WRUP: Thunder and love and a little horror are in store for Team Blizzard Watch this weekend

After a shorter week here for most of us, it’s time again for the weekend! That means it’s also time for WRUP — What aRe yoU Playing? — wherein we all talk about ourselves and the things we’re doing. Let’s dive right in, shall we? Yours truly kicks us off.

Mitch “Mitch” Mitchell

• The Quarry
• Arclight Rumble
• Mass Effect 3
• Overwatch 2

This weekend was supposed to be D&D but my group is incapable of planning with any form of grace, soooo… things have opened up! I think my GF and I are going to try to get outside a bit and do some hiking — it’s a nice go-to activity that gets us out of the house without ever feeling as monotonous as a treadmill. Plus, nature is pretty!

On the gaming front, no real surprises here, unless I’m completely forgetting something. We’re about halfway through our second Quarry playthrough and it’s really cool to see what decisions do or don’t matter, and how the game will sort of guide (or misdirect) the player with QTEs. Again, I’m loving this game!

Oh, also, I have less than a week left in my 20s. So that’s something!

Christian “Kalcheus” Thoma

• Thor: Love and Thunder
• Octopath Traveler

By the time you read this I’ll have already seen Thor: Love and Thunder, but there’s a really good chance I’ll be going to see it again this weekend. Jane Foster Thor is my favorite character in the comics, and seeing her realized on screen is something I’ve dreamt of for years.

Still working my way through Octopath Traveler, having completed the first chapter on all eight characters. I’m focusing on side quests while leveling up to tackle the second chapters.

Andrew Powers

• D&D Wild Beyond the Witchlight
• D&D Tomb of Annihilation
• Arkham Horror

This weekend is Blizzard Watch Wild Beyond the Witchlight. And we’re getting a new player! Saturday is another board game night, not the one I host…which is more about socializing (yuck!) than playing board games. But, there are sure to be games set out that people will play, and get distracted part way through. Then Sunday is Session 1 of my in person D&D game that I’ll be DMing. This is going to be a modified version of Tomb of Annihilation. Looking forward to this.

Last weekend, as an update and review to that game night, I played a board/card game called Arkham Horror, which was an hour of set up for a thirty minute game. It wasn’t a bad game, per se, and there is a lot of variety to it, but the set up time vs. how much is actually played does not feel worth it. A game that had a great design idea, but too much went into the details that takes away from the actual play.

Ted Atchley

• Thor: Love and Thunder
• Marvel SNAP
• Geeky Dads, Geeky Things

I’m going to see Thor: Love and Thunder! This looks like an homage to classic 80s movies right down to Guns and Roses headlining the soundtrack. That just sounds awesome. The trailers look exciting so I hope it lives up to the hype.

Keeping with the Love and Thunder thread, I’m enjoying the new Thor themed Season 2 update to Marvel Snap. Thor isn’t the strongest card in the game, but I’ve been having fun with it. I had a new personal best rank last season (Platinum, Level 50), but I’m back to Bronze (Level 20) to start the new season. At some point, I’ll have to buckle down and switch over to a more consistent deck than Thor if I want to climb.

Lastly, I wanted to let you know that my episode of the Geeky Dads, Geeky Things podcast I mentioned last month is now available. Author JJ Johnson and I celebrate the fun things we liked in the Kenobi series.

Phil Xavier

• Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
• ANNO: Mutationem

Another game I got on the Steam sale was ANNO: Mutationem, a cyberpunk action/adventure game with RPG elements, and gorgeous pixel art that blends itself with the 3D environments — I guess it’s kinda like what they call ‘HD-2D.”

This game is super immersive, and almost feels like a visual novel, since (at least so far) the action sequences are few and far between. Nonetheless, exploring the different zones of the city and talking to all the inhabitants has been a joy to me. There are RPGs where exploring towns and talking to everyone feels like a chore, but in this game I actually want to do it, since it’s so immersive.

Rob Flanagan

• Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate III ( still in early access) has just added bards and gnomes in the same patch, thus making it the perfect game. I will be spending my weekend seducing the realms with a void worm in my brain, like any good gnome bard would.

Elizabeth Harper

• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
• WoW

I’ve started playing Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and really enjoying it. I like that it’s a pretty equal mix of combat and exploration/environment puzzles. And there are lots of reasons to explore, with little story tidbits (and cosmetics) hidden away in nooks and crannies everywhere. The game really highlights how truly bad I am at jumping puzzles, such as when it took me thirty tries to reach a distant ledge by jumping from an ice slide to grab a rope, swinging and catching another rope, and then swinging and catching a third — all to get a chest with what turned out to be a rather ugly cosmetic item. And once I got there, I had to do the same jumps in reverse to get back! I must have spent over an hour on it. It honestly reminds me of Uncharted more than anything: I spend a lot of time climbing on walls and swinging on ropes, looking for ways to get from point A to point B. But also you’re a Jedi, so you get to swing your lightsaber around and force push people of ledges (my favorite use of force push). It’s possible I’m not a very good Jedi.

Also, Khadgar’s there. I don’t know if that’s a good sign or not.

I’m also on a bit of a transmog-farming kick in WoW, so I’ve been running a lot of old dungeons. I finally finished Balance of Power on this character for the alternate Artifact appearance — I didn’t play this character during Legion — and I’m not quite sure what my next goal is from there.

That’s us over here at Team Blizzard Watch for the week. What about all of you out there in Comment Land? What are you fine folks up to in the days ahead? Sound off below!