Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: 6 Games To Close Out August

Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Press play

I’m planning on playing 2018 action-adventure western Red Dead Redemption 2 for the first time (I know!) this weekend (I know!). I’ve been meaning to play developer Rockstar Games’ modern masterpiece for about as long as it’s been out, but I got delayed by putting 200 hours into 2016 release Dark Souls III. Oops!

I escaped my FromSoftware hole in the last year, sometime between starting Elden Ring and rediscovering my free will by choosing not to finish Elden Ring. I will eventually—I’m just saving it for the next period of my life when I feel the need to look at a screen for 800 hours. I’m sure my relationship to a fictionalized, macabre, ineffably solitary 19th century Wild West will be a lot more normal. Right? — Ashley Bardhan

Play it on: PS5 (September 6), Windows (Steam Deck OK)
Current goal: Finally make some progress

Listen, I am loving Baldur’s Gate 3, don’t get me wrong. But life seems to keep getting in the way. Meanwhile, I’m watching all my friends make progress far exceeding mine, and I fear conversations about the game where they have to tiptoe around me worried they’ll slip a plot point into the chat.

But beyond outside forces getting in the way, I find myself hitting walls whenever I pick it back up as well. There’s executive dysfunction choosing what quest to go after, then once I choose, I can’t always do it right away. Then I’m stuck with the same question all over again: What do I do now?

Well, this weekend I’m committing, embracing the moments of confusion, and I’m going to make some progress. — Lisa Marie Segarra

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Beat the campaign

In August 11’s weekend guide, I said I was having “a great time” with Marvel’s Avengers, Crystal Dynamics’ attempt at a GaaS (games-as-a-service) superhero action-RPG. Well, that fun has largely dissipated thanks to combat that feels fine but lacks punch and a narrative filled with samey quests. I still want a superhero action-RPG to play before Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 drops on October 20, so I’ve decided to go back to WB Games Montréal’s Gotham Knights.

I’ve talked a lot of shit about Gotham Knights since it came out on October 21, 2022. I’ve called it “mid” across a few different posts on Kotaku Dot Com, and while I still believe that it is middling at best, Gotham Knights certainly hits a much better chord than Marvel’s Avengers.

The two games are functionally identical: Pick a hero, load up into the world, traipse from one moshpit to the next, collect loot to make the number go up, rinse and repeat until the credits roll. The main difference is that Gotham Knights has oomph behind its combat. It’s floatier than any of the Batman Arkham games, sure, but punching a bad guy in the face has satisfying audio and visual feedback, something I was sorely missing in Marvel’s Avengers.

When compared to WB Games Montréal’s superhero RPG, Gotham Knights‘ characters have a considerable weight that give the impression of heft as you pummel goons on Gotham’s dark streets. It too suffers from an uninspired open-world design in which quests are largely the same, but Gotham Knights just feels way better to play than Marvel’s Avengers, and that’s what I’m looking for: something that feels good. And with my tanky Barbara “Batgirl” Gordon almost maxed out, the game feels great, so I’m stoked to finally beat the campaign. — Levi Winslow

Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)

Current goal: Max out region progress

It pains me to say this about a game that I’ve been really digging the past few months but I’ve officially hit a wall playing Diablo IV. With Season of the Malignant’s questline largely being a snooze, Blizzard’s premiere goatmen murder simulator has simply failed to keep me engaged with the introduction of its seasonal content and battle pass. Yes, Malignant Hearts offer up neat bonuses, but at the end of the day it’s just more numbers flying across the screen. I need more than one new monster every three months and covering them in tentacles doesn’t count. Will the recently announced Season of Blood change all this? Call me Auriel, as I’m hopeful next season will offer more interesting challenges to the player.

So what’s a wanderer to do in the meantime? We’re heading back to the Eternal realm baby, where my level 72 Sorcerer is but a handful of Scosglen side-quests away from becoming renowned throughout the land, having completed all five tiers of region progress in each of D4’s areas. The supremely downtrodden people of Sanctuary shall chant my name and I’ll have four more paragon points to burn, huzzah! — Eric Schulkin

Play it on: Windows (Steam Deck OK)
Current goal: Make more progress in Baldur’s Gate while finishing Sprawl

Sprawl might look like another “boomer shooter” but it plays more like a mad scientist mixed Titanfall and Max Payne together in a beaker that has some residual Doom DNA left in it.

Read More: I Can’t Stop Playing This Titanfall-F.E.A.R.-Killzone-Doom-Like

The end result is one hell of a good game that I’ll be poking at a lot this weekend between my continued effort to finish Baldur’s Gate 3. Sometimes we all need a break from thinking and just need to slide-hop over a shield and shotgun-blast a guard into bits. — Zack Zwiezen

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Unlock the Tractor Beam MK3 upgrade

Ever since it finally came to console earlier this month, I’ve been slowly making my way through Everspace 2. Imagine the arcadey space sim action of Star Fox with the action-RPG loot trappings of a Diablo-like. Despite the sometimes overwhelming UI and a lot of moving parts to keep track of, it controls well and there’s a wealth of customization to dig into. I couldn’t care less about the story at the moment, but I’m having a blast just flying through space, shooting down enemy vessels, and collecting all kinds of junk to fix up my ship with.

I’m still early, but the thing Everspace 2 nails from the outset, as its name might imply, is the supreme vastness and loneliness of space combined with the thrill of encountering the unknown. It’s been the perfect cooldown at the end of the night while chilling in bed with my phone. It’s on Game Pass on Xbox and PC, and the cloud streaming works just good enough to let me grind out a couple fights and surveys before turning in for the night. Its 3D environments are a special highlight, including close-quarters asteroid caves and moon tunnels. — Ethan Gach

And that’s it for our weekend picks this time around. What games will you be playing?