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So, what are you playing?

by: Randy -
More On: What we're playing
A new challenger appears in the streaming-video-games war: Amazon Luna takes on Google Stadia, Microsoft xCloud, and Nvidia GeForce Now. Here are some numbers of the year-over-year growth video game sales are experiencing during COVID-19. And just when it seemed like nothing could be bigger than Fall Guys: Ultimate KnockoutAmong Us arose out of two years of relative obscurity to own the Twitch airwaves.
 
So, what are you playing?
 
Russell Archey
I'll be spending a lot of my time this weekend with Ys Origin on the Nintendo Switch for my upcoming review. I picked up the game a while back on Steam, I believe as part of a Humble Bundle, which is where a good third of my non-review Steam games came from, and was my first real foray into the world of Ys. I was horrible at Ys III: Wanderers From Ys on the Super NES, so I'm not counting that. I really enjoyed the game when I first played it and I'm excited to go back through it on the Switch.
 
Outside of that I've been working through Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution on the Switch for a while now. I'm working through each series using only the Story Decks—the decks the particular duelist I'm playing as used in the anime.  I'm currently working through Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's and I really underestimated how difficult the duels can be in that series. The original series had its tough duels and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX was a bit on the lighter side. 5D's is like hitting a brick wall after GX. So basically my weekend will entail going back and forth between a powerful sorcerer battling demons while climbing up a tall tower, to saving the world by playing a children's card game.
 
Randy Kalista
By the time you're reading this, I should be downloading Star Wars: Squadrons. Probably the first Star Wars game I've played since I dabbled a few noncommittal hours in The Old Republic MMO back in 2011. And before that, it was probably Republic Commando in '05. And before that? I remember having Star Wars: X-Wing back in, what, '93 maybe. Suffice it to say, I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan—not until The Mandalorian came along anyway—but I've dabbled some. I like how the Rebels do business, so you'll probably see me rocking their crescent emblem out there.
 
My Ragnorium preview is also due. Just had my GPU upgraded, which doubled my frames per second. Which was helpful, since the screenburnt, acid-pixel party going on in Ragnorium was taxing my old card. I still love the gritty synthwave soundtrack and the premise of using vat-grown clones to help humanity reestablish colonies on a scorched earth. I'm just not very good at the game yet. What with all the complaining that I'm overworking the clones the moment I ask them to do more than two small tasks. Or the whole wiping-out-my-entire-camp-overnight-when-I'm-away-starting-dinner thing. It's supposed to be one of those, though. Like Banished. Like Life Is Feudal. But with a little bit of a RimWorld twist.