The weather has been an unpredictable mess of downpour and blazing sun this week, but Saturday feels like it could be the turn. Another chance for the sun to yank on the starter cord of summer and get that season's engine thrumming.
I simply refuse to have to turn back from another walk around the park because 10 metres from my front door the lovely sunshine is replaced by pelting rain.
But enough of this weather waffle, what are the team playing this weekend?
Edwin
This weekend will involve minimal gaming and maximum consumption of Pringles while horizontal with a book of some kind. Also probably a lot of fretting about very hypothetical house purchases. I might try the demo for Burn With Me – it's a deckbuilder in which you incinerate your cards to summon a demon.
James
Horace forgive me, but I'm taking a weekend off games to decompress from the post-Geoff rush. It's Next Fest from the 15th too, so plenty to get back to once I'm sufficiently unknotted and moisturised.
Jeremy
As readers from last week may be aware, I have indeed taken to Clair Obscur: Expeditions 33 for a long-term walkthrough project. I'll be playing more of it when I have time this weekend, and I'm enjoying it! Good games with a strong sense of place tend to make me want to go to the environments that spawned or inspired them – for Gabriel Knights: Sins of the Fathers, it was New Orleans, for The Witcher games, it was the Polish countryside. Clair Obscur makes me want to go back to Paris, where I just spent a weekend a few months ago. Alas, the big twist at the end of Act One was also spoiled for me last night by a random YouTube search prompt (thanks Google), but then again, as a Guides writer, I've long stopped trying to avoid spoilers.
Ollie
Broken record, me, but I'll just be playing more Overwatch with the lads, and Dyson Sphere Program in my own time. Though with the recent restarting of the Factorio Friday Facts blog posts, I'm getting the itch to return to Factorio soon...
Mark
I've ended up replaying the original Red Dead Redemption via the PC port it got not too long ago. There's a charm to the simplicity of riding around and shooting baddies on rolling western plains with far less moving parts than the all-singing and all-dancing RDR2, as breathtaking as the latter's attention to detail often is. John Marston's just recently arrived in Mexico as I write this. Cue the music.
Callum
Looking out over the sea, Callum's eyes emitted the lantern glow of a lighthouse, while a creaking yawn of tearing metal emerged from his throat.
Julian
What with all of the Summer Game Fest-ivities, I've not had a chance to play any more Cyberpunk 2077 this week. Hopefully I'll find a moment to get back into that bath before it gets cold and I move onto something else. That said, on Phasma Felis' recommendation, I've been playing snatched rounds of Jet Lancer and it's the perfect tonic to a long day. Punchy action, rapid dog fights, big anime explosions. More of this sort of thing, please.
And you, reader dear, what are you playing this weekend...?