Kotaku's Weekend Guide: 4 Awesome Games To Get Cozy With

Folks, it’s December. That means that unless you live in a part of the world where the weather is nice all the time (or you’re in, like, Australia), you’re likely doing your best to keep the frigid temperatures at bay. And hey, if you’re looking at a weekend of being stuck indoors, I can think of no better time to play some video games. Should you find yourself at a loss of what to play, fear not! We have a few recommendations for you.

This week we’ve got some brand new games in the mix, but we’re also throwing it back a few years with a 2022 RPG and a remake of an even older strategy title. Let’s dig in!

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Fill the hole left in my heart by Overwatch 2

Marvel Rivals has been out for less than 24 hours as of this writing, and I already feel like I’m having more fun with it than I’ve had with Overwatch 2 in over a year. To be clear, I don’t think it’s a better game than Blizzard’s shooter, but the newness of it has drawn in several of my friends who don’t play Overwatch anymore, and it’s been a while since I had a game that I played with more than one friend at a time. A lot of my friends gravitate toward more traditional shooters, survival games, and other multiplayer games that don’t interest me as much, so I tend to play games solo most of the time. It’s only when playing fighting games and now Marvel Rivals that I overlap with some of these nerds, and even if I am still working through my feelings on the game itself, having something the group chat rallies around is a feeling like no other. — Kenneth Shepard

Play it on: PS5, PS4, Windows (Steam Deck N/A)
Current goal: Recover another AI to save the world

2017 was the last time I spent any meaningful time with Aloy and the terrifying armada of robo dinos and beasties that inhabits her post-apocalyptic world.

And oh em gee, I forgot how much fun the core combat loop of this game is. It’s been so long since I played the first one that I can’t really remember the concrete differences between Zero Dawn and Forbidden West during the hectic moments. But the challenge of balancing bow-and-arrow shooting (my favorite kind of shooting), resource management, trap-setting, and elemental status effects makes for a pure adrenaline rush of feminine hero fantasy for me. Seriously, this would be my GOTY if it had come out this year (I mean, it kinda did on PC anyway).

The story is sorta going over my head, though. As with Zero Dawn, I feel like this setting and these characters could’ve used another draft or two? That said, I’m starting to really like Aloy as a heroine. The plot’s themes of environmental destruction, human greed, and artificial intelligence are also providing interesting food for thought…especially given where IRL Earth seems to be heading (lolsob). Nothing’s totally winning me over, but it’s still proving neat to think about!

These days I crave more difficult challenges in games, so I’m playing on Very Hard and finding the combat rewarding enough that I will absolutely do another playthrough on Ultra Hard once I’m done. Also, it’s beyond gorgeous in motion, so it’ll be great for testing and showcasing the impact of upgrades I make to my PC in the future.

— Claire Jackson

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Uncover grand mysteries of the past

Everyone’s not just picking this? Oh, am I the horrible normie? Oh god. No, wait, I mean I’m playing UnTangient ReMaxoldable, a new turn-based trans-media strategy-deckbuilder from Belgian developers Ludotrance.

Nah, I wanna play the big new thing. And so far, in the hour I’ve played, I’ve had a blast! I picked up all the enemies’ bodies and arranged them on church pews. It’s like Dishonored, but with hats and whips! I’m totally in. — John Walker

Play it on: Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Rule the underworld

Solium Infernum was a strategy game about rival hell fiends by Cryptic Comet that originally released in 2009. This year, League of Geeks released a remake which I’m told updated the graphics but also made some of the underlying gameplay a bit deeper and a bit more accessible. I didn’t play the original, which was a cult favorite at the time. I’ve been playing a lot of the latest version, however, and I’m completely obsessed. Unlike most strategy games in the 4X mold of the Civ series, Solium Infernum ditches resource management and military upkeep in favor of focusing primarily on diplomacy and leveraging specific events, spells, and hellworld minions to reach the win conditions.

It’s much more like a tabletop game in which everything’s been streamlined for top-level decision-making rather than fumbling around with menus and branching tech trees. Explaining it that way might give the impression that Solium is shallow, but that’s not the case either. At any given moment you’re trying to analyze the tradeoffs and turn delays associated with everything from consolidating resources in limited inventory slots to whether you can commission and upgrade lieutenants fast enough to maintain the balance of power as one rival consumes another. I haven’t yet played it with other humans, which is apparently where the real fun actually begins. For the moment, mastering the basics against AI opponents has been enough to keep me glued to my computer until 2:00 in the morning. — Ethan Gach

And that wraps our recommendations for this week. Happy gaming!