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The Video Games You Should Play This Weekend – February 6
It's February, which in recent years has become an unexpected battleground for big new releases. Resident Evil Requiem is right around the corner, as is the Switch Virtual Boy peripheral – two video games experiences that are inspiring equal amounts of hype. The good news, is we have played both, which you can read about below. But more importantly, you can read about what we're playing this weekend, and what we think you might want to check out, as well.
It's Friday and it's time for the weekend and our usual recommendation of games and things you should check out! But before that, here's a recap of the biggest stories of the week:
- The Oral History Of Fallout
- Dragon Quet VII Reimagined Review
- Overwatch 2 Is Just 'Overwatch' Again And Five New Heroes Arrive Next Week
- I Played The Virtual Boy Games On Switch 2, And It Was Actually Kind Of Cool
- I Played Resident Evil Requiem And Pragmata On Switch 2 – And They Ran Surprisingly Well
- Mewgenics – Review In Progress
The Games You Should Check Out This Weekend
Nioh 3
Nioh 3 is out in the wild, and if you read my review in progress, you know I’m still cutting my way through Team Ninja’s latest Soulslike and having a great time doing so. If you’re a newcomer who’s been curious about the franchise or simply looking for a new Soulslike to dig into, Nioh 3 is a great entry point. Its time-traveling story is largely divorced from the previous two games, and its open-world design – a first for the franchise – offers more freedom to explore and grow stronger at your own pace. The format and how it constantly rewards you for uncovering every part of it is a big pull, as is the new, faster paced Ninja combat style. Its more nimble gameplay is a blast and complements the more defensive Samurai style, of which you can swap between instantly. I’m looking forward to spending this weekend finishing up the adventure, as it may be Team Ninja’s strongest outing yet.
Deadlock
After another great update and the introduction of another six new heroes, including student necromancer Graves and vampire hunter Venator, Deadlock continues to impress several of us at Game Informer. Valve is leaning into its past experience developing Team Fortress and DOTA 2 to expertly blend the hero shooter and MOBA genres into a brilliant competitive game that's buoyed by excellent art direction and character designs. While Deadlock is only accessible via a playtest invite, Valve continues to shape Deadlock's eerie, otherworldly rendition of Manhattan into a destination worth waiting for.
Cairn
If you've been hungry for something decidedly different, I can't say enough positive things about Cairn. It's a remarkable mountain climbing game that features a unique marionette-like control system, letting you control the main character's arms and legs individually as they make their way up the open world of a massive mountain. While the gameplay is tense and rewarding, the narrative is equally notable, exploring complex themes of obsession, loss, and disconnection from the world. It's a standout early surprise release here in early 2026, and one you shouldn't miss. Read our full review for more details.
Highguard
After a rough first few days, the developers at Wildlight have moved quickly to address community feedback, improving a number of systems and adding significant new content patches. Already, only a week and a half after release, the team is today launching yet more new content with the game's second season, including a new playable Warden. In general, Highguard can be a challenging game to grasp in your first few games. But give it a few matches. With time, the flow of the new "raid" structure starts to make sense, and the tight shooting and fast movement of the game also begins to snap into place. It can be a mistake to dismiss a game out of hand because of a few bad days at launch; Highguard still has a ways to go to be at its best, but there's a lot of promise here.
Fortnite Festival
I bought a Riffmaster Wireless Guitar this weekend because they were $50 off (and still are, I believe). I have been hunting for a full Rock Band 4 set at a reasonable price for a few years, and it has been a futile exercise. But the Riffmaster guitar, plus Fortnite Festival, has gotten me close to the nostalgic Rock Band/Guitar Hero experience I have been pining for. I was initially underwhelmed by the song selection. It had some music I liked, but it was limited, and there is no simple option to outright buy songs that have been available to play in the past. I know this is the standard Fortnite operating procedure – arbitrary limitations on digital goods in order to exploit the player base (which I remind you is mostly children) into making purchases because they won't be available soon. Everything sucks and I hate it.
