Eyes on the Week (4th-8th December)

It’s time to look back on the week we’ve just had! What did the weekdays look like for our writers? What was the biggest news from the week? and what are we looking forward to playing during the upcoming weekend? Our Eyes on the Week article will answer all three of these questions!

We’re curious about your opinion and played games, so be sure to share your stuff on our social media channels!

Victoria

This week, I’ve stuck to what I know and also started something new. Yep, I’ve stuck with the tried and tested Dead by Daylight as I’m still having plenty of fun going against Chucky and Alien, enjoying the gameplay once again which is always refreshing when it’s one of your all-time favourite games. Unless I see the Skull Merchant – then I’m miserable. Distortion is my go-to perk right now along with Bond, We’ll Make It, and whatever else I fancy trying out. Recently, Off The Record or Resilience.

Then we have the ‘something new’ with Gotham Knights – which can be found on Xbox Games Pass if you’re interested. Me and Lewis have finished the main game and are currently working our way through New Game+ to reach max Level 40 and improve our power level. It’s been a tonne of fun except for the rather irritating movement and crashes but BatGirl conquers all (Lewis went with Red Hood). Plus I always love seeing Dr Quinzel, Miss Harley Quinn, in anything as her character and personality are some of my favourites by far.

Finally, I have returned to Bunny Parking to complete the recent title update. I’ll work through this over the weekend as I’d like to do it casually in my own time without the use of a guide.

Most interesting news of this week: The GTA VI trailer, without a doubt! I’m beyond happy to see a female protagonist and can’t wait to see more trailers in the future. Bring on 2025! Also, as The Game Awards were last night they certainly need mentioning. For me, it was more about game announcements than the actual awards. The Outlast Trials is being released on March 5th 2024, Supermassive Games showed us a trailer of their upcoming game within the Dead by Daylight universe, The Casting of Frank Stone, and The Finals is now live and free to play! I’m quite curious about OD too by Kojima Productions.

Looking forward to playing: More Gotham Knights, Dead by Daylight Winter Event, and review games. Truck Driver: The American Dream and Wildmender are the main two on my radar currently.


Robby

I’ve not been playing a lot this week. Just some Magic the Gathering: Arena to take my mind off some work-related stress and I also started playing Gangs of Sherwood, a Belgian take on the Robin Hood lore, but in a dystopian jacket. I actually like it more than I expected to! Jim has reviewed it for LifeIsXbox; his review can be found [HERE].

Other than this, I’ve been playing a ton of indies for Indie Cup Ukraine, where I am one of the judges. Some promising titles coming out, considering their less-than-ideal circumstances (that’s a convoluted way to say that it’s freaking impressive how they can work on games in a country at war and with limited resources and plenty of other things to stress about than just making a game.) My hat off to them!!

Most interesting news of this week: Baldur’s Gate 3 taking home so many trophies at The Game Awards and dropping on Xbox Series X/S! and GTA VI dropped a trailer this week, looks amazing but we’ll have to wait until 2025 to play it.

Looking forward to playing: Going to dive into some backlog soon and play some Resident Evil 4 Remake!


Thomas

It’s been an active week for me this time around. Last weekend I think I played about 11 hours of Divinity Original Sin 2 with my friends and got us all the way out of Fort Joy, and into the swamps that lay beyond. We’re currently looking for a fellow named Gareth, but have only found a cellar of undead playing cards… I’m sure we’ll bump into him sooner rather than later.

I was also pretty active in Final Fantasy XIV, where I mainly went about levelling up my Warrior job and fishing like I’ve never fished before to get some of the rare ocean fishing achievements. So far we’ve successfully managed to snag enough sharks, jellyfish and crabs for their respective titles. We nearly caught enough squids on Thursday, but it just wasn’t meant to be. In the coming days, I think I’ll try to get my Warrior up to level 70 to use it in Eureka.

And the conductor must’ve blessed me this week since I had some good luck in Honkai Star Rail. He must’ve been in good spirits since the game won its category in The Game Awards. The Limited banners rotated on Wednesday, bringing with them Argenti and Hanya. While Argenti looks like a really solid character, I’m saving up for Ruan Mei next month, so I only pulled enough to pick up the 4-star character Hanya from his banner. Aside from that, I got a number of decent relics I can use to update Topaz with, which is also nice.

Lastly, I also managed to work my way further into the Panam questline in Cyberpunk 2077, which got the 2.1 update this week. I always try to focus on the positives, but I’m really disappointed with how they implemented their metro system. I’d hoped for the full commuting experience, not a cutscene that effectively makes it a slow fast travel.

Most interesting news of this week: Since Robby already mentioned Baldur’s Gate 3, and Aaron and Colombo the GTA VI trailer, I’ll chime in with Monster Hunter Wilds that’s planned for 2025. I’m already looking forward to seeing the gameplay of it next summer.

Looking forward to playing: More Divinity Original Sin 2, Cyberpunk 2077 and maybe some more Persona 5 Tactica.


Aaron

I’ve been in Poland exploring Europe’s largest Christmas market for the last two weeks & have very much enjoyed my time. Because of this, I haven’t really done much gaming except for on my phone using the new Backbone 2.0 controller with my iPhone 15 pro.

First up, Resident Evil Village is a really impressive game for iPhone despite hardware limitations. Metal FX by Apple allows for games to natively run on the new pro model phones between 720p & 900p. Whilst it isn’t going to replace my Steam deck or PC anytime soon, the fact that it’s something that can fit in my pocket & give me satisfactory gaming time is a hell of a thing to ignore.

I also played some Max Payne on mobile too which has been a fair few years since getting into it again. I remember picking this up for my PS2 back on launch day & having a blast with the bullet time mechanic & being immersed in the story.

Two new games were also released on Apple Arcade this week which I also checked out. Samurai Jack & Sonic Dream Team. Both are graphically impressive games that combine very good source material with action, cutscenes & good mechanics that make each super fun to play. I’ll be playing more of these even though I’m home now.

Most interesting news of this week: I guess the GTA 6 trailer right?

Looking forward to playing: Sonic Dream Team.


Colombo

I’ve played a few more hours of My Time at Sandrock, its review should finally come in the next few days 😅 I did also play a tiny bit of Lies of P again, but I haven’t progressed much this time.
I finally managed to play A Plague Tale: Requiem and finished it on Monday.

Most interesting news of this week: The GTA VI trailer and The Game Awards announcements, Blade, OD and even Baldur’s Gate 3 releasing on Xbox.

Looking forward to playing: More My Time at Sandrock and Lies of P.