What Are You Playing This Weekend? (5th October)

Jim Norman, Staff Writer

I’m off to see friends this weekend so I’d expect a decent amount of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Boomerang Fu – how I slept on the latter for so long is a mystery to me. There is a three-hour train journey each way, so I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to polish off a few more dungeons in Echoes of Wisdom and maybe even wrap it up. Tune in next week to see how successful I am, I guess.

Ollie Reynolds, Staff Writer

I’m slowly but surely working my way through Echoes of Wisdom. It’s nice to experience an ‘old-school’ Zelda game again, though I must admit that there’s something about it that doesn’t sit well with me. I can’t quite place it, but I’m enjoying it regardless.

Elsewhere, I’m going to whip through the original Silent Hill 2 before the remake finally drops. So excited!

Gonçalo Lopes, Contributor

We are living in times of plenty. Besides all the latest new games, I found myself spending time with DLC releases: the new characters in TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Mortal Kombat 1 story expansion and the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown insanely hard Mind Palace. Add The Karate Kid: Street Rumble, the insane amount of stuff to do in Gundam Breaker 4, BAKERU‘s ongoing insanity and the ever clever puzzles of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and my schedule is packed, even without fervours non-Nintendo sessions of Burnout 3: Takedown and WH40K: Space Marine II. What is that, mister Mailperson? My physical copies of Ace Attorney Investigations Collection and The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case: The Okhotsk Disappearance have arrived? Well I can’t object to that.

Game of the week is Iron Meat. I played the first public demo on STEAM over a year ago and the final product is such a polished up and rewarding experience. By far one of the best Contra-inspired game releases of this year so make sure don’t sleep on this meat.

Ken Talbot, Contributor

Conjuring tables, enslaving Hyrulean cephalopods and trying to cheese my way across the open world in Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom. I’m also trying to unravel the mysteries of Animal Well, specifically how the developers managed to awaken within me a primal fear of ostriches.

Michelle See-Tho, Contributor

Somewhat serendipitously, my pre-ordered copy of Zelda came late this week (making me doubt the benefits of pre-orders). Disappointing but it left me just enough time to finish off Link’s Awakening before the shiny new tilt-shift gem. Now I’ve joined every Hylian and their interactable dog in Echoes of Wisdom. My first six or so hours have been incredible. Creative solutions? Yes. Old-school dungeons? Yes. Finally playing as Zelda? HELL YES.

I’ll be playing it all weekend long unless my partner pries my hands off the Switch. Good thing he’s got Starfield: Shattered Space to keep him preoccupied.

Em Stonham, Contributor

Balatro couldn’t have seemed more out of my comfort zone if it tried. I’m terrible at maths, I’ve never played poker, and generally, anything with lots of numbers is a no-go for me. I didn’t think I’d have so many hours in a game like Balatro, but hey, stranger things have happened.

My weekend plans have evolved from playing my usual games (Pokémon and World of Warcraft, generally) to desperately trying to figure out what a royal flush is and collecting tiny, ominous joker cards. It’s a wicked addition to the slightly niche world of roguelike deckbuilders and it feels perfect to play on mobile.

Kate Gray, Contributor

This weekend I am going to play tons of Astroneer, most likely, with a bit of Zelda and maybe a bit of Loddlenaut mixed in. That’s quite a mixed bag, but honestly, they all go together quite well, like a delicious charcuterie made of games about gentle puzzle-solving.

I do wish Echoes of Wisdom felt less empty, though. I keep climbing up to secret areas to discover… nothing. Where are all my hidden treasures?

Oliver Revolta, Contributor

Having just got back from Japan and feeling a little burnt out by trying to complete the NES Zelda during the journeys (without using guides – bad decision), I’ve been drawn to my long-in-waiting copy of No More Heroes III. I’m in love with this series and I played the other two in successive autumns. The chill in the air makes this feel like the right move, and I’m looking forward to it.

Ethan Zack, Contributor

Like many others, I’m aiming to put a bow on my adventures in Hyrule this weekend with Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. The good news is that I splurged on that lovely looking Hyrule Edition Switch Lite to use as a secondary system for super-quick bursts of Zelda while I’m out and about. The bad news is that I’ve amassed so many echoes that just about any enemy interaction takes me up to a full minute scrolling through menus to find the right counter, so it’s slower going than ever.

Once that’s wrapped up, it’s alllllll spooky games, baby. Those positive reviews for the Silent Hill 2 remake have me very excited — possibly excited enough to bite on that deluxe edition two-day early release nonsense they’ve got going on. Now, there’s a scary thought.

That’s what we have planned for the weekend, but what about you? Let us know in the below poll which games you’re planning on booting up over the next couple of days.