Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: 5 Games To Welcome In April

Play it on: Windows PCs (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Defeat the AI

Metal Bringer immediately caught my eye back during the most recent Steam Next Fest. Its striking graphical art style can best be described as isometric Mega Man Legends, while the gameplay is a mix of arcade bullet hell and Diablo hack-and-slash combat (you collect crystals dropped from enemies to level up a la Vampire Survivors). Make it far enough and you go head-to-head against massive mech bosses that can be surprisingly brutal if you haven’t gotten powerful enough.

It’s messy and chaotic but surprisingly fun, helped along a lot by the nostalgic PS1-era look and chip-tuney soundtrack. You control an automaton controlling a mech fighting against AI forces who control humanity’s last hope to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. There’s also a lot of neat customization around the mech for stats, melee weapons, and guns. It’s not Armored Core, but there’s a whiff of that modular fantasy alive beneath its more retro run-and-gun sensibilities. — Ethan Gach

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PCs (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Learn new (to me) maps and improve my aim

It’s been a while since I’ve played Siege. This pseudo-hero shooter was once a nightly game for me, taking up far too much of my free time without shouldering me with any guilt for the hours spent because it was so often a wonderfully engaging, unpredictable, tactical showdown of aiming and wits. The game is expected to get a big makeover this summer with Siege X, but as I’ve drifted from it for some time, so much already feels different to me. The game has gone through a wide variety of changes over the years, not all of which have been received well by the community.

This week, I decided to jump back in after a few years away, and I’ll certainly be logging some hours this week—and I can all but guarantee those hours won’t be spent scoring aces, much less many victories, or probably even kills. Things are different for sure—and there are maps and characters I have zero knowledge of. Yet, despite various tweaks and changes, it still feels like Siege to me. It’s still an unforgiving game that tasks you with making intentional actions, forcing you to balance thinking a few steps ahead with keeping your head on a swivel for that random roaming Cav, or sudden need to address a damn Montaigne who’s boxed themselves into a corner over the defuser.

I am rusty as hell in this game, yet I still find it such a fascinating shooter to study and learn from. Maybe it’s the brutal lethality; maybe it’s the intersection of destructive environments and unique gadgets creating exciting emergent moments in a match. It’s probably all of that and more. Dying or getting outplayed in Siege so often comes with a lesson of “I need to be careful around that specific door a bit more” or “holy shit, that’s a clever way to use a C4.”

But while I’m looking forward to digging into those tactics again to pull off some “holy shit” moments of my own, I think I’m gonna start by learning the new maps first and maybe working on my aim because good goddess is it all over the damn place. — Claire Jackson

Play it on: Switch
Current goal: Explore New Los Angeles

Yes, while some people I know are enjoying the hot new Assassin’s Creed or Monster Hunter Wilds, I’m venturing into arguably the most underplayed role-playing game of 2015, Xenoblade Chronicles X. I say “underplayed” because it was trapped on the Wii U, so it had no chance of reaching a particularly wide audience. Thankfully, it’s now on Switch, and I’ve finally started my journey with this offshoot of the core Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy. It’s the only game in the series in which you create your own character, one of the scant remnants of humanity that’s fled Earth and later crash-landed on a new planet teeming with its own indigenous life. Thus far, I don’t even know yet what the basics of the story will be; I just know that our city, New Los Angeles, has a shopping district and I’m eager to visit it and find out if the coffee is any good.

Xenoblade games always wow me with their gorgeous worlds, and I can already tell that X is no slouch in that department. What remains to be seen is whether the game’s characters, story, and intricate systems pull me in or leave me cold. I’ll spend some time this weekend finding out! — Carolyn Petit

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Windows PCs (Steam Deck OK)
Current goal: Settle into a new game

I’m going in on two games this weekend if all goes according to plan. While I will be spending some time revisiting Siege this week in anticipation of the big update in a couple of months, I’m also going to go back and play some more of a game that I don’t get along with too well: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Yes, I may be quick to say to friends, “MGS3 sucks,” but I do think it’s a good game—just not a good game for me. Snake Eater lacked a lot of what I came to love about the series from MGS and especially MGS2. It seems a bit too drunk on its own lore (which it contradicts in various ways from previous games) for me, and the survival mechanics, while neat in concept, slowed the pace down for me too much. I also prefer stealth games in urban environments, usually with tons of walls and corridors to sneak around. Snake Eater’s jungles always left me feeling too exposed. Also, why do these Russian soldiers have American accents? MGS2 was accurate with the accents. Breaks my darn immersion.

Truth is, though, it’s been some time since I’ve really dug my fangs into Snake Eater for an extended period of time, and I’m feeling it’s necessary both to revisit my old opinions about the game to either refine or revise them and to get a sense of this classic stealth title ahead of the remake arriving later in the year. And yes, I’ll be playing whatever the hardest difficulty the recent re-release allows me to enable.

Prove my memories and old opinions wrong, Snake Eater. — Claire Jackson

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

Current goal: Level up the battle pass more

And so, I return to Fortnite. Again. Again. Yes, yes, I know I’ve written about this game a few times before in these weekly posts. Each time I feel dirty. Like I’m exposing some secret that I shouldn’t let people know about. But whatever, I don’t care. Fortnite is good. The new season hasn’t been my favorite, but even so-so Fortnite seasons have their high points and some of the new content is cool. Really, I’m just trying to max out my battle passes so I don’t feel like a fool for paying for Fortnite Crew. Is this a healthy relationship I’ve developed with Fortnite? No. Do I enjoy it? I guess. Is it still fun to take out Goku with a sniper rifle and dance on his corpse? Yes. Yes it is. — Zack Zwiezen

And that wraps our picks for the weekend. Happy gaming!