A few of the things that have us hooked this week.

Image credit: Konami

17th January

Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little about the games we’ve been playing. This week, Bertie thinks about boxes of chocolate; Victoria eats mini-eggs; Connor skives off work; Marie calls for Walker but Bill keeps on answering; and Matt feels all warm and fuzzy inside.

And if you’re looking for something else to read, or a reminder of what you once wrote, there’s a whole What We’ve Been Playing archive to delve into.

Hades 2, Switch 2

Can I say Hades 2 is like a box of chocolates? I don’t mean it in the Forest Gump way, in that you’re never sure which chocolate you’re going to get, because that’s stupid - chocolate boxes have a big picture insert that tells you exactly what you’re going to get. Don’t go for the strawberry cream. What I mean is a chocolate box that’s full of hidden delights, things you don’t expect, because there’s so much in Hades 2 that’s held back or hidden away.

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The cyclical nature of a roguelike, whereby you get one attempt to see how far you can get and then try again, means you tend to see a lot of the game upfront, and this can lead to a feeling of ‘I’ve seen most of it now’. But in Hades 2 you haven’t, because the real magic comes later on. It’s on your umpteenth time cycling around that you’re delivered a significant dose of story development, or when you unlock a jacuzzi-like hot spring to bathe in, with your mentor. It’s in the layers of this game - this pass the parcel sort of game - that the treats and genius lie.

It’s when I’m served these kinds of things that I can only sit back and admire what I’m experiencing here, a game dense and layered that even on my 20th attempt at unwrapping it, I’m still having gawp-worthy treats fall out. It’s like thinking a box of chocolates is done and then lifting a deceptively dark separator to discover there’s another layer underneath. I haven’t experienced a game that’s gelled a repetitive roguelike structure and storytelling this well before. It’s not just that the two things are complimentary, it’s that they’re fundamentally, inseparably, intertwined.

-Bertie

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, PS5

Picture the scene. I am Snake. I am one with the jungle. I am hungry. I set down my controller and reach over to pop some mini-eggs into my mouth and cries suddenly start emitting from my TV. "Snake? Snake!!" Shit, I didn’t realise Snake could sink into the mud and drown. Sorry, Snake!

-Victoria

Old School RuneScape, PC

I’m growing more convinced by the day that Old School RuneScape is one of the best MMORPGs of all time. Which is strange because I somehow didn’t realise this when I first played it at school when teachers weren’t looking.

I will likely be writing about the game in these weekly articles for some time so I’ll leave you with the first of several anecdotes that may get me in a little bit of trouble. Did you know Old School RuneScape is a great game to play during work? It is packed with dozens of little gameplay hubs that can be played practically AFK. For the white collar worker this means doing your job, then every minute or so tabbing into RuneScape to click something once or twice, then tabbing back over to work.

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While writing this very paragraph I am on the Fishing Trawler, a patchwork boat which players board to catch fish together and fend off a nasty kraken trying to take the ship down. To pass the minimum requirement for rewards in this five-minute minigame, all you have to do is click a tentacle twice. That’s it. All you do then is park yourself in a spot away from the action and wait out the timer.

It’s brilliant really, especially for those of us who have found ourselves becoming adults against our best efforts. Just keep it on the sly, yeah?

-Connor

Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update, Switch 2

I paid for the Switch 2 update pack and is it too harsh to say I prefer the free 3.0 update content? I’ve spent far more time with the free content than I have with the stuff I paid for. The Switch 2 upgrade is yet to draw my attention. The only thing that has is the very temperamental Megaphone Tool you can use to locate your Villagers; I called for Walker and Bill kept answering...

I’m having a much better time renovating the rooms of the free Resort Hotel at the end of the pier. Granted, it does feel like a repeat of the Happy Home Paradise DLC, but if you don’t have that then the freedom to decorate rooms this way should be a welcome addition. Rearranging furniture and creating new spaces: I just can’t stop.

-Marie

Super Mario Odyssey

Exactly why I suddenly felt compelled to play an eight-year-old game over Christmas, which I’ve only passingly fond memories of and that I’d largely already rinsed, I could not say, but there I was on Boxing Day starting a brand-new Super Mario Odyssey save. And when I say it hooked me, I mean it. Virtually all my holiday game time (not including the many, many hours I lost mopping up a bunch of expeditions in No Man’s Sky) was spent on a furious moon hunt. And honestly, what a treat – I’d genuinely forgotten what an absolute delight Odyssey is; just a joyful riot of imagination and creativity that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside - just like those distant Nintendo Christmases of my youth. A couple of hundred stars in and the infuriating gauntlet of Darker Side of the Moon now finally unlocked, I think my enthusiasm is probably all tapped out, but it was a hell of a fun time

while it lasted.

-Matt