What We're Playing

What you should play this weekend

Tell us what you are playing in the comments
By Graham Smith
An old man in a purple kimono, cravat, and gloves, with a hat that also has a purple band.
This man knows how to colour coordinate his outfit.

I took the Steam Deck with me when travelling last weekend, and instead of leaving it in my suitcase untouched in favour of reading books, as per usual, I spent much of my downtime playing tactical deckbuilder StarVaders. This is because I know I need to write posts for Jank and therefore must be playing games in every spare moment. Cheerfully, it's also because I think you'd appreciate the articles even if they're about games outside the current release cycle. This is highly motivating, so thanks.

On the other hand, you're making me less literate. Read on for some games you could be playing in lieu of reading books this weekend - and tell us what you are playing in the comments.

A character shoots a fireball from a plant at an enormous tree man surrounded by dazed tree children.
This certainly doesn't look like any Zelda dungeon I've ever seen.

Under The Island

I'm never too excited by the sight of another 2D Zelda-like, because the formula is simple enough that it often struggles to shine at lower levels of execution. Under The Island is threatening to overcome my skepticism with its trailers, which show an impressively diverse world and an emphasis upon the puzzle part of the formula over the combat.

Styx the goblin hides behind a box with a knife while a troll or something walks nearby.
This is pure bullshot, in that the game won't really look like this.

Styx: Blades Of Greed

Styx: Master Of Shadows was a persnickety stealth adventure in which a single foot out of the shadows, or too much noise made, was often as good as an instant fail. I enjoyed it in spite of that, mostly thanks to its extremely vertical world design and nimble main character. There was a previous sequel in 2017 and another this week, which is boasting greater player creativity and implying lower persnickety-ness in how you tackle its stealth challenges.

A man rubs his neck by the beach as he looks at you. You can talk to him about the department, curses, or about spirit sense.
Me talking to Jonty at the next Jank company meeting.

Paranormasight: The Mermaid's Curse

Square Enix went insane a few years ago and started pumping out half a dozen games a month, mostly without marketing them, as if they thought it was still 2001. I love this for them, and for all the Harvestella sickos out there, but visual novel Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries Of Honjo was one of the few that seemed to immediately find its audience. Here comes a sequel, with a new set of characters, minigames and supernatural mysteries to solve.

Me? I'm starting in on the Next Fest demos that have released early, planning to play Abiotic Factor for the first time with a pal, and wondering if I want to give Ys X: Proud Nordics an optimistic download and install.

Tell us what you're playing in the comments.

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What We're Playing
Graham Smith

Graham Smith

Graham is a former editorial director of Rock Paper Shotgun and editor-in-chief of PC Gamer. He has now been a games journalist for over twenty years, and retains a bottomless appetite for playing new games and tinkering with old ones.