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
Started off the week with some celebrations as it was my mums 70th birthday on Monday. I’ll be amazed if I ever get to that age to be honest. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been too well since so I’m hoping she’ll get well soon. This past week has been one of pure carnage in terms of video games though, and the good kind, with much of my week spent playing Diablo IV.
It’s safe to say I’m utterly and completely addicted. I think I’ve found my go-to game for the foreseeable future and I’m quite emotional about it as I haven’t found a game like it for some time. My review for Diablo IV is currently in the works and it’s gonna be an absolute belter!
In between playing Diablo IV and having breaks, I have been working my way through the puzzles in Alice in Wonderland – A Jigsaw Puzzle Tale and I currently only have the largest size left to complete. It’s actually made me want to do jigsaw puzzles in real life as I didn’t realise just how relaxing they could become. On top of this, I also started the brilliant game of A Building Full of Cats. Another simple concept of locating all the cats in each room; there’s some sneaky little kitties lurking around!
Our review for Alice in Wonderland can be found [HERE] and A Building Full of Cats can be found [HERE].
Most exciting news of this week: Sadly, Friday the 13th: The Game is being delisted with it servers also being set to close. Summer Game Fest had some interesting annoucements. But most importantly to me was the full release of Diablo IV; Blizzard’s fastest selling game ever.
Looking forward to playing: More Diablo IV; I can’t get enough!
Dae Jim
Different kind of format for me as I wanted to talk about Flega’s birthday party. Flega is the official Flemish Games Association and they celebrated their 10th year.
A few (little too long) speeches, gamedevs dancing and an open bar! In other words a great time. I asked the LifeisXbox writers and two of them showed up. Cr8sh and Orange Spark!
I wish we could get the entire gang together but being a worldwide team that’s impossible. It is always nice to see every single one of them though. We talked a lot, moved a little on the dancefloor and had several beers.
Robby
I cleaned up some final achievements in Road 96: Mile 0, but decided it wasn’t worth going for the 1000G after all. Still had a lot of fun with the game, despite some of its flaws.
I started playing After Us too, intending to review it, but life got a little too busy (and too many review codes piled up) so Jim took it upon himself to review that one instead. It’s a gorgeous game about humanity’s demise and the planet trying to save the animal spirits that roam about, but the controls were somewhat wonky and the open-world felt like it didn’t fit with the game.
Most of my time this week, went into playing Street Fighter 6. I’m not that big on fighting games to be honest (except for Mortal Kombat), but they made some REALLY good accessability choices here and added a single player story mode that almost feels like a Yakuza title at times. It’s pretty lighthearted too: never taking itself too seriously.
Most exciting news of this week: The Summer Games Fest show is still coming at the time of writing, but Apple dropping their 3500$ XR headset was pretty wild. is it bad that I kinda want to test it still?
Looking forward to playing: More Street Fighter 6 and also some Amnesia: The Bunker.
Aaron
This week was a good week for gaming. For me personally anyway. Firstly, I started the week by becoming reborn completing Season 1 of Outlast Trials. I made it out of the Murkoff Facility & have earned my freedom. I’m really looking forward to season 2 with the new killers who are being introduced.
The rest of the week was spent playing Amnesia: The Bunker. A solid gamepass entry that despite being short, is actually really addictive. Each playthrough is different with items & key items being placed in different locations.
My first run throughout the Bunker landed me just over 3 hours and my second run landed me a time of 2.5. my 3rd run however I managed to get lucky & score a time of 1 hour 48 minutes. It is a different take on the Amnesia series with this one focusing more on gameplay & less on story. There is one there if you don’t mind reading notes & listening to audio logs. But after a brief introduction of how you come to be in the bunker, the game lets loose on you with a constant threat & barely any time to rest. Another Frictional Games first.
Most exciting news of this week: Don’t forget the Xbox showcase is this Sunday! (11th June)
Looking forward to playing: Diablo 4.
Colombo
Not much gaming from me this week, but I did play a little bit of LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga and Slay the Spire.
Most exciting news of this week: A few Summer Games Fest announcements/trailers like Mortal Kombat 1, Final Fantasy Rebirth and Alan Wake II. I do believe the Xbox showcase will be better than it though.
Looking forward to playing: More LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga.
Thomas
I’ve touched a lot of games this week, but none of them for very long. I’ve reached the point in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom where I’m ready to face off against Ganondorf. Yes, we’re about a month further since it released, but I like to take my time with these masterpieces of games. Lurelin village needs me more right now. (mumbles somethings about tree logs and rice)
I played some Ravenswatch with friends. It’s a pretty cool roguelike top down twin stick shooter that takes a lot from well known fairy tales like Red Riding Hood, the Pied Piper or Pinocchio. I also got started on Star Ocean: The Divine Force to scratch my JRPG itch. I got to a mining village in search of a doctor who could help me track down a wise old man. Still early days, but I’m enjoying myself.
And after not quite making Skyrim Together Reborn work out, my friends and I are giving Astroneer another try. We’ve set up a server and got our base camp up and running on day one, with a decent network of tethers for air and power already set up. I wasn’t there for day two however, as I was off to celebrate 10 years of FLEGA with Jim and Crash. And I don’t care what Stu says, our fashion sense is impecable for a warm summer evening.
Oh, and I’m continuing my journey starwards in Honkai Star Rail. I managed to get really good luck in pulling for Silverwolf who’s banner went live on Tuesday. Only 29/90 pulls until I got her.
Most exciting news of this week: Has to be Summer Games Fest that aired as I was at the FLEGA party on Thursday. I still have to watch it at the time of writing.
Looking forward to playing: Astroneer and Honkai Star Rail.
Genethical
I spent a week under a rock, appreciating the fact that I can do that, enjoy that luxury, but disappointed in myself that I did that. At the very least, that gave me the chance to finally sink some proper time into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Much like Breath of the Wild, this game is much more enjoyable once you have a buffer of health and stamina to stop worrying about surviving and instead focus on enjoying its many, many complex systems. That said, I am so disappointed in the attempt at a story in Tears of the Kingdom, and I am still waiting to meet a character that makes me, as a player, care for them (Sidon doesn’t count as his most memorable characteristic is being charismatic.) Still, this isn’t a game one plays for the story but for its gameplay and insane attention to detail, and those really shine.
Other than that, I got a truly fantastic game in a recent sale, one that was maligned and marred by marketing flaws of its predecessor: Watch Dogs 2. So many open-world games present a world that amounts to no more than an elaborate mission select screen, but when Watch Dogs 2 offered an incredibly dynamic world with full interaction between AI characters even without player involvement, it was ignored because Watch Dogs 1 didn’t look pretty enough. I encourage everyone to give this game another chance. Even if the franchise is effectively dead now, nothing stops you from having fun with it!
Most exciting news of this week: Under a rock, remember? I’m afraid I haven’t caught up yet.
Looking forward to playing: Some more Tears of the Kingdom and Watch Dogs 2!
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!
