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
For the first time in quite some time, my body had decided to give me enough respite to play multiple games and it’s been wonderful! Edge of Reality will have to be my first mention as it’s a new interactive visual novel I’ve been able to play and complete. My review can be read [HERE] if you’re interested.
Next, Outriders has also been fully completed with Me and Lewis getting the kill on the Final Arbiter at Tier 25 for our last achievement. I started this in November 2021, so I’m really happy I bought this and the Worldslayer DLC while on sale so I could return and finish everything. I thoroughly enjoyed my Pyromancer playthrough and would recommend the game to those who enjoy third-person shooters.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is the next game on our list. Although Lewis has already played and completed this, he enjoyed it so much he wanted to play it together so that’s exactly what we’re gonna be doing for the foreseeable future. Reminds me a lot of the small amount of time I played Metal Gear Solid V but not as intense or complex.
Back into familiar territory, I went with Dead by Daylight also being played here and there as something to break up Outriders and Wildlands. I’m getting to work on the new rift/tome while also enjoying running a healing build to help out teammates where possible (Autodidact, We’ll Make It, Botany Knowledge, and Bond) but I’m always playing around with different perks; I can never just stick to one build for too long.
As my relaxing game for the week, I went with Hidden Cats in London and what was great about this was even my mum joined in and tried to help me find the last cat in the advanced levels. Even held the controller, manoeuvred around the screen with the joysticks, and everything! To be brutally honest though, we never would have found the last cat in advanced mode if it wasn’t for the hints! It’s fine though – I restarted the level to get the achievement for not using hints, even with the random level generation. I think I’ll make a group of games on Xbox that my mum could play. It felt so heartwarming and wholesome!
Most interesting news of this week: Other than the Xbox podcast, which I’m sure put many people’s minds at rest, there wasn’t much else I can recall catching my attention.
Looking forward to playing: Ghost Recon Wildlands, Dead by Daylight, and review games which are on my to-do list.
Robby
I had a very busy workweek, so it was hard to find time to game. I mean, there was a Demo for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth out and I only checked it after a week had already passed. but it’s so amazing and I know this game will consume my life when it releases. Not getting the new Final Fantasy titles on Xbox will remain my biggest regret. Will 100% replay them all for the achievements when it happens.
Another big title that fell into my lap was Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. The latest action adventure by DONT KNOD, who most know for their Life Is Strange games, but also had a similar action-filled title with Vampyr. Banishers lets you play as a Ghost hunter in the US around the time of Colonial settlers (first-ever towns being built) and offers some very interesting moral choices along the way. You can check my playthrough [HERE]
And good news for hidden-object fans as Please, Touch the Artwork 2 launches next Monday for FREE. I played through the game in about 45 minutes. Short, but amazing and 100% free to play.
Most interesting news of this week: Finally some info from Xbox after they were forced to make a statement ahead of time. It feels shitty that they had to quickly put something together, knowing they were probably planning to release the info bit by bit. And as expected all the drama was for naught. Yes, some exclusives will come to other platforms. who cares? Their biggest game (Minecraft) already was and all their recently acquired companies were going to remain multiplatform as well (Activision, Blizzard, King)
Looking forward to playing: A Little to the Left via Game Pass (so relaxing) and more Banishers!
Thomas
After having life get in the way of doing any meaningful gaming for a couple of weeks I finally got some good time in. Hitting it off immediately with Honkai Star Rail dropping its 2.0 update last week dropping us off at Penacony where the next part of the main story takes place. The hotel might promise a land of dreams, yet these won’t all be as sweet as soulglad for the trailblazer. With 2.0 also came the limited-time Black Swan banner. This memokeeper is a POWERHOUSE of a unit on any damage over time team and lots of fun to play.
I’ve continued on with Final Fantasy XIV where I’m still leveling my alt account alongside a friend. The Valentine’s Day event is also live, offering a cute emote and some furniture I’ll put in storage in case I ever move to a bigger housing plot.
Dragon’s Dogma also saw me get more to grips with it as I completed several main story quests that further opened up the map and got me more used to travelling in Dragon’s Dogma. My Arisen routed a monster infestation and got hot on the heels of a cult which earned me the right to come before the duke and get knighted. It feels like the story is finally kicking off well now, and I’m here to see where it’ll lead me.
It was a welcome sight when one morning last week I woke up to a gift copy of Control waiting in my Steam inventory. So after long debating on whether to buy Control, the choice to choose to be chosen was made for me as I entered the Oldest House’s lobby. So far it’s been a blast to play and equally fun to immerse myself in the SCP-esque world of the “Federal Bureau of Control”.
Most interesting news of this week: I’ve sort of been under a rock in terms of gaming news, so I’ve got nothing.
Looking forward to playing: Definitely more Control, but I saw that Aaron is playing Monster Hunter World, so I’ll see if I can’t crash in on help out on some of his hunts.
Aaron
This week I had a very minimal amount of gaming due to my workload. However, I did manage to start the Monster Hunter series for the first time, which I am happy to say, wasn’t too bad. It never struck me as a franchise that I would enjoy, but Monster Hunter World has been pretty good so far, especially with friends.
I only completed the first mission since it has a rather long introduction to the game, but I messed around for a bit to get a more general feel for it. A bit too early to tell if I’ll stick with it, but we will see in time.
The other game I played this week was the Demo for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth which launches on February 29th. Can’t wait for that. The demo was fun, and I got to play the piano in Tifa’s bedroom! All that aside though, Final Fantasy VII is my childhood game so it’s bringing back all those feelings from many years ago, that I look forward to experiencing once again.
Most interesting news of this week: The Xbox Business update! Great news that Xbox has no intention of leaving the console market, and even teasing the possibility of a handheld console! I’m sure that will be a killer piece of kit given how well the Steam Deck performed.
Looking forward to playing: Monster Hunter World.
Colombo
I’ve been feeling somewhat uninspired so I tried starting a few different games, like Homefront: The Revolution, which I’ve played for a few hours and Deponia, but I’ve given up on most of them for the time being. Still, I started playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. I haven’t played much of it yet, but I’m enjoying it so far, and intend to go through with it.
Most interesting news of this week: The Xbox podcast, which announced that four games are coming to other platforms.
Looking forward to playing: More Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and a couple of games I still need to review.
Genethical
This week, I spent a lot of time trying out a bunch of demos from the Steam Next Fest! You can find the entire article with my thoughts HERE. What I can say is that I was so impressed by one of those in particular that I’ll try to get a full review done on it. Can you guess which one?
Speaking of reviews, I’ve been playing Enshrouded for an upcoming review. You know that I don’t like to spoil things, so all I’ll say for now is that I would have never guessed I’d feel this way about the game; you’ll have to wait until the full review to find out what I mean, exactly.
Lastly, I tried to get my second run of Dragon’s Dogma started, but merely minutes into it, two real-life situations required my attention and I had to close the game to tend to those (nothing bad, just busywork.)
Most interesting news of this week: Sony have reported that they don’t plan on releasing “any new major existing franchise titles” for this fiscal year. Coupled with the rumours of Nintendo putting their efforts into making a successor to the Switch, and the uncertain waters Xbox is navigating, 2024 looks to be a quiet year on the first-party front. Let’s hope the indie sphere keeps killing it in its place!
Looking forward to playing: I’m hoping to get enough out of Enshrouded to write up the review. Then, more Dragon’s Dogma and Divinity: OS2
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!
