What we’ve been playing – “I fell asleep on the sofa after about 20 minutes”

December 13

Hello and welcome back to our regular column where we write a little about some of the games we've played. Game of the Year contender put Tom to sleep this week. Night rainThe DLC is a real challenge and the unboxing brings order to a messy world.

Blue Prince, PS5 Pro

There's a lot of talk about “Game of the Year” in the hallways, doors, and water coolers of Eurogamer (it's really just Slack), and some people here really love Blue Prince. Being a contrarian, I obviously didn't deal with it at all when I launched it earlier this year. I want to be proven wrong (this doesn't happen very often, mind you), so I downloaded it again on PS5 this week to see if I was just in the wrong mood for it.

I fell asleep on the couch after about 20 minutes. You may catch me someday, Blue Prince, but your puzzle magic has not yet bewitched me.

-Tom O

Elden Ring: Nightreign, PC

Since the release of The Forsaken Hollows, I've been spending a lot of time playing Nightreign and this year I lost my third controller. This loss admittedly wasn't the result of stick drift or me spamming light attacks so often that the RB stopped working, but was due to me spilling an energy drink on said controller while queuing up to play.

Either way, the Nightreign DLC is exceptionally difficult, with the Day 2 bosses honestly putting the Night Lords that follow them to shame. It's even harder when your team is down to one person because they're taking Monster Energy off their table, but hopefully you haven't had to deal with that experience.

-Kelsey

Unboxing – Xbox Series X

There is something very calming about spending time taking things out of boxes and unpacking them. Pulling out a set of spoons and deciding which part of the cutlery organizer it should go into became quite calming. Especially when I'm now surrounded by wrapping paper, labels, tags, and things I promised I'd get to last weekend, but they all judge me by the precarious pile in the corner of the room. But it's ok, at least I'm organized in unpacking…

-Maria

Metroid Prime 4 – Switch 2

As a huge fan of the Metroid series, I have too many thoughts to sort through. Metroid Prime 4 than there is room here. I desperately want to like it (not least because my partner bought it for me as a gift), but despite its outstanding art design and music, it's so far removed from what I expect from a Metroid game – from the extensive exploration and world design to the lack of horror atmosphere. I know it's hard to improve on the perfection of Prime 1, and I'm not complaining about the developers' experimentation, but after 18 years of waiting I feel empty. Good luck GTA 6 next year I think.

-Ed