So, what are you playing?
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
Xbox All Access bundles together an Xbox One Console, Xbox Live Gold, and Xbox Game Pass with no upfront cost—at one low monthly price. PlayStation is (hopefully, finally) getting rid of its weird one-letter-at-a-time scrolling search bar thing. And Nintendo announced several bundles coming this holiday season, including Switches with games, Pro Controllers with games, and games with strategy guides.
So, what are you playing?
Zachary Atwood
I'm still taking time to enjoy Strange Brigade before I finish up my review and move on to another in a long list of games. With this longer weekend, I'm hoping to continue plugging through Graveyard Keeper. It's a thoroughly relaxing game, but I'm still pushing through the earlier part of the game I'd already experienced in alpha. Once I'm through that, I think I'll be completely hooked again. Lastly, I'm hoping to take some time this weekend to get into Two Points Hospital. I love tycoon games, and what I've seen so far looks like it's going to be a really good time. I'm sure I'll be playing some Fortnite and Smite as well, as those are games my Xbox friends are currently playing. In terms of things I'm missing out on, one of the games on my list is Destiny 2 and the newly released weapon slot changes. If I had time, I'd jump in to check it out, but I figure I'll just wait until the Forsaken release next week.
Sean Colleli
I'll be playing a little game I like to call "Going Out of My Mind a Week Before My Wedding" as I try to tie up loose ends and make sure everything else is running smoothly. Otherwise we'll probably make more progress on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The recent news that the criminally forgotten Timesplitters IP has been rescued from moldering Crytek disuse by THQ Nordic has me itching to revisit that series, so if at all possible I might pull out the old GameCube and try to wrangle my brothers into some multiplayer matches.
Dave Gamble
Coincident to my interest in fishing in Far Cry 5, which itself was directly attributable to my trying to learn how to fish by using only a copy of a Fishing for Dummies book, I started the process of reviewing the Ultimate Fishing Simulator. This fishing sim is very much like the FC5 mini-game but with some notable differences: the fishing sim has at least two orders of magnitude more equipment to unlock/choose from, much of which is licensed real world brands, and the fish are also orders of magnitude harder to catch. Catching a fish in FC5 is so easy that it ultimately starts to feel like grinding for dollars. With the Ultimate Fishing Simulator, I have already spent over four hours fishing and have caught precisely ZERO fish. Not a one. Not even a nibble. When compared to my actual real life fishing success, my failure to catch anything in the sim is a strong indicator of the of the sim. Since I started real world fishing early this summer, I have caught a total of four fish, two of which were accidental snags, and one was just a tiny little fingerling bass.
Eric Hauter
I am having a hard time weening myself from Fallout Shelter. While there is nothing else that I want to accomplish with my settlement, I still can't stop myself from logging in daily and clicking all of the little clickables. It is a sickness. I may have to go cold turkey.
In addition to that ongoing fiasco—I should have known better than to mess with it again—I am also having a hard time weening myself from Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. As predicted, I was nowhere near the end of this game by review time, and I call shenanigans on anyone that claims they had reached the ending. I was, however, far enough in for the game to have its hooks deep, deep in my brain. I have a feeling that this will be a game that I leave installed on my Switch permanently, picking it up now and then to reengage with the addiction.
I am also playing Strange Brigade on PS4 for review. I'm excited that the game released this week, because that means that there will be more people online to play with beyond game reviewers and streamers. It might come as a shock, but game journalists aren't the most social creatures under the sun. There's a lot of "I'm letting you into my game so I can see what it is like for review, but don't talk to me." I'm a chatty chatterbox, so this is torture for me. Solo, the game is breezy fun, but I know that it is going to really kick into gear when playing with an active, social group.
Randy Kalista
Got a few things happening for me in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. First, I finally finished the From the Ashes DLC, where I've rebuilt the 15th century Bohemian town of Pribyslavitz, log by log, brick by brick. From the swordsmith to the tavern to the refurbished church. Pretty sure I've never done all that in a role-playing game before. It's not as granular as building a home in Skyrim, but it's more involved than, say, plopping down a residential plot in SimCity. Second, just for giggles, I might start a fresh game in hardcore mode, where the toughest part might be having your location pin removed from the medieval-illustration map. Third, the next DLC, The Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon, is due any minute now. Since Capon is one of most contentious NPCs in the game—despite you and him taking a bath together in your underwear once—it should prove interesting.
