It’s a whole new year, but there’s an air of familiarity to 2022. The outside world is still a bit of a dumpster fire, and it’s either wet, windy, dark and/or cold enough to convince you that staying indoors and playing video games or watching telly is a better option than anything outdoorsy.
I’m not really one for making new years resolutions, but I am trying to read more books instead of doom scrolling through Twitter or Reddit. Having raced through one of the later The Expanse books, I’ve gone old school with my sci fi and am reading Dune.
For my gaming time, I have quite predictably been playing Halo Infinite, but I will have to wrestle myself away from that game this weekend to play other things. Secret things. Things that I’ll be telling you about next week. Whatever could they be?
Not so secretive is Nic B. He’s been playing the “absolutely stunning” Ghost of Tsushima on PlayStation 5. I’m sure there was some Pokémon Go as well, but he didn’t mention it. Another of our stuck-in-the-mud gamers is also breaking his habits. Tuffcub hasn’t been playing Destiny 2, but has instead been butting his head up against the opening of Bloodborne: “You may wish to look out your window where you will see a flock of pigs swooping past in the sky.”
Aran worked his way through Biomutant which, “has a very nice looking world but the game itself gets a bit repetitive. It felt like an introductory open world RPG for those who have little experience with them.” He also started playing Far Cry 6, ignoring the main story to simply go explore the island and blow up military targets.
Nick P snagged the platinum trophy for Guardians of the Galaxy this week and love it. “I really enjoyed it overall and think might be in my top two for 2021,” he said. He also started playing Far Cry 6 and found himself surprised by its tone: “I was expecting it to be super serious but it’s actually quite silly. I’m enjoying sending my pet Alligator to eat people.”
It’s been a contrasting week for Gamoc, who finally defeated the first boss in Returnal and is now exploring the second biome. That’s juxtaposed with UFC4, where he moved up a weight class and beat Jon Jones, and then dove into the underground caverns of Deep Rock Galactic from PlayStation Plus. The game could probably do with some more tutorials and explanation in his opinion, but he’s enjoying it now that he knows a bit more about what he’s doing.
Ade and his partner polished off It Takes Two and they loved it. “What a wonderful game!” he raved. “Gloriously imaginative from beginning to end and probably the best co-op thingy we’ve played.” Makes sense that it picked up a bunch of GOTY awards, eh?
Finally, and as eclectic as ever, Steve had plenty of gaming to report on:
This week I have played the lovely Archvale – a little indie that feels like the lovechild of Zelda and Geometry Wars. It’s on Game Pass and recommended, but play on at least Normal as Easy is too, well, easy. I have also played a little more It Takes Two with the teenager and it continues to delight (once we’ve got past the initial kill each other for shits and giggles). Carried on with my daily Halo Infinite MP for Reward points on PC and had some really good games (albeit balanced by some games ruined by AFK players). Started Astral Chain on Switch, but that feels more like a docked than handheld game, so need to free up some TV time for that one. Finally I had a look at YIIK RPG before it leaves Game Pass, but only lasted an hour or two as it is irredeemably smug and self-satisfied.
That’s us for this week, but what have you played to start off 2022? And feel free to tell us about your holidays as well!
