Alice Bee The 6k jigsaw I’m doing in Jigsaw Puzzle Dreams continues apace. I usually manage to make two connections in every lunchtime session but one time this week I managed four. I’m feeling good about putting some time in at the weekend. Alice0 Of all the games to play first on a shiny new PC, somehow I’ve ended up on… Watch Dogs 2? Maybe having a window in my computer (not by choice) to watch my GeForce’s LEDs rotate through the colours of the rainbow (not my choice) gave me an urge to HACK THE PLANET. CJ is away! Ed is away! Hayden I found time to start Destiny 2 again last week. I’m now both hooked and confused. I spend most of my time wombling around planets just hoping that I’m doing something right. I’ve definitely cleared some missions from an old expansion, but occasionally it likes to chuck new stuff at me when I load up the game. It’s very disorientating, that’s for sure. With 4 days off to explore further, surely my Guardian can accomplish something… right? James After reading Alice Bee’s supporter post on it, I’m pretty much sold on Little Witch In The Woods. I don’t normally go in for life sims but sometimes you just want to peace out for four days doing nowt but chibi witch things, ya know? Katharine is away! Liam My jubilee weekend will mainly be spent doing lots of big salutes while staring at the back (front?) of a pound coin, but other than that I’ll occupy my time with less important things like Breath Of The Wild and Vampire Survivors. Ollie I only just realised that the upcoming Bolivar Update for Humankind is already playable in beta, so I’ve started a new game as the Egyptians-turned-Persians, where I’m currently trying to bully my nearest rivals off the continent we share. It’s going pretty well so far, barring a minor setback where my hunting party of two scouts was somehow slaughtered by a lone deer. I mean, seriously. Was this deer secretly the Regal Ancestor Spirit from Elden Ring or something? Rebecca is away! But you, reader dear, what are you playing this weekend?
title: “What Are We All Playing This Long Weekend " ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Jose Hardy”
What are you playing this weekend? Here’s what we’re clicking on! But you, dearest reader, what are you playing? My glasses have not arrived yet, which means I get terrible headaches whenever I read anything off a screen, and have done probably irreparable damage to my (already haggard) intestines with all the paracetamol I’ve been chugging. But if I’m able, I want to continue the playthrough of the Dragon Age series that I have started. I am currently still in act one of Origins. All the elves are American instead of Welsh. I’m coming up on the end of XCOM: Chimera Squad and still enjoying breaching and clearing. The research and training and healing and outreach are all chores but I still enjoy shouting BREACH BREACH BREACH then sending in a squad of superhuman murderers. Big fan of Blueblood now I’ve got him firing seventy poisoned pistol shots per turn. Long weekends are brilliant, aren’t they? They’re especially good for playing meaty video games, like Gears Tactics. After dabbling last weekend, I’ve only scratched the surface on the teeny but still very large army men. This weekend I plan to spend a ridiculous amount of time shooting baddies from behind cover. I’ll likely be continuing my Murder By Numbers playthrough. I’m about halfway through the third case and while I’m still enjoying the game and its Picross puzzles, the music is getting a tad repetitive for my liking. There’s also the usual Animal Crossing (I’m trying to get all the flowers) and Pokémon Go (I completed the first Throwback Challenges), but I might also try something new later during the weekend. I want to get back this weekend to playing Gears Tactics, because I’ve enjoyed every second I’ve spent with it so far. The Geoscape was by far the worst thing about XCOM 2, and so a similarly robust tactics game that sheds that layer in favour of pure monster-pulping is welcome. Aside from a little more Dark Souls 3, I wanna take a bit of a break from games for the next couple days. I’m burnt out on all the usual stuff I play, and, uh, I’ve taken up whittling, so I’m gonna spend some time doing that. I’m making a spoon! I do not think it’s going well. I feel like I’m getting into the meat of the FFVII Remake now, so I’ll probably be continuing my quest into the heart of the Midgar’s slums this weekend. There will no doubt be lots of Animal Crossing involved as well, and maybe a bit of Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun to prepare for next month’s launch of Desperados III. That’s if I can tear myself away from Gears Tactics, of course. I’ve still hardly played any Gears Tactics. I think my brain has done that thing where because I had a tough time when I last booted it up, I can’t launch it again without thinking about how draining that was. I’m convinced I’ll get sucked in again if I can get myself to play for more than five minutes, though, because everybody keeps telling me how ace it is. I’ve switched from Gears Tactics to XCOM: Chimera Squad. I’m digging the close quarters setup as it feels like every encounter cuts straight to the exciting bit of XCOM tactics: all the parts are in play, you’re trying to squeeze every advantage from the map and the character powers allow for the showing off that doesn’t tend to happen until the later hours of XCOM proper. Plus there’s a hero with a magnificently stretchy tongue. Ideal long weekend fodder. This weekend, inevitably, there will be more Gears Tactics, but I’m gradually getting back into my groove with Age Of Empires 2, and I want to give Chimera Squad a proper try as well. Then of course, after quite a few requests about the Basement of Curiosity, I guess it’s time to fire up Dwarf Fortress again… I feel pulled in so many different directions. It’s occurred to me that Heat Signature was a really great game that I didn’t spend enough time with. But if I spend my time on that, I’m cutting short my time with Old World, the really quite lovely new Civ-like from Civ IV lead designer Soren Johnson. And I also need to meet my quota of Valorant matches each day. And try out Jedi: Fallen Order’s New Game+ mode. And Plants Vs. Zombies. I guess it’s a good thing this weekend is a day longer than most. I will be playing Elite Dangerous, in preparation for next week’s Fleet Carrier beta. I’m not even that into massive ships, as I am too humble. In fact I am the most humble. But I’m curious to see what I can do with them, and whether it’s possible to let people dock and then lock them in and crash into the sun while cackling madly. There are many reasons why I am not a space captain. Also I might continue my hobo squad adventures in Battle Brothers. They’re doing surprisingly well.
