You hear that in the distance? That's the sound of an axe slamming through a half-dozen Hel-Walker heads and returning to Kratos' mighty palm. While most of TheGamer staff is eagerly anticipating God of War Ragnarok's release on Wednesday, we're using the brief window of downtime to play some other recent releases.
Those include a great visual novel, the new Nintendo/Ubisoft collaboration, a cute puzzle game, a new, dense strategy title from Paradox, and a familiar favorite set in the Mojave Desert. Gaming is a land of contrasts. Until next week. Next week it becomes a land of god's axe.
Andrew King, Features Editor
Kratos and Atreus return soon, so I suppose I should try to wrap up some of the other 2022 games I’m currently playing before there's a god-sized dent in my schedule. The best of the games I'm hurrying through is Butterfly Soup 2, Brianna Lei’s sequel to her brilliant 2017 visual novel about queer Asian-American teenage girls forming a baseball club and falling in love. The sequel is as sharply written and emotionally engrossing as the original, and I’ll be sad when it ends. Plus, I’ve got a few more episodes to finish off in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, so hopefully I’ll conclude the saga this weekend. I also should really finish my playthrough of The Last of Us Part 2 to free up some space on my PS5.
Rebecca Phillips, Evergreen Editor
I’ve just started playing Lonesome Village, where, as Wes the coyote, you help to restore a town and its villagers by solving puzzles. The puzzles have been fairly simple so far (though that’s probably because I’m only about an hour in), but the graphics and character designs are extremely cute. It’s definitely a play-in-bed-while-it’s-raining-outside kind of game, and that’s exactly what I plan to do this weekend.
Amanda Hurych, Evergreen Content Lead
I’m still playing Grounded. I thought I would become inured to spider attacks, but they scare me every time. Those wolf spiders are aggressive as heck, and the snarly noises they make when they lock onto you are the most frightening sounds I’ve ever had cause to avoid by ripping my headphones off my head. Usually in these day-night cycle survival games, I don’t care that the sun has gone down and I only sleep when I absolutely must. Why waste time sleeping when I could be gathering resources for my base, am I right? Grounded has thrown that mindset out the window. Wolf spiders hunt at night. I can’t go out when it’s dark anymore.
Stacey Henley, Editor-in-Chief
I’m trying to make my way through Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope ahead of Ragnarok and Sonic, and it’s looking like I’ll just about make it to the end before Kratos arrives. At least, I will if I can resist the pull of Vampire Survivors coming to Game Pass. Mostly though, I’ll be getting distracted by Marvel Snap and playing that on my phone instead. I need Black Cat and Mystique. I need them. They are my wives and must be by my side.
Justin Reeve, News Editor
You can call me a nerd if you like, but as an archaeologist, I’ve always been hugely into anything historical, so for the rest of this weekend, I plan on diving right into the recently released Victoria 3. Similar to Crusader Kings 3, I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going to get lost in this one, pouring hour upon hour of my time into the game. I’ve already got several hundred hours on Crusader Kings 3. Don’t even ask me about Crusader Kings 2. In any case, time for me to dial back the clock a couple of centuries. I’ll see you in 1837.
James Troughton, Cross-Department Editor
Fallout has sunk its teeth right back into me. I’m in the world of New Vegas again, going for that sweet, sweet 100 percent. So far, I’ve finished one playthrough where I helped the NCR annihilate Caeser’s Legion. I even went to the Fort long before kicking up the story just to assassinate him, waltzing out after clearing the camp with my Ratslayer and the Lucky revolver. And before the final showdown, I assassinated the NCR president a couple of times, then I save scummed and thwarted another assassination attempt from a Legion imposter lurking in the tower. I watched him chuck a guy down first, though. I can’t save everyone.