Play
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - this is a very odd game, isn't it? I mean in many ways it is quite brilliant, and it's absolutely stuffed full of content, and all of it's really good, and the characters are superb, and the combat system is much improved. But it has - thirty hours in - absolutely zero narrative drive. I was following Sephiroth at the start of the game, and I'm still following him now, and I'm none the wiser as to why I'm doing that or why the focus of the game shifted from battling Shinra to taking this dude down. Maybe I've missed something, but as I'm meandering around the world at my own pace playing card games and chasing Moogles, it's hard to see where the threat really lies.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - always at the cutting edge, me. I'm playing this on the Switch 2 using the N64 controller and the excellent CRT filter they've added recently, and I'm having a great time. I know the 3DS version exists, but this is a game defined and limited so much by the crazy hardware it originally ran on that it feels only right to respect that and play the original. It is absolutely wonderful, and while it has obviously aged in very apparent ways, once you get over the initial clunkiness it is every bit as enjoyable to play as it was nearly thirty years ago.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor - enjoyably addictive roguelike that keeps me dropping in for twenty minutes or so at a time, there's always something new to unlock or something to level up and it gets satisfyingly difficult quite quickly.
Want
After some thought, I think I'm good on Resident Evil: Requiem for now, at least until I've played the RE4 Remake. It'll come to Game Pass eventually, I'm sure. Likewise the Yakuza 3 Remake, it's not that long since I played the original and I've still got Lost Judgement to tide me over if I get the urge.
I'm intrigued by Slay the Spire II but ultimately I think I'd rather wait for the full release.
So what else is there that's coming up? 007 can't get here soon enough.
Bin
Trump finally dragged us into World War 3. Enjoy your videogames while you still can.
Play
Mass Effect 3 = After finishing the trilogy I immediately restarted ME3 on insane pretending it's a shooty bang dudebro game like Gears of War. I'm actually having a lot of fun blasting through with James and Garrus and seeing what other options the game has when you aren't taking it too seriously. did you know you can ditch Dr Chakwas and replace her with young french Dr Michel? I didn't.
Ocarina of Time - I recently finished this on 3DS. I probably already posted about it. It was good but kind of empty.
Want
After ME3 I'm going to sit down with another long game. I'm enjoying playing all these things I've been putting off for literal years. I might restart Persona 4, Trails in the Sky or Tears of the Kingdom. I stalled out about ten hours into each one.
Play
Resident Evil: Requiem - I may have beat this, but I want to go back and do it better/faster and the more I hear about it, the more I'm tempted to double dip and buy it on the Switch 2, which I hear out performs the PC version on a Steam Deck, given how great this game looks I'm impressed if true. The fact that I'm considering that I hope shows how much I enjoyed the game, especially considering the price. 
Also I don't think I pointed this out but Grace's VA absolutely smashes it, she's one the most common points of praise I've seen so far in stream chats and twitter, and deservedly so. It's really nice to see how this game isn't as divisive as Village was and to a lesser extent, 7, not just because this game deserves it but it's just nice to see Resident Evil back on top again you know?
Resident Evil: Outbreak - I have finally stopped making excuses and tried this out, and I've actually beat the first scenario! It wasn't even THAT hard…after a few retries of routing and what not. It was kinda frustrating having AI teamates operating at a fraction of their usefulness that another player would provide, but even then I managed, I gave Cindy a lighter to free up some space and when the time came to use it I managed to ask her to give it back to me. What an experience though, the atmosphere was unique because of the other survivors there, but the difficulty really kept on the pressure in a way the PS1 games could not.
Also obviously I played as Alyssa, her being in Requiem is the main reason I've finally tried this game out, and her unique skill is Jill Valentine style unlocking mastery, so she's pretty good!
Monster Hunter Wilds - Only a few hours of co-op hunts with friends every night or so, but it's felt like a peak MH experience every time. Roll on the expansion
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - this is a very odd game, isn't it? I mean in many ways it is quite brilliant, and it's absolutely stuffed full of content, and all of it's really good, and the characters are superb, and the combat system is much improved. But it has - thirty hours in - absolutely zero narrative drive. I was following Sephiroth at the start of the game, and I'm still following him now, and I'm none the wiser as to why I'm doing that or why the focus of the game shifted from battling Shinra to taking this dude down. Maybe I've missed something, but as I'm meandering around the world at my own pace playing card games and chasing Moogles, it's hard to see where the threat really lies.
That lack of peril was a big issue I had with it, too. I don't remember it ever really getting better, and even by the end of the game, I don't really know what Sephiroth's Big Plan actually is…
Play
Gods help me, still World of Warcraft. I made the mistake of trying out Retail, and had what I can only describe as an "old man yells at cloud" moment - everything's different and I don't like it. Perhaps the mistake was trying to play a class I had only just gotten the hang of in MoP Classic, but I started a fresh toon with a class I hadn't played before, and seem to be getting along a bit better. Not sure on the new flying yet, though - you have to pay attention, which seems to defeat the point of solo WoW a little bit.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Had this on PS+ for aaaaages, and finally tried it out. It's pretty fun, though it partly makes me wish I was just playing Helldivers II again?
