shadow X Sonic Generations on PS5 along with my son and replaying Return to Castle Wolfenstein on PC with the RealRTCW mod.

Good evening.
I played Barbie: Project Friendship PS5 this Sunday. 😊

There were many Overcooked style mini games in this Barbie game.

Completed Like A Dragon Ishin last night, really enjoyed that... Good to see all the characters from the series in 'cameo' roles. Majima being class as always 😆
Time for LAD: Infinite Wealth now I have completed the rest of the series... Hope the Pro makes it look good 🤞👍

Well here we go with another wild WAYP. Been a stupidly cool week around here. The week was mostly the games I wanted to focus on beating like Zelda, Astro Bot, Trails Through Daybreak, Emio and Metaphor. Most of the weekend was spent with Emio and Astro Bot. Emio continues to be an amazing mystery that has me enthralled. Astro Bot on the other hand I not only beat but got the Platinum Trophy for and absolutely loved it all that is seriously a GOTY. Also dabbled in Life Is Strange Double Exposure and Slitterhead like I wanted and they were both really good LIS being like Emio and having a engaging hook and Slitterhead being a wonderful horror experience just a shame it wasn’t a Halloween pick. Rest of the weekend I’m thinking is gonna be some YS X Nordics I really really liked what I played and wanna get a really solid session of it in to really dig in. Otherwise I’m thinking this week is mostly gonna consist of some Zelda, Trails Through Daybreak, Emio, Dawntrail, Metaphor, BLOPS6, Sonic X Shadow Generations and hopefully dabbling in both Mario and Luigi Brothership and Dragon Age The Veilguard on my day off as yeah I picked them both up and they both look exceedingly amazing. Think I’ll maybe pick up that Metal Slug Tactics too. Also kinda considering looking into a PS5 Pro. And yeah Dawntrail is back on the menu because we got Patch 7.1 Crossroads coming out. The wrestling things this week being the build to Survivor Series WARGAMES just has me so hype currently we just have the Bloodline War but I can’t wait for them to build the rest of the card it’s so hype. Anime of the week gotta go to Oshi No Ko and Dandadan and Dragon Ball Daima and Shangri La Frontier and Yakuza Fiancé and Ron Kaminohashis Forbidden Deductions and Ranma 1/2. Yeah we got all our picks for fall and they re seriously peak picks like go check them out. 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, Weapon Wheel Podcast and Remap Radio. As always yall stay safe, be awesome to each other. Have a totally cool weekend and of course Happy Gaming.

Decided to put myself through more suffering by getting back into Battle Brothers. I love the game... the game hates me. We'll see how it goes

@Eduard_Brenton ...oh and mustn't forget Halo The Masterchief Collection and Halo Infinite. And the Gears of War games, all of em. Simply brilliant still

@KingPev thanks. If I can complete a game a day I might be able to get through all the ones I want to play.