It’s time to look back on the week we’ve just had! What did the weekdays look like for our writers? What was the biggest news from the week? and what are we looking forward to playing during the upcoming weekend? Our Eyes on the Week article will answer all three of these questions!
We’re curious about your opinion and played games, so be sure to share your stuff on our social media channels!
Victoria
It’s been a week of playing review games and catching up on those while I’m feeling productive.
I played Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends, although not for review purposes. I completed the game with all of its achievements which took me around 14 hours. It was the cosy and relaxing game I needed and I would recommend it to anyone who might be looking for a chill mid-length game to put some time into. Available on Xbox Games Pass!
Secondly, I hopped on House Flipper 2. It shares similarities with the first but also has noticeable differences. I managed to spend more time on it yesterday evening so my review is now available to read [HERE] if you wouldn’t mind taking a look.
The other review game I’ve been playing is Truck Driver: The American Dream. I had put roughly an hour into this already but decided to restart as I had forgotten how to play. I have noticed some updates have changed the game quality but I will go into more detail about those when I write my review. As I managed to publish House Flipper 2 quicker than expected, I will aim for this to be my next review in progress and up perhaps next week if I can keep my momentum going!
This morning, I decided to start Hidden Cats in New York and completed all the achievements this afternoon. I do like these little games as they give me a break from others. I love finding all the little mischievous cats around the scene. It’s a shame there are more on Steam than Xbox though.
Most interesting news of this week: I mean, the Xbox Showcase was incredible! Plenty of extraordinary games coming to Xbox and the majority looked pretty damn good. As for me, Dragon Age: The Veilguard caught my attention the most. I’m also excited for State of Decay 3, Perfect Dark and Winter Burrow. I doubt many were expecting a new Life is Strange title and many are hyped for Gears of War: E-Day.
Looking forward to playing: Truck Driver: The American Dream, Dead by Daylight for the anniversary event and anything else that catches my attention.
Robby
On Xbox, I’ve continued Hellblade II and started Open Road, the latter of which you can easily beat in 1-2 sittings as it’s not that lengthy. Nice style, but weird that talking isn’t animated.
I spent most of my time on PC however, playing all the demos from Steam Next Fest I can handle. Necro Story and SCHiM from my PR clients, but also The Spell Brigade, Tricky Madness (think SSX), Slopecrashers, Dustborn, Paperklay, … too many to go through but we have an article up with our favourites you can read [HERE].
And yesterday I got sucked up playing Hole io, which is pretty addictive and fun. (Basically, you play as an ever-growing hole sucking up increasingly large objects)
Most interesting news of this week: The Xbox Showcase was AMAZING. One of the best we’ve had in years. Losing Tango still hurts though. The highlight of the show for me was Clair Obscur, a Western-made JRPG with a really cool story concept.
Looking forward to playing: Beating Hellblade II and might also start Hauntii.
Thomas
I’ve not done a lot of gaming this week as I was wrapping up a project for school that took a lot of late-night troubleshooting, but I did give my usual games their time onscreen. Final Fantasy XIV has me in full prep mode for the Dawntrail early access coming up on the 28th. I’m finding as many level 80-ish quests to complete as I can so I get to claim the exp with the Viper / Pictomancer jobs that will release with Dawntrail. A bit of levelling will be necessary anyway since the MSQ starts at level 90.
Honkai Star Rail is ramping up the marketing for the 2.3 patch that will drop next Wednesday and was winding down the 2.2 patch with a farm event I handily made use of to get what I need for Firefly’s arrival. Aside from gear, I’ve more or less pre-farmed everything to immediately unlock her full potential. The team she’ll be in has also been assembled, luckily all from units I own and built before knowing her break-centered kit. I can’t wait honestly.
I also played more Nightingale with my friend, exploring the realms, following the questline that unlocks all the features and setting up a temporary residence in his world while building up a base in my own.
