Kotaku Weekend Guide: 5+ Great Games We Can’t Wait To Dive Into

Image: Stormind Games / Blizzard Entertainment / Popcannibal / Kotaku

How’s your weekend going, Kotaku reader? You enjoying the colder weather? You got your Halloween costume picked out? There’s still time, don’t stress. But if you’re figured that out, you might have some time to kill. It’s that time again, folks, here are some games we’re playing this weekend that you might want to try out.

Play it on: PC
Current goal: Make connections

Kind Words 2 is something I’ve been checking in on between all the big games coming out this month. Thankfully, it only really requires a brief check-in to get the most out of it. Kind Words 2, like its predecessor, is about connecting positively with other people. You write letters and then send them to the void—but sometimes when you shout into the void, it shouts back. That comes in the form of responses from other players who all try to encourage each other through the hard times. I’ve seen letters from people who are dealing with breakups, job insecurity, and general hopelessness about the state of the world.

Even if words aren’t enough to fix these problems, they can at least make them lighter to carry. Given how fraught the internet is right now, I’m surprised at how positive Kind Words 2 has been so far. Perhaps it’s just that good people are the ones who need something like it, and even the shittiest person probably won’t pay $20 just to troll people looking for connection. It’s a nice thing to check in on over the weekend. Maybe I’ll send a letter or two this weekend. — Kenneth Shepard

Play it on: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One
Current goal: Help Neyrelle

I’ve played more Diablo IV than I care to admit, but if I’m honest, endgame grinds and the pursuit of endless power don’t interest me as much as narrative pursuits like saving the world from demonic threats or helping a friend in desperate need. So, after a while, I lost interest in Diablo IV’s seasons, which mostly are about those endgame elements that see you repeating the same activities over and over (and over) again for resources so you can make your weapons and armor even more effective so you can do even tougher activities over and over again for resources so you can…well, you see where this is going.

Thankfully Vessel of Hatred, Diablo IV’s first expansion, gives me a reason to care about the world of Diablo IV again, as my hero pursues her endangered friend Neyrelle into the new realm of Nahantu. I’ve only just started the expansion’s campaign but I’m really loving the atmosphere of its new jungle region, and I’m intrigued by the possibilities of its story as Neyrelle tries to shoulder the burden of Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred, all by her lonesome. Also, I’ve convinced a few friends to take up arms with me in the game’s original campaign, so I’ll be playing through that again but, this time, with others by my side, which should make for a much more enjoyable monster-killing, loot-collecting experience. — Carolyn Peti

I don’t know a goddamn thing about MechWarrior, but I dropped into Clans, which is an entirely new game and not DLC, an expansion, or a minor spin-off like it sounds, and immediately started having a good time. The giant robot feels good to move around in, the world looks decent and crisp, and a lot (at least early on) of cinematic cutscenes do plenty to build up the futuristic world of ruthless, genetically engineered, fascist military invaders for even a newcomer to grasp and appreciate both the broad strokes and unique wrinkles of the long-running lore.

The control scheme and UI finds a nice balance between slick and appropriately cumbersome for a 50 ton bipedal tank. In-between missions there’s plenty of upgrades to research and loadouts to tweak and customize. Mostly I’ve been surprised by how much the story doesn’t just feel like an afterthought stitching together all of the different mission objectives. Aside from some really weird looking character faces the voice acting, presentation, and writing have all immediately pulled me into MechWarrior 5: Clans’ beautiful but grim and cruel mythology. I can’t wait to continue getting MechWarrior-pilled. — Ethan Gach

I could try to conjure up some desperate hope of what I’ll play this weekend, but the reality is it’ll be the same as last weekend: Fortnite with the boy, Balatro at night. I wish I could be better for you, but no, that’s the truth. I’m exhausted, it’s been an awful week, and I’m just going to move cards around while listening to a podcast, and it’s going to make me happy. Or maybe just briefly content. Or at least not actively cross. — John Walker

Play it on: PC
Current goal: Wishlist some rad games

Steam Next Fest, a frequent event highlighting upcoming games on Valve’s PC storefront, runs through this weekend, so in addition to playing heaps of the aforementioned Diablo IV in the coming days, I also intend to take advantage of this opportunity to try out as many exciting unreleased games as possible. The reality is that I’ve already snagged more demos than I’m realistically going to try, but hey, they’re free, so I may as well toss them in my library for the moment. One I’ll definitely be trying out is Cyclopean (see the trailer above), which just looks so damn mysterious and intriguing, with its mix of Ultima-style top-down navigation and first-person dungeon-crawling, all in that gorgeous monochrome art style. In addition to that, some of the many other promising games I hope to spend at least a bit of time with include the road trip RPG Keep Driving (which Zack recently wrote about for us), the old-school survival horror game Becrowned, the cyberpunk adventure Neon Blood, and the “somber souls-like action RPG” Chrono Sword, just to name a few. — CP

Play it on: Xbox
Current goal: Check this thing out, quietly

That previously announced Quiet Place horror game from Saber Interactive launched this week and I don’t really see anyone talking about it. Perhaps that’s because they are all pretending to be immersed in the universe of the films and are being quiet so as not to attract some angry alien monster. Or maybe it’s because this game has flown under the radar for many and digital codes for the game didn’t arrive at outlets until release. (It’s that second one.)

Either way, I’m curious to poke at this new Quiet Place game because the idea of a survival horror game built around being quiet and not making loud noises sounds intriguing. And the mode that lets the in-game aliens hear your screams or coughs via your console or PC’s microphone sounds gimmicky but possibly fun. Imagine creeping around, trying to avoid a deadly monster, and then farting in real life and getting killed. Pretty funny. — Zack Zwiezen