Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 8-9)

Welcome to the weekend! We imagine many people will be diving into Mass Effect Legendary Edition with Game Pass Ultimate and EA Play over the next couple of days, but we've also been treated to many other Game Pass additions this week, and don't forget about the massive Xbox "Last Chance" sale if you're eager to bag a great bargain.

Here's what we're diving into this weekend:

Fraser Gilbert, News Editor

In an attempt to try and reduce the overwhelming nature of my Xbox backlog, I recently created a group of just 5-6 games that I'm hoping to tackle over the coming weeks. The first of these is Hades, which I'm making great progress on right now, and I'm really having an incredible time with it — all thanks to Xbox Game Pass, of course.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition has also been added to that list, although I think I'll be slowly chipping away at that one for a while. Another recent Game Pass addition I'm hoping to check out is Embr, which looks like a great multiplayer firefighting game. Oh, and I may also have the odd game of my long-running NHL 20 Franchise Mode!

Have a good weekend, everyone.

PJ O'Reilly, Reviewer

It's all about Scarlet Nexus for me this weekend. I picked this one up on Game Pass last week and am absolutely addicted to what Bandai Namco have got going on. Its JRPG elements aren't in any way surprising, just really well done with an absorbing narrative, but it's the combat that's floored me and completely hooked me in. The action here feels more akin to a full blown PlatinumGames joint than it does anything else I've played in this genre and it melds with the story aspects really, really well. So yeah, I don't think I'll have time for anything else over the next few days, I'm gonna be very busy slaughtering Others!

Have a great weekend!

Liam Doolan, News Reporter

After a short break, this weekend I'll be returning to Halo Infinite. I did manage to finish off the Winter Contingency event in the end, so I guess now I'll focus on the Fracture: Tenrai Event while it's still around. Apart from this, I've been thinking a lot about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim lately (as you do), so I'm eager to hop back into the Anniversary Edition. Last but not least, I'll be revisiting Tales of Arise - a game I didn't spend enough time with last year, so hopefully I can rectify that in 2022.

Game on, everyone!

What Xbox games are you playing this weekend? Let us know down in the comments below.