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
Another week of my life claimed mostly by Genshin Impact and there isn’t any sign of me stopping which I’m still over the moon about. I managed to complete everything for the Mikawa Flower Festival and had an enjoyable time doing so. I also completed the story quests for Mavuika and Hu Tao while starting one for Sigewinne. As Wriothesley and Furina have their banners available next week, I’m just doing everything in my power to get Primogems and wishes ready for then. I’m currently on around 45 pity so I won’t wish now until then. I’ll resume collectable/chest hunting once I have a working laptop again and can use an interactive map for assistance.
On Thursday, I returned to Life is Strange 2 as I still had some collectables remaining to obtain. It didn’t take me too long to clean up what was left so I can now look forward to playing Life is Strange: Double Exposure or The Walking Dead: The Final Season next. I still think my brother was a little brat but overall, I was satisfied with my ending.
I have started my next visual novel (hallelujah, it’s been a long time!) and the next in the Crime Opera series: Crime Opera II: The Floodgate Effect. As I’m reviewing this along with Crime Opera Fandisk: The Caterpillar Candids, I won’t go into much detail other than saying so far, so good! Its nice to have a reading session in the morning and/or just before bed.
Most interesting news of this week: Supermarket Simulator is coming to Xbox! I just hope it’s a functional port and doesn’t run into too many issues.
Looking forward to playing: Both Crime Opera games mentioned above, Genshin Impact and Dungeons of Hinterberg.
Robby
I rekindled my loved for Theatrhythm Final Fantasy on the train ride to and back from the UK. I will never get enough of that game, so bought all the DLC while I was at it.
I also beat Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and reviewed it (you can read it HERE). Long story short: it’s a great way to play the game if you never experienced the original like myself, but if you’re a returning player there is no new content to win you over.
On PC I’ve been playing some more Steam Next Fest demos like Is This Seat Taken, Paper Klay Deck of Haunts and Twisted Towers. We’ll have an article up soon with our favourite demos!
I also really want to share the amazing week I’ve had. It started with seeing myself turned into a videogame character in Katanaut. Where you can find Captain Chop and his Pirate PR bestiary! (The demo is out now on Steam if you want to go check!)
And then I went to the UK (Nottingham) for the DEBUG Awards as 6 of our clients were nominated. And besides a win for SCHiM (Best Visual Design) and Please, Touch The Artwork 2 (Best Free Game), I even took home a prize myself for Best PR Campaign! I’m super proud!
You can count that as my biggest news this week. By far! 
Most interesting news of this week: ^^
Looking forward to playing: Expedition 33. I’m playing the demo and will tell you more about it next week!
Missi
Let’s start off with the most expected game, which I have been playing a few games each week for months now – Balatro. One day, I hope to have at least 2 of the 4 missing achievements. I’m not going for the completionist achievements, but I’m still missing 2 other achievements as I still haven’t managed to score a hand with a score of at least 100 million chips. One day… one day, I’ll manage to do that!
One of the other games I played this week is Alchemist Shop Simulator, which will launch on March 11th on Steam. I’m such a sucker for shopkeeper games, and this was no different. I miss a few quality-of-life features, but I still couldn’t stop playing it, and I enjoyed that it has a different cash register system than most shopkeeping kinda games like TCG Card Shop Simulator or Tavern Manager Simulator.
Last but not least, I’m playing through Grimoire Groves. I’m not allowed to say much about it yet, but it will launch in a couple of days.
Most interesting news of this week: Balatro getting a new PEGI rating, 12 is already much better than 18, but how is a game with just as theme and mechanics as just a card game/ deckbuilding game still get a higher PEGI rating than games with loot boxes..? However, this is still a great development and a win for team LocalThunk / Playstack.
Looking forward to playing: Grimoire Groves & Slime Heroes.
Benny
I’ve had quite a busy week gaming. I completed Momodora: Moonlight Farewell, which is a pixel-art Metroidvania; my review has recently been published and can be read [HERE]
I’ve also been playing Avowed, trying to play a little each day. I am completely blown away by how good it looks; day and night, it looks stunning and has the gameplay to match. I really hope they add a photo-mode soon.
A friend came over, and I introduced him to Aaero 2, one of my favorite games from 2024. Hopefully, we hear some news about DLC soon; more tracks and levels would be very welcome.
Another game I’ve been playing a lot is Ultros, which I spoke about last week. Look out for my review next week.
Most interesting news of this week: Balatro, the highly acclaimed card-based roguelike from developer Local Thunk, shadow-dropped on Xbox Game Pass a few days ago and came with some free DLC, too.
Looking forward to playing: More Ultros, which I’m hoping to finish this weekend, then more Avowed. I’d also like to try Balatro too. I also picked up RoboCop: Rogue City this week, so it would be great to play that soon 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!