Most interesting news of this week: For me, that would be the details trickling in about Monster Hunter Wilds. If these bits are to be believed, the scope and size of that game will be off the charts for what hunters are used to. That it would be a continuation of the Monster Hunter World story also sparks joy.
Looking forward to playing: Honkai Star Rail with Firefly to be honest.
Aaron
This week I realised I still have Alan Wake 2 sitting on my PC. Booting it up, I realised I had only played the first chapter. Criminal, I know. Anyway, for the next few hours, time seemed to disappear and before I knew it I had completed Return 5. I’m utterly blown away at the production values in Alan Wake 2. The mixture of live video & gameplay is quite a nice treat. It really helps amplify the surrounding areas in which the game takes place.
I haven’t really had the time to play much else this week, but I did play some Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth now that I have managed to grab a copy.
Most interesting news of this week: Resident Evil 7 & RE2 Remake coming to iPhone & Mac on July 2nd. (Big deal for me since I am travelling more).
Looking forward to playing: More Alan Wake 2.
Colombo
I’ve continued to play Overwatch 2 this week, not as much as I was playing the last few weeks but still a decent amount of time. I’ve barely touched Competitive this week, mystery heroes is still my go-to game mode.
I’ve finished playing Call of Juarez Bound in Blood, which was pretty good, although Call of Juarez Gunslinger is still my favorite.
I tried playing Risk of Rain but wasn’t a fan of it. On the other hand, I also tried Risk of Rain 2 and really liked it.
Most interesting news of this week: The announcements/updates on the Xbox Games Showcase – I’m looking forward to playing quite a few games showcased in it.
Looking forward to playing: More Overwatch 2, Risk of Rain 2 and maybe I’ll go back to playing Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
Missi
I didn’t play much this week as it was quite busy at work and it was my birthday which I celebrated over 2 days.
I have been playing quite a lot of Grindstone this week. An addictive game will take many more hours to complete but I’m having a lot of fun with this puzzle game.
Earlier this week I bought the bundle for the Make a Wish charity which included Little Kitty, Big City. What a lovely game. I started it this morning and just finished it! I love that we see so many games with a small open world in which you play like a wholesome (but most of the time) also a little mischievous.
Most interesting news of this week: There were so many awesome showcases. My favorite was the Wholesome Direct showcase. I love this show every year and bought the T-shirt already before the show started. Last week I asked in this segment if we would get a release date for Go-Go Town and yessss we got a release date and is just around the corner!
Looking forward to playing: More Grindstone and next week Crab God, as it is releasing very soon.
Benny
I started playing Resident Evil 4 Remake last weekend. This is one that I picked up at the beginning of the year. I’m really enjoying it and I like the challenges that they have added too. I’m still playing Tales of Kenzera: ZAU which is a 2.5D Metroidvania and the story deals with loss and grief and is told really well with great characters. Other games I’ve been playing this week are the newly released games Hidden Cats in Paris and Colorful Boi.
Most interesting news of this week: The Gears of War E-Day was announced at the Xbox Games showcase, while many expected Gears of War 6, E-Day will be a prequel going back 14 years before the first game and will focus on the emergence of the Locust Horde and humanity’s desperate struggle for survival. Also, Waving Bear Studio has announced that multiplayer will be coming to STUFFED on June 16th.
Looking forward to playing: More Resident Evil 4 Remake and also giving The Callisto Protocol a go which has just been added to Xbox Games Pass.
Hello, I’m Victoria. I’m from the UK and have been playing video games for as long as I can remember; back on DreamCast. I’ve pretty much fallen for Xbox since I was around eight years old and remember BioShock being my first game on the Xbox360. Although I find it thoroughly enjoyable to not only experience gameplay, I also find comfort in getting lost and engrossed in the online worlds that sometimes differ greatly from what we know. Another side of my Xbox passion would be achievement hunting and gamerscore. I thrive when I hear the little sound of one popping up on the screen and I’m always finding ways to work on my backlog when possible. Horror is my favourite genre so if you have any recommendations, don’t be afraid to send them my way!