What Are You Playing This Weekend? (September 25th) – Talking Point


Castlevania
Image: Konami

Well, it’s been a Nintendo Direct week! The new voice of Mario has been revealed, Brewster’s back in Animal Crossing, Kirby’s gone all Last of Us in his next 3D adventure, and — biggest news of all — Banjo’s coming back on a Nintendo console thanks to the inclusion of Banjo-Kazooie in the upcoming N64 additions to Nintendo Switch Online. Eekum bokum!

After all that it’s time to chill out and discuss our weekend gaming plans. A few members of the Nintendo Life team have done just that below, so feel free to give our entries a read and then join in with your own via our comment section. Enjoy!

Tom Whitehead, deputy editor

I’m currently back onto The Great Ace Attorney, which is weird and wonderful and a very relaxing time. Some of the same terms could be used for Eastward, which I picked up last week and am enjoying a lot – it’s a game full of heart.

Elsewhere I’m playing Marvel’s Avengers, that game everyone dunks on because its grind is boring. As I got it cheap and am only interested in the campaign content, however, I’m having a good time (maybe helped by the fact it’s the ‘next-gen enhanced’ version); it’s a classic 7/10 game, but I’m enjoying some mindless action after long workdays.

Kate Gray, staff writer

This weekend I’m practically LOADED up with games: Beast Breaker, Eastward, and maybe even a few games on the ol’ SNES, which we got set up recently. It’s a retro-palooza!

I’m also light on reviews this week, finally, so I’ll get to play some of my backlog: Islanders, Slime Rancher, and maybe even a bit of Subnautica to break up all the gentle farmy-type games. I’m EXTREMELY excited about it being Autumn, so I can cosy up with my Switch by the fireplace (which is just an animated pixel fireplace, but still) with a hot chocolate and some COSY SOCKS. Heck yeah.

Ollie Reynolds, reviewer

Hey folks! Like many this weekend, I’ll be playing through the newly announced Castlevania Advance Collection. I have to give Konami props for bringing out this set; any move to make older games more accessible to new audiences is a big win in my book. You can practically hear the eBay sellers scream in frustration…

That’s pretty much it for the Switch this weekend, but I’ll also be diving back into Death Stranding on PS5 now that the Director’s Cut has launched; can’t wait to do some walking!

Gonçalo Lopes, reviewer

Still continuing my Front Mission campaign replay along with a quick dash of Cruis’n Blast here and there. Good timing on Castlevania Advance Collection since, as I previously mentioned, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is due for a revisit. Yet the most important task for this weekend is to clear me entire schedule for the up and coming ZDR planetary excursion.

Game of the week is the aptly named ActRaiser Renaissance. It’s 2021 and there is a main title screen on my giant TV with the words “Quintet” and “Yuzo Koshiro” in the bottom copyright fine-print. The new soundtrack orchestration alone is worth the admission price. Maybe this is not the darkest timeline after all…


As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave us a comment below with your weekend gaming plans!