Want
To play Helldivers II again.
Play
With DQ7R finished, I've kicked off a run at Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, though I don't expect I'm going to make it all the way through (see Want). There's a lot more going on in the plot than I remembered! I appreciate the Hidden Fortress/Star Wars approach to the "main" character more than I did originally, but everyone seems very eager to take alleged traitors at their word. There are a few concessions to the JRPG structure in that way, which are a bit jarring.
Want
Pokopia can't unlock soon enough. I'm trying to avoid details after the Treehouse preview video made multiple references to the game's "plot", but I'm very curious to see what kind of narrative structure it has. Fingers crossed it doesn't get in the way of doing things.
Bin
My inability to go to bed at a reasonable hour (he typed, at 12:30am).
I fucking love FFXII, I think it has a better story than even Tactics too.
Playing enough Maximo during work to decide to finally install Ghosts and Goblins Resurrection on my Steam Deck and holy SHIT, no joke this might be because I'm playing on the hardest difficulty (but it kinda defaults to that so we ball) it might be the hardest game in the series that I've played, it's extremely difficult and I can't even get very far on the NES game without dying…but at least I can feel it's possible.
Maximo on the other hand, is pretty hard but by far the easiest game in the series, you can take more than one hit before being reduced to just your boxers and it's just not as relentless in enemy spawns or platforming, I rather like it actually, solid 3D platformer. (You have to buy saves though, absolute mad lads)
Tinykin finally got put in a sale so I am now playing Pikmin on my Xbox.
Pokopia is very moreish.
Isn’t it just. It’s the Viva Piñata sequel we never thought we’d get.
Tinykin is finally on sale so I grabbed that the other day. I never played much of it before my Gamepass ran out and I'm excited to get back to it.
OK, so as pretty much everyone has said, Pokopia is brilliant.
It's part Animal Crossing, part Minecraft, part Viva Pinata, tasking you with transforming a series of environments and building suitable habitats to attract various Pokemon, all of whom have different requirements and needs. It's absolutely stuffed full of things to do, appears to be absolutely huge and is completely enthralling to play. The Pokemon themselves are a chatty bunch with bags of personality and even the storyline is kind of sweet. I always seem to be doing about ten things at once and yet it's low-pressure enough that if you want to take time out to build a big house or a minecart race track then you can do that as well.
Also, this might seem like a weird thing but it runs like a dream - there's loads going on but it never struggles at all, it keeps track of everything you've done across a series of huge environments and the draw distances are vast. It's weird to have a Nintendo console that doesn't feel like it's struggling a bit technically, it feels like since the Wii at least we've got used to that but Pokopia is pretty impressive as well as being loads of fun to play.
It feels like the first really great Switch 2 game (for me - don't come at me, DK fans) and a real shot in the arm for the Pokemon franchise as well.
If there's one thing I wish Pokopia did differently, it'd be to give the player some way to have more control over when they learn crafting recipes, or what they learn. There are a few types of decoration and building blocks I want to get more of, but I haven't learned how to make them yet and I don't want to rip out the ones that are already in the environment. You can find new food recipes by adding different things to the pot; I'm not sure why there isn't a similar discovery mechanism for other stuff.
Oof yeah this game is dangerous. Just made 2 hours of my afternoon vanish.
Just beat Requiem for the third time, first time was the atmospheric playthrough, the second was a 'let's do some challenges' type of playthrough where you can enjoy simply knowing what's coming this time and live in the moment, the third was a speedrun attempt, not in the internet competition sense but the in game challenge sense for the 'Challenge Points' which I managed to get by beating the game in just under 3 and half hours. (No healing or blood collecting either)
I was thinking when I beat this game and said 'let's see how this fares as a replayable game, will I enjoy it more or less?' and I can confirm that I'm enjoying it so much more with each playthrough, that I kind of think it's now a 9/10 game and not an 8. I started a 4th playthrough almost immediately, with the rewards I got from the last run I now have infinite ammo and that means Infinite Ammo. 
Going to squeeze a few more runs out of this I think, get the Platinum and finally move on, they've already announced DLC and I'm here for it, easily GOTY so far until maybe Trails 2nd. It deserves all the hype and excitement it's been getting
Play - Slay the Spire 2
I never really got on with the first Slay. I think it's glacially slow to get going each round, and a lot of the builds and cards are just really dull. Like Balatro, I don't mind it, but it was always absolutely overshadowed by Monster Train, which does everything it does, a lot better. But I was really struggling to get back into the Monster Train 2 DLC (I think I just ran out of steam and had reached Monster saturation point - I have hundreds of hours on it now) so I thought I'd give Slay 2 a go.
And, well. It's fine? It's very like the first one - a little more dense and with some welcome added complexity, but it's still a little stilted, stiff and nowhere near as satisfying as MT2 to play. I do like it more than Slay 1, and it suits handheld play so I think I'll give it a fair shot. But really, I still don't think it's in the same quality class as Monster Train 2 (or 1 for that matter).
