What to Play This Weekend: New games Last Epoch, Pacific Drive, and Balatro offer something for every type of gamer

Happy Friday, Watchers! The week is over, but the weather is cold so instead of going outdoors, we gamers are ready to settle in for two days of pixel-based joy. And we here at Blizzard Watch are trying something new — talking about fun, fresh (or freshly available) videogames you might want to check out in the coming weekend.

So if you’re looking for something to play this weekend, we have you covered with three interesting new releases.

Last Epoch (ARPG)

Our first recommendation (and probably the most widely known) is Last Epoch, which Blizzard Watch’s Head LoLcat Dan O’Halloran has referred to as his new obsession. But the ARPG community — I’m talking about you, Diablo fans — has been anticipating this hack-and-slash ARPG since its successful 2018 Kickstarter. And subsequent years available through Steam Early Access have only refined this debut title from indie studio Eleventh Hour Games.

Players of Diablo and Path of Exile will recognize their influence in Last Epoch’s systems and features: five base classes (each with three unique mastery tracks), a Forge gear upgrading system (luckily not requiring any NPC interactions), and Rifts uniquely situated by having the player travel through the history of the game world. Now, LE had a few rocky first days, but we all remember the errors of Diablo 3’s launch and the server queues from Diablo 4 — no launch is perfect.

You can buy Last Epoch for $34.99 on Steam for PC.

Pacific Drive (survival)

Our next recommendation comes from Anna Bell: Pacific Drive, described on its website as a “first-person driving survival game with your car as your only companion.” Pacific Drive is set in a reimagined Pacific Northwest where you face supernatural dangers during forays into the Olympic Exclusion Zone for resources necessary to restore and upgrade your automotive ally while investigating a secret organization to uncover the mysteries causing pervasive radiation in the region.

As another debut title, this time from developer Ironwood studios, PD looks to be a unique spin (hah) on survival titles; with its creative reimagining of the PNW, we could see it launch past Fallout and The Last of Us.

You can buy Pacific Drive for $29.99 on Steam for PC, the Epic Games Store, or on PS5. It’s currently on sale for 10% off ($26.99) on some platforms.

Balatro (deckbuilder)

Next up comes from Christian ‘Kalcheus’ Thoma: Balatro, a funky hypnotic roguelike poker deckbuilder (words I hadn’t ever thought I’d combine). And hypnotic is definitely accurate — the backgrounds are all colorful swirls reminiscent of a lava lamp. This title encourages throwing the poker rulebook out the window, encouraging illegal poker hands while unlocking different “game-changing” jokers. Balatro is yet another debut title, this time released by solo developer LocalThunk. Sound like a blast?

You can buy Balatro for $14.99 on Steam for PC, for PS4/PS5, for Nintendo Switch, or for Xbox Series One/X|S. It’s currently on sale for 10% off ($13.49) on some platforms.

Super Meat Boy Forever (platformer)

And now, for the bonus round courtesy of Joel Davis: Super Meat Boy Forever is available for free on the Epic Games Store until February 29. Super Meat Boy Forever is the auto-runner action platformer sequel to Super Meat Boy, where Meat Boy is sliding, jumping, and punching through “brutal levels and mean boss fights.” The title is setup for ultimate replayability, with over 6000 level “chunks” that the game combines into unique levels for every playthrough experience.

And that’s it for this week! Let us know in the comments if you end up checking out any of our recommendations, or if you have another fun title in mind. Happy weekend!