In the United Kingdom, this weekend is the Platinum Jubilee (or "Platty Joobz"). That means, the British monarchy is congratulating itself on Queen Elizabeth II's 70-year reign. However, Brit or non-Brit, you are under no obligation to join in. The weekend is for video games, after all, and, despite this month being a bit of a draught for AAA titles, there are still tons of games, new and old, that our team is diving into this weekend.
But, what about you? What games are on deck for your weekend?
Andrew King, Features Editor
I've been revisiting Cyberpunk 2077 and just met a certain someone with a silver hand. If I remember correctly, Act 2 is where all the best side quests open up, so I'm looking forward to spending some solid time hanging out with Keanu and Judy. I'm also midway through the much smaller (but also cyberpunk) RPG Citizen Sleeper, so I'll probably spend the weekend dual-wielding dystopias. Additionally, I've played a bit of Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, but have not had a chance to ahem sink my teeth in, so that's also on the docket. In other vampire-related news, Morbius is back in my local theater and the deluge of memes has given me a morbid curiosity. I've got AMC Stubs A-List and can see it for free, so who knows? I may make an appointment with the Doctor. Then again, I only have this one precious life.
David W. Duffy, Evergreen Editor
I’m getting back into No Man’s Sky after another of my characteristic long breaks. There’s a new expedition, Leviathan, and that’s an apt word for the challenge of trying to remember what to do and figure out what on earth is going on. Permadeath doesn’t help things, but then I’ve noticed a quirk of being able to claim the Twitch rewards given away a while back, every single time I respawn. That means five ships to scrap, and millions of credits, which should make things more palatable. I’m also planning to do a lot of grinding in Dislyte — I’ve hit a wall in terms of progression, so it’s time to focus on making my Espers stronger.
Stacey Henley, Editor-in-Chief
Are you ready to be blown away by how cool I am, ladles and jellyspoons? I’m going to drop two megatons of Chad on you and tell you that I’ve been playing [Redacted] and [Redacted]. Yes, like all those game journalists on Twitter who definitely aren’t getting high on their own sense of grandeur while perpetuating the irritating stereotype that all we do is get paid millions to play video games, the two games I’ve been playing aren’t even out yet. You can’t get your grubby mitts on them, but I have them because I am simply built different. In other news, for entirely unrelated reasons I’ve been dabbling in Mario Golf: Super Rush and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
Helen Ashcroft, Evergreen Editor
With the release of version 2.9 earlier this week, I am back on Genshin Impact for the weekend. I was lucky enough to pull Yelan and I already love her. I’ve been looking for the perfect bow-user for my team and now she’s here, with amazing hair and a backstory about running an illegal casino. Now comes the part that’s always a pain, getting her to a usable level. I’ve got some stashed materials but her ascension requires more Chasm exploration. This means it’s time to bring out Diluc so I can explore the new Chasm quests and event while gathering all of the ore for reasons. I’m not sure what those are since I have more ore than I can ever use but I need it. I can’t just leave ore hanging about the place when I have pockets to fill. It’s just not right.
Jade King, Lead Features Editor
I’m dabbling in a certain spooky horror game that I can’t talk about just yet, but when I’m not getting teenagers murdered in the woods I’m duking it out with rivals across the courtroom in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. While I touched on this franchise briefly in my teenage years I never had a chance to play the original games, so I finally decided to dive in and see what the fuss was all about. I’ve fallen in love. The characters, writing, and gameplay mechanics are all so charming and lovable, providing a playful twist on an otherwise mundane profession. Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth are also lawyer boyfriends for life, and being able to manifest that romance as they glare at one another during a case is a delight. Beyond that, I’m dipping into the likes of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Harry Alston, Lead Specialist Writer
I’ve had a sleepy and slow week in the run-up to a rare bank holiday day off, and the games I’ve played have matched that - Cities: Skylines and APICO. Skylines is a go-to game for quiet days when I just want to place down roads. I’m not very good at it. My city is covered in traffic and no one can get to the hospital. Oh well. APICO is a bee-keeping simulator that I played for this week’s indie spotlight, another slow game about collecting, breeding, and eventually manipulating magical bees into producing materials that you then sell to the neighboring villagers for extortionate prices. Brilliant.
Amanda Hurych, Evergreen Content Lead
I’m hanging out with my sister this weekend, and while she might not play video games regularly, she is absolutely phenomenal at Pac-Man whenever we go to arcades. So of course I downloaded Pac-Man Museum+ (courtesy of Xbox Game Pass) to see if something in there would be up her alley. Turns out there are a lot of mediocre Pac-Man games out there. We’ve been screaming in frustration at Pac-Land’s strange running mechanics (you have to mash a button to get your Pac-person to move faster) and Pac-Mania’s isometric perspective that does not allow you to see the whole Pac-maze at once. It’s quite a lot of fun. We’re having the time of our lives.
Issy van der Velde, News & Evergreen Editor
I’ve returned to the comforting neon haze of Need For Speed: Underground 2 for the past couple of weeks. Even after all these years it’s still not lost its charm. Racing around the midnight city with Riders on the Storm blasting out the speakers in my boot (that’s a trunk for the Yanks) clearly never gets old. Does the game look fuzzier than I remember? Definitely. Does that matter? Absolutely not. The thrill of hitting the NOS is still unparalleled. Watching the world twist and contort as my tail lights streak behind me is electrifying, and the nostalgia of playing on my GameCube - the most perfectly designed console ever - makes the game a wonderful cocktail of relaxing and exciting.
Rhiannon Bevan, News Editor
The only game on my mind right now is Baldur’s Gate 2. So many other games have been abandoned in favour of this BioWare classic, so much so that I’ll probably be writing about it next week as well. I don’t know what my playtime is, but I’m easily over the 40-hour mark and only on chapter four. And honestly, that’s because when I say I’m “playing Baldur’s Gate 2”, that usually means I’m writing character journals or making a new character portrait. Do not start playing this game if you’re a writer. I’ve accidentally kept playing until 4 am twice this week. The end is nowhere near in sight.
Justin Reeve, News Editor
Pardon the pun, but having enjoyed my dive into In Other Waters, I was really excited to play Citizen Sleeper and let me assure you, the game is well worth your money. I’ve been working on a second playthrough and this time around, Citizen Sleeper has been clicking with me even more. I was just entering college when the Great Recession hit back in 2008 and over the following decade or so, I’ve had to struggle for stable employment in the face of nearly constant economic downturns, the latest of course being the ongoing pandemic which has created severe disruptions all across the board. Citizen Sleeper perfectly captures not only the inherent contradictions of capitalism, but manages to reflect the overall feeling of helplessness that so many people have been experiencing in the wake of disastrous neoliberal initiatives ever since 1990 or so, most notably globalization. Give this game some good thought.