Weekend Gaming Playlist

Weekend gaming is perhaps one of my favorite past times and has been for decades. But this upcoming weekend is expected to be one of the hottest seen here in the Pacific Northwest. Looking at the weather forecast, I see this is true for most of the US. We often use games to escape reality, but this is one of those situations where reality is impacting what I can play because the county has asked all to limit our power usage. Rather than complaining, I’m trying to do my part – which means I am only playing my handheld Switch this weekend and leaving all big electronics off as much as possible. If you are in a state with similar heat concerns, consider joining me in a weekend of hand-held gaming to try out or revisit games like these:

Animus: Revenant

This is the latest Animus title to hit the Switch and the first I’ve had the chance to play since the original. Truth be told, I’ve never liked playing Soulslike games on mobile. I just think my fingers and touchpad controls are not an optimal match. For this reason, I am genuinely excited to plunge in and see what their plans are for what looks to be their biggest console release to date.

I enjoyed the combat in the previous Animus title I played on switch, but the gameplay loop couldn’t hold my interest too long. I have only spent a short while in the game thus far, but it drops you into a mysterious game world and not a menu system, so it’s already a vast improvement. Beyond this, the environments, mood, and NPCs (I don’t even recall these in the previous title I played) are much improved as well. This has me cautiously hopeful Animus: Revenant will hold my attention the way soulslikes typically can. I’ll have a full review available on the site when ready. I look forward to discussing gameplay at that time.

Decay of Logos

Not every Soulslike title I play grabs my attention right away. Decay of Logos is one that I’ve wanted to like for a long time, but just couldn’t stomach the technical issues upon launch so it fell into my backlog. Yet I still have this nagging feeling I’d like to get farther into the game and wonder if it runs any better now because the game’s original release was August of 2019.

If you are unfamiliar, imagine a third person action/adventure title that is somewhere between BotW and Dark Souls. Now imagine you have a constant companion who is a silent, white elk and that they are more of a frustration than comfort. How long I stay with it this weekend depends a lot on how the elk gameplay has improved (or not). I genuinely hope things are better because I’d like to learn a little more about the game world and journey. I have a soft spot for indie soulslikes. This is a real thing.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Do you ever love a game so much you do not want it to end and so you put it down at like 80% completion just so you know you can go back for more? I know this makes little sense, but I do this occasionally. It’s exactly what happened with BotW. I put it down before the final dungeon because I just could not bring myself to finish it yet. But then, E3 happened and the trailer for the sequel inspired me and relieved that I don’t want this to end feeling.

That feeling of not wanting it to end is now replaced with an eagerness to complete what lies unfinished to be fully prepared for the sequel. My wife has agreed to join me as co-pilot (her constant role in BotW) for our return to Hyrule before our return to Hyrule. Together, while hiding from the heat outside, we will get back to hunting korok seeds, finishing gear upgrades, struggling through the last bit of the master trials (or skipping them), and, of course, slowly beginning our journey through the last stages of the main story to once and for all confront you-know-who. If you haven’t yet taken the journey of this amazing game, let me become one more voice in your life urging you to do so.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

As a veteran fan of both X-Men Legends and Ultimate Alliance games in the past. I had for a long time simply believed a new title in the series would never come. I was thrilled with the release of MUA3 and its exclusivity on the Switch, but I lost my copy on vacation shortly after purchasing it and decided to wait until I could get a good deal on it before rebuying.

Fast forward to a few months ago when I discovered a copy at my local used game store. The old itch has returned, and super excited to scratch it with the new characters that have been added to the series. I’ve always been a fan of Hulk, but I am so excited to see Guardians of the Galaxy and others that my boy Banner may have to take a back seat for a bit. One of my favorite parts of these games is the ability to create crazy combinations of super hero squads. I am already coming up with some combinations I’d like to see. Truth be told, MUA3 will likely get most of my game time this weekend.

That wraps it up for me. I hope to get to dive into all four of these titles for a good chunk of time. There are so many great games coming out this year for Switch (queue Metroid Dread hype) that I am glad for a weekend of staying in with a chance to revisit some classics before getting caught up with what’s next. Drop a comment below to let me know what you think of these games and what you’ll be playing. See you in game, everyone!