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
Decided to take a break from Sea of Thieves this week until the new Season 11 update drops on January 23rd. Instead, this week, me and Lewis have returned to the brilliant game which is Borderlands 3 to get him closer to the full completion. We managed to finish the main story (probably my third or fourth time) and are currently working on getting the main game completed (side missions, Hammerlock hunts, Zero targets, collectibles etc.) before jumping into any of the multiple DLCs.
Most interesting news of this week: Palworld (Game Preview) is now available on Xbox Games Pass and I can’t wait to try it out soon. Seeing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has provided a release date of September 5th 2024 is also pretty exciting news.
Looking forward to playing: Many Season updates (Sea of Thieves, Dead by Daylight, and SMITE) and maybe some Palworld. This is all dependent on my physical and mental state though.
Robby
Playing some more Hidden Through Time 2 on Xbox to get all the achievements and also started playing Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which Jim is reviewing for LifeIsXbox. I’m also having a blast with this fresh new Metroidvania and I have to admit: feels weird that Ubisoft is the one to deliver the first must-play of 2024, but this one really is a gem!
I’ve also beaten The Cub, the spiritual sequel to Golfclub Wasteland, which has the same fantastic Radio Mars soundtrack but trades the unique golfing mechanic for a rather boring 2D platformer. It still looks great and sounds even better though, just wish it wasn’t so unforgiving in its difficulty in some parts of the game.
Most interesting news of this week: I wish it wasn’t all the firings, but for me it is. Jobs were lost at Unity, Discord, Twitch and various small publishers and indies. just day after day we hear of more people being let go.
Looking forward to playing: Most of my time will be spent on beating Prince of Persia!
Thomas
And so another week has come and gone. I didn’t get to play most of the stuff I wanted, but such is life.
After a day of maintenance, we got patch 6.55 for Final Fantasy XIV on Tuesday, bringing with it Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures; a new trial; the final stage of the Manderville Relic weapons and a final couple of main scenario quests to wrap up Endwalker and set up the premise for the upcoming Dawntrail expansion this summer. With these new MSQ quests, they introduce us to the first female Roegadyn, Wuk Lamat, and I absolutely adore her as a character. Those Relic weapons also look the coolest, so I’ll be putting in the time to get at least the Sage one.
Honkai Star Rail gave us the, not quite all that long, awaited free Dr Ratio and I’m having a blast with him. He’s got a hard-hitting kit with a powerful follow-up attack that makes him a perfect addition to my Topaz team. Luck was also on my side when doing some cheeky pre-emptive relic farming, as I’ve got several banger pieces he’s already rocking. And with that out of the way, we’re set to warp for update 2.0 in a couple of weeks time. I’m really looking forward to whatever Penacony has in store for the Nameless. Chinese New Year is also coming up, which will likely be a good opportunity to strengthen my stellar jade reserves.
I only really got a single session in of Dragon’s Dogma where I mostly did some sidequests around town and fumbled around in the surrounding woods. Oh, and I took down a Chimera with my party, which was fun, yet dealt with quickly. And as of writing this I just got out of a good “Next Move VR” session after setting up for it all week. (Changing up the room for VR is a hassle) I’ve had a good time with it so far, but I’ll write all about it in my review that’s coming soon.
Most interesting news of this week: Both the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle showcase and the many layoffs in companies all over the place.
Looking forward to playing: I could go for some more Divinity Original Sin 2 with my group this weekend.
Aaron
Hello everyone! This week I’ve gotten some quality time in with a few games. So far, I have played and enjoyed a lot of Electrician Simulator, and you can even read the full review [HERE]
It was a pretty good simulation game overall and had some really nice mechanics and UI elements to go with it.
Next was Kickback Slug on the Nintendo Switch. It’s a fantastic little physics-based shooter with platformer and puzzle elements. It also has some nice hand-drawn and animated cutscenes, which was nice to see. It was like watching an episode of an early 2000s cartoon. Really well done. The full review is still in the works, but you will be able to read it next week.
Next, I am still enjoying playing through Lethal Company with all my mods, and happy to report the new VR mod is just as scary and crazy fun all in one. The modders have really outdone themselves.
Most interesting news of this week: CES 2024 with all its new gadgets, but especially the Rabbit R1. That thing looks cool!
Looking forward to playing: More Kickback Slug Cosmic Courier.
Colombo
This week I didn’t play as much as I did last week as I’ve been rewatching Fargo’s seasons 1-3 since last weekend, never watched seasons 4 and 5 but I plan on doing so soon, as Fargo is one of my favourite series despite me only watching it once (it only had 3 seasons when I originally watched it on Netflix).
I’ve played through Witch Rise for an upcoming review. It was a pretty short game which I completed in less than 2 hours but I got some enjoyment out of it.
I’ve been playing Tin Hearts since last weekend and it’s been a really good game, but sometimes I need to take some time out before continuing playing it, as it does have some complexity to its many puzzles.
I also decided to start playing Close to the Sun. As it’s on Xbox Games Pass and it’s a 4-5h game, that got my interest. I love the aesthetic and the story does seem interesting so far.
Most interesting news of this week: The Developer Showcase revealing some Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s gameplay and also announcing that it’s coming this year!
Looking forward to playing: More Close to the Sun, Tin Hearts, and another game I’ll be reviewing soon.
Missi
I had the honor to be able to playtest the upcoming WitchHand. What an awesome game – it looks a lot like Stacklands but with more theme/story and I love the “magic style” artwork.
I also played a bit more of FixFox, but not as much as I expected, it was a crazy week (read: month). Still enjoying it a lot and I think I’m halfway through the story.
Plus, I’m playing Turnip Boy Robs a Bank. I love the first Turnip Boy game and this has just the same kind of crazy humor. I’m a bit worried about where our boy will end up when he goes from Tax evading to bank robbery.. but I love that we got a sequel with a different playstyle. This is a roguelite while the other was an action adventure. Just a lovely game, and it is on Xbox Games Pass!
Most interesting news of this week: The amount of firings/closing of studios… where is this going? It makes me feel so down while it is not my own job that is on the line, but it puts such a dark shadow over the game industry for me. I hope a lot of them find their way into the indie game genre, as for me that is where the love for games can be felt the most, but also that is a challenging part of the gaming industry with how many games are released each day/week. On a positive note, it was awesome to see Visions of Mana pop up in the Developer Direct yesterday!
Looking forward to playing: More Turnip Boy and FixFox.
Genethical
This week was a quiet one in terms of games. I’ve continued my modding escapades in Fallout 4 and I’m still trudging through Dragon’s Dogma. Why do I say trudging? Well, I’ve discovered that that game is a serious case of ‘Guide dang it!’ meaning that unless you read up on how you should proceed, it is very easy to irreversibly ruin certain events for the run. So I’ll simply be speedrunning the main quest, moving on to New Game+ and I’ll take my time with the game then.
Most interesting news of this week: Firings, firings and more firings. We need stronger unions and a serious intervention at a global scale into the job market situation (and why not housing too, while we are at it.)
Looking forward to playing: Dragon’s Dogma and hopefully we’ll be getting some sessions of Divinity: OS2 as well.
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!