Xenoblade Chronicles X
Image: Nintendo

We're here, everyone. The last weekend before Nintendo's big Switch 2 Direct. Give yourselves a pat on the back - we made it.

As for this week..? Well, it was super quiet, nothing happened, man. Heh, only kidding, we had another Nintendo Direct. It was quite the surprise, but it was certainly packed with interesting announcements, including the intriguing new Virtual Game Card initiative.

Elsewhere, Nintendo has launched Nintendo Today, a brand-new mobile app designed to provide daily news and content. You can download it right now on Android and iPhone, so get to it.

We also reviewed just one game this week; yeah, not many, we know, but it a pretty good one. Breakout Beyond earned a solid 8/10 from us and comes highly recommended if you're a fan of Atari's arcade classic.

Ollie Reynolds, Staff Writer

I'm still working my way through Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, though my progress has admittedly slowed to a crawl. There's just so much I want to play at the moment, and given just how monumentally large Xenoblade X is, I'm not sure I'm in the right state of mind to devote so much time to it.

Elsewhere, I'm playing through I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream from Nightdive. It's pretty delightful so far, and I reckon you'll be seeing a little review of it pretty soon.

Kate Gray, Contributor

This weekend, I'll be playing everybody's favourite game: assembling three separate IKEA cabinets!!!! And Monster Hunter Wilds. I'm not sure which one is more fiddly.

I also just started Atomfall, which came out this week and is on Game Pass, and you know what? It's actually really, really good. Reminiscent of Skyrims and Fallouts of old, that absolutely solid B-game vibe where the jank is utterly charming (I had a bug where throwing a Molotov cocktail crashed the game three times in a row and it was hilarious). The range of British and Irish accents on display is impressive, too, and I've never seen so many lovingly detailed dry stone walls in a game! Also, drinking tea and eating Cornish Pasties restores your health! Big recommend so far for me.

Gonçalo Lopes, Contributor

With over 90% of Primordia and 50% of Noctilum secured and properly data probed with extremely efficient and profitable Miranium mining quotas, this weekend will be spend mostly amassing said minerals and vast sums of cash that will one day service my personal squad of doll/skells (which for now are but a distant dream). I will do some odd missions as I stumble upon then in New L.A. and might actually set Chapter 5 in motion and begin charting Oblivia… is that an Arraken sandworm!? IP copyright lawyers from Monolith Soft say “No!”, but we know better... *wink, wink*.

If you managed to make any sense of any of that above, game of the week is (and most certainly will continue to be) Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. I didn’t even get to the new content stuff yet and I’m already dreaming up all sort of class efficient squad combinations.

Jim Norman, Staff Writer

I didn’t pick up Xenoblade Chronicles X last week, but hearing my pals chat about how wonderful it is for the past seven days has really got me itching to dive in. Maybe I’ll finally break and pick up a copy if I find the time.

Annoyingly, Star Wars Outlaws, another huge open-world game all about exploring and taking your time, has finally sunk its claws into me. I doubt I’ll be able to play both ‘properly’, but I’d like to spend a liiitle more time in a galaxy far, far away before I head to Mira.

Oliver Revolta, Contributor

I thought I was too old for the first Mario + Rabbids game, but loved it. Years later I’m now playing through Sparks of Hope with a more intense version of the same hesitation (of course, because I’m even older). I’m hesitant about the changes – the sequel seems to have lost some of the magic of the original and it was way too easy for the first 10 or so hours, but the more I get through it, the more it’s growing on me. Some of the music is also kind of wonderful. Nearing the end now, I’m starting to really enjoy it.

Roland Ingram, Contributor

This weekend I’m mixing dystopian future and idyllic past as I play Death Stranding on Xbox and Atari 50 on Switch. In the evenings, I’ll be straight-facedly lugging improbably large backpacks of supplies across beautiful crags; in the daytime, educating the kids and prying them from their Kirby addiction. I expected Atari 50 to be full of “back in my day…” moments, but we haven’t even reached “my day” yet – they’re obsessed with Pong. If you ever doubted Nintendo’s philosophy that power isn’t everything, just watch children fall in love with two lines and a dot.

Gavin Lane, Editor

I'm about 8 hours into XCX and it's just starting to click. I've got to say that the intro chapters and the general way the game lays out its myriad systems are terrible - if it weren't for years of wanting to play it and now having paid full price for the game twice, I may well have chucked in the towel by now. I was getting 'Perfect' timed button presses for several hours before I understood what they actually did, the whole combat system and zoning and Arts icons and cooldown meters — which I'm sure are second nature to Xenoblade vets — made for a miserable time early on.

BUT! It's starting to fall into place, the characters are working their charms, and the rhythm of the world makes more sense now. I didn't think there could be a better game with a worse opening than Pikmin 4, but I've got my fingers crossed for this one.

That's what we have planned for the weekend, but what about you? Let us know in the following poll which games you're planning on booting up over the next couple of days.

What are you playing this weekend (29th/20th March)?

(You may select up to 5 answers)