We’re within sniffing distance of the weekend once more and, for many of us, an escape from the daily grind. I say that, but I’ve been spending as many of my waking hours as possible this past week playing Forza Horizon 5, which continues to be excellent, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which has me hooked all over again. I also spent a couple hours with Bright Memory: Infinite which, while impressive for a solo developer, is not so great.
Nick P has also played a little bit of Forza Horizon 5, but spent more time with Echo Generation, which is “a decent Stranger Things-esq voxel art RPG”, a little bit of Dead by Daylight, and Call of Duty: Vanguard, where he’s finished the campaign and has turned his attention to “dominating” in the multiplayer.
Steve’s another that hopped into Forza Horizon 5, saying it’s “typically bombastic and silly in the beginning with major Fast and Furious feelings,” and has been plugging away at and enjoying the retro 3D platformer Demon’s Turf.
Our first non-Forza-fan of the week was Aran. Instead he’s played a ton of Football Manager 2022 for our review and jumped into Mass Effect 2 to clear up some quests on Ilium. Ade also doesn’t know what he’s missing out on in Mexico, but then he’s been playing Kena: Bridge of Spirits. “It’s a little generic but is so well made that I can excuse the abundance of familiar mechanics. Plus the Rot are ridiculously cute.”
When not roaming the streets in search of Pokémon, Nic B has been roaming the streets to batter zombies in Days Gone. “There’s a cool story buried beneath the buggy mess that is the game,” he says.
The most despondent man of week award goes to Jason, who’s been playing Elden Ring, but had a couple days where he could not play Elden Ring. “I’ve been playing Elden Ring,” he tells us, “which means I’m now not playing Elden Ring and I don’t really know what to do anymore. Also Rocket League.”
Jim has some Opinions on his gaming this week, which included our review of Call of Duty: Vanguard:
I’ve been honing my first person shooter reflexes with Call of Duty: Vanguard and Deathloop. Vanguard has proven a real treat and has its claws firmly latched on – something that hasn’t happened since the original Black Ops. Although I’m starting to butt heads with tougher online opponents, it’s pushed me to up my skills and actually delve into the various weapons, perks, and loadout options.
I finally broke the loop in Deathloop after exploring just about everything there is to see in Blackreef. A very clever game that has left me with a desire to go back and play Dishonored 2 and Prey. However, there were a couple of caveats that frustrated me towards the end. Some of the leads/objectives started to feel like busywork – not only that, I saw no reason to change the loadout I acquired pretty early into the game, opting for a silenced nail gun, shotgun, and machine gun. I plan to try my hand at the game’s PvP as Julianna before moving onto the next title in my library.
Gamoc shared similar thoughts on Deathloop, but also pondered: “Also if Fia’s reactor blows up the entire island, should it break the loop by killing everyone?”
And we’re back to the Forza Horizon crowd with Miguel, who played that game, lots of Animal Crossing and reviewed Blue Reflection: Second Light.
Last but by no means least, Dom has been mixing up Forza Horizon 5, Shin Megami Tensei V and Jurassic World Evolution 2.
Now then, what have you been playing?
