We’re just a day and a half from seeing out 2022, and I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week to see out the year. All of the Christmassy indulgences you managed last weekend have led into that strange void at the end of the year where some people are dragged back to work, while others can continue to fritter away their waking hours by sinking into games, movies, books and comic books. When it’s been so windy and rainy the past few days, who can blame them?
Despite the best intentions, I’ve barely played anything, to tell the truth. I unboxed a fancy new McLaren GT3 wheel for a Fanatec rig, but it’ll be a little while before I can actually use it, so it soon went back in its box and I shelved ideas of playing racing games for a while. Instead we’ve had The Lord of the Rings on in the background, watched Glass Onion, and I read the rather good slasher comic book Maniac of New York. When a console has been turned on, it’s been the Xbox so I can play more Vampire Survivors.
Aran spent his Christmas weekend finishing off Cyberpunk 2077, completing all the side quests in the process, which made the actual story missions a doddle – “The game is okay but lacks something that really makes you care about the characters.” Since then, he’s been playing Lone Ruin for review in January and started Nobody Saves the World, which he’s really enjoying so far.
Nick P unwrapped The Callisto Protocol from under his tree, and dove into a game that he’d been looking forward to for quite some time (albeit with his expectations dampened from release reviews). “It’s not too bad so far. Feels a little on rails and it’s not really scary, but it’s filling a gap between other big releases.”
Steve rounded off a few more games for their platinum trophies, finishing off the appropriately Christmassy Spider-Man: Miles Morales, before tackling the far more challenging platinum of The Messenger. “This retro platformer came out a few years back and has always been on my ‘to play’ pile. Well, it’s done now, and the challenging boss fights gave me enough frustration/satisfaction to entice me to go for some bloody tough trophies. Pretty proud of this one.” Alongside those two, he also enjoyed the PC indie games Impasto and Brukel.
Returning to one of his all-time favourite games, Nic B played more than just his usual Pokémon Go and Marvel Snap, and sank himself into Alan Wake’s PS5 remaster to see how it holds up. The answer? “His Mrs still had a weird face. Bits of it look much better, bits of it look like a polished turd.”
Not quite a ringing endorsement, but he seems to be having fun.
And Ade kept on keeping on with God of War: Annoying Sidekick 2, but feels it’s really hitting its stride now, in particular with how it reimagines so many parts of Nose Mythology. Beside that, and having written a Playing with History for Hades 2’s announcement, he’s gone back to the original – “What a game, huh?” – and mixed that with playing through The Quarry with his partner, which is proving to be a “fantastic frightfest.”
Miguel’s consumed his gaming time this week by finishing off Judgment on PS5, playing a bit of Pocky & Rocky Reshrined on Switch, and diving into a few random Steam sale acquisitions, including a weird 2000s action visual novel Baldr Sky, Audiosurf 2, and Warhammer 40,000: Darktide.
Finally, Dom probably had the most Christmassy gaming report card. He indulged in some model painting escapism thanks to Moonbreaker, but that’s been the calm eye of a gaming storm that’s swirled with Monster Hunter Rise, Midnight Suns and Lego City Undercover. He also dug out some older consoles to play Ridge Racer and Rock Band Unplugged on his PSP and Amplitude on PS2.
Now then, what have you played? And did you get any great gaming gifts for Christmas?
