Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 21st)

January has felt like a long one, we’ll admit, but we are almost at the end of it now and we have Nintendo’s first big release of 2023 to show for it! After all the character profiles, gameplay trailers and developer interviews, Fire Emblem Engage is finally here in all of its tactical glory.

In recognition of the gaming year starting to get underway, we asked you lovely lot to rank the Fire Emblem games that are available in the west. We also hopped on the ol’ soapbox once again, this time chatting about our desire for a Paper Mario-style Zelda game and pleading for a Baten Kaitos remake (spurred on by some recent rumours). It’s also been a big week for reviews as we gave our thoughts on Fire Emblem Engage, Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden amongst others.

Now we are taking a break from playing games to, uh, play some different games. Below, some of the team have shared what they will be up to over the coming days and we would love for you to get involved too! Have a read through our plans and then take to the comments to let us know what you will be playing this weekend.

Jim Norman, Staff Writer

I’m hoping to be able to pour a good bit of time into Fire Emblem Engage this weekend. I have been following the character reveals for what feels like the past 18 years, so I am excited to finally get to see what all these guys are about. As luck would have it, I also have a fair amount of travelling to do over the next few days so that should give me some quality playtime.

If I manage to put aside some time for anything else, however, then it’s likely to be spent finishing off Super Metroid on the NSO SNES library. Yes, I said that I would do this last week but it turns out that I was much further from the end than I thought. It’s still an amazing game, though it is a shame about the wall jumping which I stand by being one of the most frustrating mechanics in video game history…

Kate Gray, Staff Writer

I’ve gotta be honest, folks, I think I’m about to get back into my Stardew Valley phase. I booted up the game to take screenshots the other day and oops I spent two in-game days puttering around the Skull Cavern… Maybe I can convince my partner to do a co-op farm with me, even though I turn into an inventory management monster every time?

Ollie Reynolds, Staff Writer

I recently got a weird hankering to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate again; it’s been quite a while since I last booted it up and a part of me felt like I was kind of done with the game. Anyway, I basically deleted the entire save file and started from scratch, and doing so has honestly completely revitalised my love for this game. Like, I really love it! Playing through Classic Mode with each character and unlocking new ones is a true joy; I even stumbled across some stages that I completely forgot were in it – New Donk City? What! So good, man.

Elsewhere, I bought Persona 4 Golden when it launched on Thursday and I’ve been having a blast with it so far. I originally played on the Vita nearly ten years ago, but it still holds up remarkably well today. I’ve not played Persona 3 Portable before, but since it’s basically a visual novel outside of battles and whatnot, I’m going to give it a test drive on Game Pass before committing to a purchase on the Switch. Have a good one, everyone!

Alana Hagues, Staff Writer

I’m still playing Disco Elysium at the moment — what a fantastic game. I’m enjoying being a total disaster in a video game (just like in real life), but it’s incredibly thoughtful and provocative, too. I bought a boom box! And I passed out reading my clipboard. It’s an all-timer for those two things alone.

But I’ve made a mistake. I’ve picked up two new games this week. Persona 3 Portable marks the first time I’ve ever played the FeMC route, as fans have lovingly dubbed it. I’ve heard amazing things about this route, and Persona 3 is my personal favourite from the modern trilogy (for story reasons). Plus, A Space for the Unbound got some magnificent reviews and I’ve been excited about it for a while, so I grabbed it. Buying stuff I’m excited about and supporting indie developers — two of my favourite things. Keep warm, folks!

We hope you enjoyed reading! Add the game that you’ll be maining in the poll below and leave a comment with your gaming plans for the weekend ahead!