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
Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I’ve got a fantastic feeling about 2025, despite how it’s begun, so I’ll do my best to keep the optimism and positive vibes.
I will have to repeat myself and say all I’ve played this week is Genshin Impact. As I only have Chapter V: Act V of the main story left to complete, I have been taking my time doing other relevant activities. These have included collectable hunting to level up the Statues of the Seven, collecting upgrade materials, completing daily/weekly tasks, and improving my characters in multiple ways. I have tried wishing for both Mauvika and Citlali but no luck so far.
Most interesting news of this week: Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed but I will always support developers who make this decision instead of releasing a game they’re not happy with.
Looking forward to playing: Genshin Impact and This Bed We Made. Perhaps Parking Masters and/or another story game?
Robby
I had a killer of a week work-wise. Everyone took the same 2 weeks off for the holidays it seems, meaning my inbox flooded over on Monday. I’ve been struggling to keep up and didn’t play a lot of games this week, but since we skipped an Eyes on the Week, I can cover 2 weeks, haha.
After Jim complained on Twitter about Moo and Move taking 30 minutes to beat for 3000G, I bought it for less than €2 and beat it in 20 minutes. Can’t say that’s a trend I like because achievements lose all meaning that way. The game is fun for a while and priced right, it’s just an obvious achievement hunter trap.
I beat High on Life and I’m just cleaning up some achievements in the base game and then moving on to High on Knife (the DLC). fun game, but should make it easier to hunt for collectables. would be impossible for me without a guide.
I beat Roguebook a few times and got most of the achievements. At least the ones that aren’t too grindy. That Belgian deckbuilder is on the opposite side of the gamerscore spectrum and takes 100+ hours of grinding to earn most of them. Still, one of the best roguelike deck builders.
I also installed Pirates Outlaws on my PC and played a few rounds. It’s basically Roguebook/Slay the Spire, but Pirate-themed and that is A-OK in my book. I only learned after that it had an Xbox release, so will probably do a double purchase. It’s research for the sequel, as I’ll be running some PR on it.
I’m also playing OFF, the 2008 original, in French. So I have a basis for comparison when the remake comes out soon. Eager to see the English translation.
Last week, me and my son had an afternoon together and he asked me to play Spider-Man on the PS5. Fun game, but by God did Sony mess up with the regional stuff on their console. I own the NA disc, but could get access to the DLC codes unless I made an NA account first, got the codes (which were expired on paper, but turned out not to be) and then installed them via that account… so I could play them on my EU account. Silly. Then I looked into buying the Remastered upgrade. Same issue. I’d have to buy it from the NA account. But I don’t have USD$ to even buy it with. Sigh.
Most interesting news of this week: Ubisoft is on the edge of going belly up and the games industry is not ready for 20K people hitting the job market all at once…
Looking forward to playing: Boti Byteland Overclocked on Xbox (Finally! Look for my name in the credits 😊)
Colombo
This week I played the usual Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Balatro and Persona 3 Reload again. In addition, I also started playing It Takes Two with a friend and it’s been very cool so far.
Most interesting news of this week: Ubisoft’s risk of being sold soon.
Looking forward to playing: More COD Black Ops 6, It Takes Two, Persona 3 Reload and Balatro.
Missi
I mostly have been playing Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop this week. I know I’ll no go for all the achievements, but the game is so addictive and throws in such random and crazy things with every end you can get in this rogue-lite in which you fix rocket ships based on manuals you receive with Ikea furniture. It can get a bit much the same, but the humor and how crazy all the different endings are what make it so so good.
I have also been playing Monster Meals which launches next week. A fun game that reminds me of games such as Overcooked, Godlike Burger and Out of Space. I love that this one can be played solo and is still a lot of fun.
While waiting for something work-related, I started Balatro again. I’m not as addicted as I was around Christmas or when it launched, but I had an extremely good day with the challenges today. What a beautiful game. It’s also lovely to see new players stream this and see their heads explode with all the info and insane options.
Most interesting news of this week: The news around Ubisoft. I don’t hope they fall but start taking more care of their franchises again. Not just exploit them with DLC and microtransactions. I can’t imagine a world without new Assassin’s Creed games.
Looking forward to playing: Not sure yet what I’ll be playing next.
Benny
I’ve been unwell the past few weeks, but this has meant more time gaming. I picked up SHMUP Mania and although I completed it quickly, for the low price was probably still worth it as lots of fun blasting enemies with a few challenging bosses and 30 levels to complete. I played a little more of Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered and you can read my review [HERE]
I’ve also been back playing Apex Legends with friends, plus a little Vampire Survivors. I finished my review of The Mortuary Assistant also and you can read my review [HERE]
I have also been playing Tap Wizard 2 which I’m currently reviewing, look out for my review early next week.
Most interesting news of this week: House of the Dead 2: Remake was announced and will rise from the grave in spring/Q2 2025.
Looking forward to playing: Tap Wizard 2, Apex Legends and Boti: Byteland Overclocked.
Derek
First of all Happy New Year to all you lovely gamers out there! I hope the festive season treated you all well and you have been keeping warm and toasty. This week I have been having a bit of a Resident Evil binge; I completed the Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake and I started playing the original 90’s Resident Evil as well. I think it’s because I got the Board game for my Xmas so I kind of got a little hyper-focused on it.
I also got Baldur’s Gate 3 so that has been taking up a chunk of my life as well, Oh the decisions you have to make in that game! It’s certainly one that I will be playing for a good few months I think.
Other than that it’s been a fairly quiet time for me, but now that we are back into the swing of things I will be playing and reviewing as much as I can for you lot – Hugs to everyone and again Happy New Year.
Most interesting news of this week: The Xbox rewards had a bit of a glitch this week and ended up banning thousands of players from earning points. However, it was all sorted out and a new way to earn points has been released which you will find if you go to your Game Pass menu.
Looking forward to playing: All the fun games I got over Christmas including some classics like Sunset Overdrive, Alan Wake 2 and many more.
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!
