Title: What Games Are We Diving Into This Weekend?

This revised title emphasizes the excitement and engagement of playing games, while also subtly suggesting a shared experience or community aspect to gaming. It uses "diving into" as a more active and immersive alternative to "playing," which can help convey the depth of the gaming experience. Additionally, the use of "we" maintains the communal feel of the original title, inviting readers to be part of a collective gaming adventure.

Thank you all for your wonderful soundtrack suggestions earlier this week! I’ll be gleefully ploughing my way through them over the coming workdays. But now isn’t the time for that! Weekends are for the playing, not the listening of the playing!

Here’s what we’re all clicking on this weekend.

Brendy
I resisted the siren call of My Summer Car last weekend, but succumbed to the thrumming engines of… Car Mechanic Simulator 2021?? I have changed the oil and stripped the wheels off two cars already. I have no clue what any of these bits under the hood are. hope to get a little greasier this weekend.

Edwin
Aside from Life Stuff, this weekend I’ll be working on a small card “game” prototype I have that is sort of a tabletop poem generator modelled after the Lament Configuration from Hellraiser. When I get sick of my own bullshit, I might also give the demo for Haste: Broken Worlds a try. It’s sort of Sonic Adventures meets Canabalt, right?

Graham
I have a game to review, which I probably shouldn’t name, and so I will simply say that yes I will be playing (and losing) yet more Dune Imperium. Another 100 hours or so and I might feel ready to review it.

James
I’ve spent most of this week buried in the Steam Next Fest toybox, so I think I’ll spend my days off with some comfort picks: a spot of Team Fortress 2, perhaps, to prepare myself for the incoming rush of officially supported mods. Likely followed by Darktide, which doesn’t have much going on at the mo, but has proven a surprisingly resilient member of my regulars. Back to demos on Monday, promise.

Jeremy
Any gaming time I have this weekend will be taken up by Monster Hunter Wilds. Yes, it does feel pretty easy compared to Monster Hunters of the past, but then again I’m not sure I ever want to go back to the days of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. (I’ve been messing around with the Lance again, which was the first weapon I ever used…and it’s just as unwieldy as those old days!) Difficulty aside, it’s all about the world vibes and the cool looking armour for me, and the visual splendour on display here is grand stuff. Bless Capcom and RE Engine for putting in work to make those big beastie designs as exciting as ever.

Nic
Gonna play “how many scratch-made pizzas can I eat in one weekend before it stops being practise and just becomes gluttony”. Maybe three? My most recent batch of dough turned out much better than the first, so now I’m trying to perfect both sauce ratio and cooking temperatures. An exhausting, demoralising task, but someone has to do it.

Ollie
I’ll likely be playing more badminton this weekend than any particular PC game. I’m nursing an RSI at the moment from all the Monster Hunter guides typing, so it’ll be interesting to see whether my hand can hold onto the racket or if I’ll be unexpectedly taking my partner to A&E later on with a nasty case of “missing nose”.

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