Ah, Waypoint Weekend. My favorite time of the week by far. A chance to finally chill out and check in with everybody to see what they’re getting up to. It doesn’t matter if we’re jumping into a Nintendo Switch 2 Enhanced Edition of a game or just chilling out on the dunes of Arrakis. We’ve all got quite the weekend ahead of us. Join us for another action-packed episode of Waypoint Weekend, and see what kind of shenanigans we can expect to get into.
Welcome Back To Waypoint Weekend. The Best Two Days of the Week
Brent Koepp – Contributor
This weekend I’m going to be diving back into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Yes, I’ve already beaten this game before. However, I’m currently obsessed with my Switch 2 and have nothing else to play. Yeah, as much as I love Mario Kart World, the game doesn’t exactly have a lot of staying power once you’ve beaten most of its content. I still enjoy it, but I really wish I had Donkey Kong Bananza right now. That said, revisiting Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2 has been amazing so far. With the open-world RPG now running at 60 FPS with HDR, it feels like an entirely new game.
Still, as someone who completed all 152 shrines and 100% of the story back in 2023, I’m not sure if I’ll stick with my second playthrough. I might reach the game’s second dungeon before getting flashbacks of hundreds of hours of collecting Korok seeds and bowing out. I was initially going to play Bayonetta 3 for the first time, now that it runs at 60 FPS on Switch 2. Unfortunately, the game has a horrible resolution, which makes it look blurry on the console’s larger screen. I ran into the same problem with Xenoblade Chronicles 3, actually. So I’m having to wait patiently for some of these games to eventually get a Switch 2 upgrade pack or update—if they ever do.
‘Code Vein’ May Be Calling My Name
Finally, there is a part of me tempted to jump into Code Vein. If you’re asking yourself: Isn’t that the 2019 RPG? Yes, yes, it is. The thing is, I thought the recently announced Code Vein 2 trailer at Summer Game Fest looked incredible. It’s got vampires, anime waifus, and time travel. Did I mention the series is also a Soulslike? So yeah, it’s kind of ticking all the boxes for me. So I might pull myself away from my Switch 2 long enough to boot up my PS5 Pro for the first time in weeks. That said, I’ll also fully admit I’m kind of spinning my wheels this week, as I’m really just waiting for Death Stranding 2 to release.
Anthony Franklin II – contributor
This weekend, I’ll be digging into Yakuza 0 on Switch 2. I’ve dipped my toe in the waters of this franchise briefly, but this will be my first full shot at a game, and I’m pretty excited about it. Outside of that, I’ll be trying to get some more time in on Near-Mage and blowing some more steam off in Mario Kart World.
Matt Vatankhah – Contributor
I wasn’t really planning on getting into Dune: Awakening as much as I have, but the Spice has taken its hold on me. Now, I’m glad I gave it a shot, because this is one of the better survival/crafting games I’ve played in quite some time.
Dune: Awakening plays a lot like your typical survival crafter: start with zero, gather, and build your way to hero. However, it differentiates itself in a lot of neat ways. There’s a huge RPG element in this one, starting from the robust character creator, then on to picking your character’s backstory, and throughout the various skill trees available in-game. I’m a trooper, armed with small guns and a grappling hook. A buddy of mine is a Bene Gesserit, able to use The Voice to compel enemies to his will.
In addition to surprisingly tough PvE enemies and the ever-looming threat of giant Sandworms gobbling you up, there are also pockets of PvP areas in the game. Because Dune: Awakening isn’t just a small-lobby co-op experience, but kind of an MMO-lite. Hundreds of players gather in large cities to accept contracts and trade with NPCs, before returning to their player-made bases out in the wild. While most areas are safe from hostile players, you’ll have to enter the Wild West to find the best resources in Dune‘s massive map.
It’s just the right amount of the ruthless PvP aspects I love from games like Rust, but relaxed enough where you’re not looking over your shoulder every other second. And that’s great – with how well Funcom nailed the Dune atmosphere, it’d be a shame to miss out on the finer details of Arrakis.
SHaun Cichacki – COntributor
During this Waypoint Weekend, I’m likely going to be diving into the world of Dinkum even further. It’s my wife and I’s latest obsession, and I just can’t get enough of the land down under. It takes everything that I love about games like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing, and just makes it… better. The fact that I can make a rowboat within the first week of being on my new island is incredible enough already. But I saw that I can craft a Ute in the future? Man. I’m completely sold on this. Plus, no Huntsman Spiders here, as far as I know. The game is incredibly charming and just a joy to play, and we’ve been having an absolute blast with it.
Outside of the world of cozy games, I just picked up Split/Fiction on the Switch 2, and I can’t wait to dive into that one. My wife and I loved everything that It Takes Two had to offer us, so I’m very intrigued to see how we’ll fare through this one. It looks to be a little more “action-packed”, so I’m slightly worried about that fact. But, either way, I already know I’m in for the time of my life when we finally boot that one up.
Waypoint Weekend Is Here To Stay, But I Just Wish It Were Longer
Waypoint Weekend always takes forever to get here, and it feels like it’s over in the blink of an eye. Regardless, it looks like everybody on the crew has a fantastic weekend of gaming ahead of them. I’m slightly jealous that Matt gets to jump into Dune: Awakening, as it looks rather incredible. But, as my backlog grows ever larger, I know I must wait to finally pick that one up for myself. I don’t need yet another MMO to absorb every moment of my life, right? Right? Thanks for tuning into another episode of Waypoint Weekend.
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