Whatcha been playing this week, Destructoid?

Ground control to Major Tom…

Goooooood morning, friends, and welcome to Whatcha Been Playing? I hope that you have had a marvelous week, and that the weekend ahead brings you much joy and/or rest (delete as applicable) as you require… I might bail on my quota of Joy and take Double Rest, to be honest, such is the crazy busy month I’ve had so far. Unless its Joi from Blade Runner 2049. I’ll take Double Joi for sure. Please.

Anywhoo, thanks for stopping in for our small weekly winding. I really appreciate that y’all still making the effort to show out and keep the scene alive, week after week. It’s important to the site, and it’s very important to me. But most of all, it’s important for you, the community. We’ve been here over 200 times, and I never stop feeling the love and comradeship between you all, come hell, high water, of Disqus issues.

Hope that this is a fine weekend. Do everything I wouldn’t do <3

Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong…

Work continues to snowball as Destructoid deconstructs, reconstructs, and reengages itself — It’s a long, analytical process, with numbers to be studied, mistakes to be made, and ideas to be tweaked. It’s going to be a bumpy ride to find the sweet spot — I haven’t had much of an opportunity to play a lot of games. But I have hopped in Helios and returned to the Live, Die, Repeat world of Housemarque’s Returnal.

It’s most certainly one of those games where you spend a little time away, and forget quite how smooth and beautiful the action is. As a roguelike, it’s hardly Hades, but it’s visually spectacular, with compelling and challenging combat, and a beautiful but frightening series of worlds. It’s so relieving that Housemarque, forced to abandon the shmup genre it has mastered so well, found a way to reconfigure their talents into the third-person adventure market, rather than churn out some battle royale tat.

There’s no Noomi Rapace *siiiiiigh* but it’s the closest to a Prometheus game I’ve got.

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

So, before I get back to the trigger-pumping action of my own space odyssey, I want to wish all y’all a very happy and enjoyable weekend. Please take the time to spacewalk into the comments and let us all know Whatcha Been Playing. We’re halfway through November, and that means time is running out for you GOTY crammers. Whether you’re catching up on 2022 thus far, or simply playing whatever the hell you want — your experiences are all valid and welcome here. Thank you for joining us in the discourse, despite some awkward hurdles. It means the world to me that you are still a part of our cosmos.

Have a wonderful weekend, from all of us at Destructoid.