Some week, huh? Yeah. How about some video video games? That’ll take our minds off issues…nicely, maybe not entirely. Our minds should still be trapped on this trendy hellscape of our instances, however video games will hopefully give us hours of enjoyable. And if you happen to occur to search out your self with a comfortable 48 hours of day without work forward of you however aren’t certain what to play, that’s the place we are available in with our suggestions.
Learn Extra: All the things We Noticed At The September 2025 Nintendo Direct
With out additional ado, let’s dive into what we’re trying ahead to conserving ourselves busy with within the days forward.
Borderlands 4
Play it on: PS5, Xbox Sequence X/S, Home windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Unknown”)
Present purpose: Loot extra weapons and kill extra shit
I like all of the Borderlands video games. Sure, even 3, the one individuals hate for some cause. To me, the combination of gunplay, co-op, bizarre sci-fi, and infinite killin’/lootin’ is an ideal combination that rips away days and even weeks of my life in a flash. And Borderlands 4 is possibly my favourite one but. (I’ve not written my full overview but, so we’ll see the place I land in a number of days.)
The gunplay and fight are higher than ever, the loot is extra balanced, the story is much less annoying, and the open world is extra rewarding to discover. It’s the following step ahead for the franchise, and I’m fearful of what number of hours I’m going to lose to it. Particularly as my associates get the sport and I begin operating completely different characters and builds. – Zack Zwiezen
Hole Knight: Silksong
Play it on: PS5, Xbox Sequence X/S, Change/Change 2, Home windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Present purpose: Die loads whereas loving each second of the ache
I’ve spent an embarrassing period of time on Hole Knight: Silksong. Hopefully, goddess prepared, I get to spend much more time with it this weekend.
I by no means performed Hole Knight, however with the sequel, I simply bought swept up within the collective pleasure and let myself enthusiastically buy a online game–and what a pleasure it’s been! This recreation is simply lovely, particularly on a high quality display just like the Steam Deck OLED’s. The sound design? Ugh, to die for. And the problem? Properly, yeah, that’s superior too.
As a health coach stated to me as soon as as I used to be gasping for air from some ridiculous bullshit he was making me do, “straightforward issues aren’t price doing.” It was critical and humorous on the similar time, however the sentiment helped get me via the exercise and plenty of extra since. There’s one thing helpful in that sort of expertise. Let me elaborate.
Siliksong has been successful in my native IRL circles. So many people I do know are enjoying it on their handheld gadgets and the issue, the problem, the hassle it takes to make progress in it have turned this recreation about unusual little bugs right into a gravity nicely of dialogue. We empathize with the frustration somebody feels when a boss smacks ‘em down for the seventh time in a row. Listening to that somebody cleared a very exhausting factor sees of us supply real exclamations of “congrats!” Upon departing, we regularly want one another “good luck,” referring to the powerful challenges that lie forward.
Are some challenges pointless? Perhaps. Might there be tweaks which may make the sport a contact fairer? Perhaps. However at what value? The runbacks you typically must undertake upon dying appear to be part of the loop essential to get you to gather your shards and restock on any beads you could have misplaced, plus that’s when you need to be working towards your assaults! Boss fights aren’t when you need to be nonetheless determining the physics of the diagonal downward strike.
Challenges may be thrilling to consider and speak about with associates. A tough recreation calls for consideration, a set of abilities so that you can construct into muscle reminiscence after which use to satisfyingly pull off memorable feats. And when these components are in a recreation as fairly as they’re in Silksong? These feats are all of the extra price attaining. – Claire Jackson
Shadow Labyrinth
Play it on: PS5, Xbox Sequence X/S, Change/Change 2,Home windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Present purpose: Defeat the G-Hosts as soon as and for all
This can in all probability be the final time I point out Bandai Namco’s unusual and fantastic Pac-Man-adjacent Metroidvania right here as a result of I believe I have to be close to its conclusion and I’m hoping to lastly roll credit on it this weekend. This recreation, which I bought pondering it may be a pleasantly nostalgic off-kilter diversion that took me 15 hours or so, has confirmed to be probably the most fascinating recreation I’ve performed all 12 months, uncompromisingly dedicated to its imaginative and prescient and way more expansive than I anticipated. It’s decidedly “not for everybody” (what recreation is?) however if you happen to’re open to being thrown right into a world that makes itself intentionally exhausting to grasp for a lot of hours and you’ve got any curiosity within the lore and historical past of early arcade video games, think about getting misplaced on this maze for some time. – Carolyn Petit
Sword of the Sea
Play it on: PS5, PC
Present purpose: Get the Platinum trophy
Sword of the Sea is that this 12 months’s Journey and I’m stunned extra individuals aren’t speaking about it. Developed by the thatgamecompany alum who cofounded Big Squid (the indie group behind 2020’s PS5 launch recreation The Pathless), Sword of the Sea is one other lovely platforming journey that’s extra about cool traversal than attention-grabbing friction. You surf throughout snow, sand, and water like a weightless practice gliding alongside magnetic rails as you gather seeds to convey life again to the ghostly environments.
It’s very brief–solely two or three hours until you’re going for a completionist run–and never too demanding. It’s a quick however lovely journey that’s content material to let you have got enjoyable performing easy however satisfying methods in your hoverboard as you shred throughout dunes and waves. The music and visuals are glorious, the texture of the gameplay is top-notch, and it’s free with PS Plus. I’m undecided if it would make my prime 10 checklist however the expertise packs a lot evocative power into such a brief runtime there’s no excuse to not give it a attempt. – Ethan Gach
2XKO
Play it on: PC
Present purpose: Determine what the hell I’m doing
I’m not a League of Legends particular person. I by no means even completed watching Arcane regardless of it being very a lot my shit. However an invitation to the 2XKO beta take a look at simply landed in my lap, and I like combating video games, so right here I’m. I solely know, like, two of the characters within the roster, so I’ve zero notion of how any of those characters will work in a combating recreation context. Thus, my purpose is to only fiddle with these fighters with some associates and work out if there’s a personality or two I actually gravitate towards. In most combating video games, it’s not normally a selected predetermined playstyle that pulls me in, however reasonably I simply discover characters I like and adapt to enjoying them. It’s why I play a brawler like Akihiko in Persona 4 Area Ultimax however a range-based character like Inexperienced Arrow in Injustice 2. So who is aware of who I’ll find yourself maining in 2XKO? — Kenneth Shepard
And that wraps our picks for the weekend! What video games are conserving you busy?
