This weekend, the decorating begins. Yes, I have bitten off more than I can chew, but what is life if not enthusiastically inviting choking hazards? I’ll be removing cabinets, sanding and priming carpentry, cleansing walls with sugar soap, and, if I’ve done everything, covering the kitchen in B&Q’s Chorizo matte emulsion paint.

I will not have done everything right, but that’s why I picked the first day of my partner’s month-long business trip to begin the work. 30 days should be along enough to fix any mess ups I make, right?

Enough of my impending mistakes. Let’s see what the rest of the treehouse is up to this weekend.

Jeremy
I pulled a muscle in my neck on Monday from watching too much Pragmata footage at 3x speed while writing our walkthrough, so I’ll be taking it easy this weekend. No video games for me – or if I do play anything, it’ll be on the Steam Deck while lying in bed. Never lean too far towards your screen, folks! These neck injuries are no joke.

James
I’m a bit behind on Replaced, in the sense that I have not started Replaced, so will try to play Replaced. Though I’ll first need to put down a recently started Silksong replay – god, this game’s good when you’re not reviewing it.

Callum
I finished off Pragmata surprisingly quickly, so I’m now partaking in that iconic video game ritual where you revisit all the games you vowed to return to just to realise you unintentionally left them there because you didn’t enjoy them all that much. That being said, I recently decided to give Cyberpunk another chance after beating it back in the day and thinking it was a hot mess. And hey, I’m actually really vibing with it this time. After all the fixes and add-ons, I can actually enjoy what an immersive slice of sci-fi storytelling it can be, especially now that half the characters’ faces don’t look like unrendered sludge.

Edwin
I think I’ll spend a few more hours in The Third Shift, the neat Game-Boy-themed horror game that came out this week. The Human Body exhibit was fantastic – can’t wait to check out The Terrors of the Deep.

Mark
I’ve committed a cardinal sin. All the chat about Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has convinced me to reinstall the PS4 copy I played back in the day on my PS5. The hunter ships are tougher than I remembered. The constant onslaught of Kenway’s fleet notifications is more annoying than I remembered. The ship battles are still ace. Rest assured, my PC will still be getting some love thanks to my ongoing war against weirdly-named Toyota Corollas on Tokyo Xtreme Racer’s Shuto Expressway.

Ollie
After leaning too far back in his chair, Ollie accidentally stared into The Abyss that swirls above his desk. He has been pulled into a realm without time or space. He should get back in time for Monday.

Julian
In the patches of down time while I’m waiting for coats of paint to dry, I want to dive into Generation Exile, the sci-fi city builder from the people behind Gone Home and Firewatch. It feels like all I’ve been doing in games lately is building cities, but I’m drawn to its solarpunk vibes and focus on finding balance with resources, not just dominating a landscape.

And you, reader dear, what are you playing this weekend…?