What are we all playing this weekend?

After forgetting to change my alarm for the weekend, my Saturday has started far too early. I clearly don’t respond well to surprise free time, as I spent the morning writing my will. Disappointingly, Co-op don’t let you set challenges and riddles for bequestees. This oversight has dashed the mental image of my brother and sister duelling over my gaming PC, armed with those Gladiators-style padded polearms that look like oversized cotton wool buds.

I’m sure the rest of the RPS team have better plans. Here’s what they’re playing this weekend.

Mark: Having Bannerlorded my bannerzoongas off in recent weeks, I’ll probably just be dipping into a gentle bit of Cyberpunk 2077 and Once Upon a Katamari this weekend. Comfort games to help me recharge a bit before I pick up whatever my next new thing will be.

Callum: Still chipping away at Hades 2 and Outer Worlds, plus I’ve had my eye on a little time-travelling game called A Better World that just dropped on Steam. But video games can wait this weekend. My local cinema is showing the new Knives Out movie, and I shall be seated. You’re telling me this one’s got Andrew Scott, Josh O’Connor AND Jeffrey Wright in it? And Daniel Craig’s still gonna be dropping the hardest lines possible in his goofy Louisiana drawl? This is my Avengers: Endgame, and you best believe I’ll be hootin’ and hollerin’ whenever Benoit Blanc absent-mindedly mutters that a grisly murder “compels” him.

Jeremy: I wrapped up Shinobi: Art of Vengeance the other day, which is really gorgeous, though I feel like the level design occasionally leaves something to be desired. Still, the game is epic enough to leave on my Steam Deck for the foreseeable future, and the tracks that Yuzo Koshiro contributed to the OST will continue to live on in my head for ages, as is the case with all of his work. So yeah, I’ll probably still be playing this one during the weekend, wrapping up the last few tasks – though I doubt I’ll have the patience to 100% it and find that secret boss cameo from Shinobi III, alas.

James: I’m open to playing any game whose name doesn’t include either, or any combination of, the words “Black” or “Friday”. Maybe Criterion’s 2006 first person shooter, Black? Hmm, maybe not, actually.

Edwin: This weekend I will be trying to finish a videogame for review. The videogame is the first horror game in a while that is genuinely scaring me. “You sick little monkey,” I exclaim, squinting down a corridor with something in a pool of light at the far end. “You filthy, negatively spacious, ambient noise-making sicko. I’m not going down there. But I have to, or I won’t hit embargo.” When I’m not saying things like this to myself, I will be roasting squash and thinking about December’s deluge of game announcements.

Jules: There are a couple of games I’m playing to prepare for interviews next week. I can’t say much more than that, beyond looking forward to diving into some excellent puzzle games and a strategy classic. In truth, though, I’m going to be prepping a lot of the lovely words we will be publishing as part of the RPS Advent Calendar and RPS 100, both of which kick off on Monday.

And you, reader dear, what are you playing this weekend?…