Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: Five Epic And Exciting Games We’re Getting Lost In

Image: Epic / Obsidian / Bandai Namco

Metaphor: ReFantazio and Dragon Ball Z: Sparking Zero are out this week, so many of you are probably set for video games to play this weekend (and beyond). But if you’re not a fan of social sim RPGs or Dragon Ball, you might be lacking a piping hot new release to play with your precious downtime. Not to worry, we’ve got an assortment of games, new and old, that we can’t wait to get back to this weekend, and there’s sure to be something here to thrill and entertain you as well.

Play it on: PC
Current goal: Be gay, get out of this town

I know very little about Beloved Rapture. But a friend of mine slid into my DMs and told me Rapturous Studio’s SNES-inspired RPG was gay as hell, had “heartbreak and angst between boys in like the first hour,” and was full of “leaving your hometown vibes.” Friends, that is Kenneth Shepard-coded as fuck. I slapped the money down right then and there. I just wrapped up Metaphor: ReFantazio so I don’t really need to play another turn-based RPG right now. I am, however, always in need of more gay shit, so here’s hoping Beloved Rapture delivers. I don’t have much else to say about the game yet because I only know that it’s not an exhaustively long RPG, it’s all about sad boy shit, and there might be kissing. I really don’t ask for much else in my video games. — Kenneth Shepard

Play it on: PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox
Current goal: Make my stronghold a little nicer

If I’m honest, most of my gaming time this weekend will probably go, once again, toward the incredible UFO 50. (I now have my first two cherry carts!) However, it’s probably time I start mentioning other games on occasion here in the Weekend Guide, so instead I’ll talk about something else I’ve been playing lately, Pillars of Eternity, the 2015 fantasy CRPG from Obsidian Entertainment which follows in the footsteps of genre-defining classics like Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. It’s absolutely epic in scope, immediately thrusting you into a world with its own rich, captivating history and lore—a world we’ll soon get to revisit in Avowed—but it’s also intimate and personal, with exceptionally well-written characters navigating life in a world filled with conflict and strife.

Early on, your character is awakened to their skills as a Watcher, someone who can see and interact with the souls of others. This not only allows for some great fantasy RPG plot hooks, but also brings the history of the game’s world to life in a way it otherwise wouldn’t be. You might, for instance, encounter someone who, in a past life, was part of the marauding hordes driving others out of their homes, and see how their soul was marred by the trauma of participating in something so monstrous, or you might be pulled into the experience of someone who was persecuted by those hordes. William Faulkner famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” It’s true of our world, I think, and in Pillars of Eternity’s Eora, you really feel the way that the past lingers, shaping and haunting the present.

Of course, all the great pleasures of CRPGs are here—gorgeous lands to explore, engaging tactical combat, epic quests—and all of that is crucial to what makes Pillars of Eternity so exceptional. But for now, I’m particularly smitten by the writing, so smart and so rich, and characterized by a tremendous respect for the player, trusting us to come to grips with the world and its history upon being thrown in head-first, and trusting us to appreciate its profound thematic depth without needing to spell things out for us or lampshade what it’s doing. It’s so great to encounter genuinely mature writing in a game, especially when it’s married to gameplay as rich and captivating as what’s on offer here. — Carolyn Petit

Play it on: An Android tablet
Current goal: Actually play it

I’ve half a feeling I might have listed this as my weekend game a month or two back, but as I’ve previously established, these entries are all somewhere on the border between wishful thinking and outright lying. The reality is I’ll play Fortnite with the boy and Balatro at night when he’s asleep. But I have actually started playing KOTOR2 on Android this week, and am impressed with how not-actually-unplayable it is with a touchscreen.

It’s not great. I think it might have been designed for that one guy in Total Recall with the third arm in his chest, given how I need to tap the middle of the screen as well as hold either side. (Or maybe that lady with the three boobs, now that I think about it.) But Obsidian’s writing and the mostly solid voice acting is a joy to revisit, encouraging me to push through its slightly wonky controls. Perhaps I’ll finally get my Xbox controller hooked up to my Pixel Tablet, as ridiculous as that will feel when I could just be playing this on Xbox. — John Walker

Play it on: Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, Phones, PC
Current goal: Enjoy the new spooky event

I’ve been busy playing other games, like Silent Hill 2, for my job here at Kotaku. So this weekend, with a bit of free time, I’m going to check out the new Fortnitemares event in Fortnite. Halloween is my favorite holiday, October is my favorite month, and I love spooky events in video games. So yeah, I’m excited to hop in and see all the new skins and check out the changes made to the game’s battle royale map. I’m also pumped to add Leatherface and Billy the Puppet from Saw to my Fortnite skin collection alongside Michael Myers and Alien’s Xenomorph. Though, after being away from the game for a few weeks, I’m nervous that I’m going to get rocked when I return. But hey, at least I’ll die as a creepy horror movie icon. — Zack Zwiezen

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Current goal: Complete the Buu Saga

It’s probably been close to 15 years since the last time I played Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 with my brother on Wii. We unlocked everything, played a ton, and did not mind at all wiggling the Wiimotes like idiots to trigger special moves. We’d play for hours at a time, crafting ridiculous matchups all the while, and he more than once wiped my whole team with just Arale. I still can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that all this time later, there’s now essentially a Budokai Tenkaichi 4 that is not just a celebration of the anime its based on but, so far at least, a surprisingly robust and absolutely gorgeous arena fighter (at least when the camera isn’t swirling around underneath the map as things descend into pure chaos).

I’m having such a blast with Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero at the moment that I don’t want to put it down, even though I know Metaphor: Refantazio and Dragon Age: The Veilguard are absolutely going to destroy my schedule this month. This weekend, at least, I’m stepping into the hyperbolic time chamber and figuring out how to master Sparking Zero without the help of motion controls. And right after that, I’m settling down to watch Dragon Ball Daima because I’m still obsessed with what is unquestionably my generation’s Star Wars. — Ethan Gach