But, moving on from that ongoing frustration with modern video games, I was surprised to learn the song selection gets swapped out often. Daily, it seems. Which means logging in every day provides new songs. And today, in particular, the selection lined up much more with my taste. Chappell Roan songs (not surprising considering she was recently added to the game [but no "Pink Pony Club" which is surprising]), the Hatsune Miku and Anamanguchi mash-up, Fall Out Boy music from their first album (I never listened to any of the other ones), and "Welcome Home" from Coheed & Cambria. I played a bunch of great songs and I will see what's new tomorrow. They've hooked me in, the jerks. Also, sometimes my character just isn't holding a guitar. See Ms. Roan above. I am not sure why.
A Look At Nintendo's Year Ahead, Plus Overwatch's Big Overhaul | The Game Informer Show
It's a jam-packed show this week, as 2026 is running full-steam ahead. Alex, Marcus, Charles, and Eric sit down fresh off the Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase to share their reactions and favorite reveals, then Charles divulges some details from a recent Nintendo preview event where he played a slate of the handheld's upcoming games.
After the break, Alex discusses what he played of Overwatch's big overhaul -- so massive, it's dropping the "2." And to cap it all off, Charles talks about the long-awaited launch of Mewgenics, and Marcus shares his thoughts on Nioh 3 so far. It's a feature-length episode of The Game Informer Show, so grab a cold beverage and enjoy.
The Game Informer Show is a weekly podcast covering the video game industry. Join us every Friday for chats about your favorite titles – past and present – alongside Game Informer staff and special guests from around the industry.
Watch the video version here:
Listen to "A Look At Nintendo's Year Ahead, Plus Overwatch's Big Overhaul" on Spreaker.Follow our hosts on social media:
- Alex Van Aken (@itsvanaken)
- Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7)
- Charles Harte (@chuckduck365)
- Eric Van Allen (@seamoosi)
Jump ahead to specific segments:
- 00:00 Intro
- 04:32 - Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase Reactions
- 22:07 - Nintendo Switch 2 Previews
- 1:00:13 - Overwatch
- 1:28:20 - Mewgenics
- 1:48:57 - Nioh 3
Highguard Episode 2 Adds A Ranked Mode, A New Hero And Map, And More Today
Highguard launched last month on January 26, after closing out The Game Awards back in December, and it's already received some pretty hefty updates addressing player feedback for the free-to-play PvP FPS-raid game. That streak continues today with the release of Episode 2, which adds a heavily requested Ranked Mode, the game's first new warden, a new map, and more.
Episode 2 is live in the game already, and those who boot up the gamewill meet Ekon, a "legendary monster-slayer who shapeshifts into a powerful direwolf to track and hunt his prey." Ekon, who is pictured below, has a passive ability called Dread that reveals the heartbeat of wounded enemies, a tactical ability called Wolf Spirit that let him unleash a spirit wolf to hunt the nearest enemy and apply Dread to them, and an ultimate called Fearsome Howl, where Ekon applies Dread to all enemies across the map and increases his movement speed – it can be cast in human and wolf form (yes, Ekon can transform into a wolf).
As part of today's update, developer Wildlight Entertainment has released a new story cinematic called "Skydrift" centered on Ekon and his place amongst the other Highguard wardens. Launching alongside Ekon is Skydrift, a new map for the game's 3v3 and now-permanent 5v5 raid modes.
You can check out a look at Skydrift in the image at the top of this story, and you can watch the Skydrift cinematic story trailer below:
Perhaps the biggest addition to Highguard with the Episode 2 update is Ranked Mode, which allows players to earn Ranked Points, point modifiers, and more as they climb the ranks to gain unique rewards. You can go from bronze (Hare) to grandmaster (Leviathan) if you're good enough. Ranked Mode will be available only in a 3v3 format, as Wildlight believes "3v3 is the more tactical structure of the game and fits best for comp," according to its update on X.
All players will start at bronze 3 rank, and each rank has three divisions to climb through: bronze (Hare), silver (Goat), gold (Ape), platinum (Dire Wolf), diamond (Gryphon), master (Manticore), and grandmaster (Leviathan). At the end of each Episode, you will be rewarded based on your final rank achieved. You can also de-rank within a division during a Split, so be careful. More details about how this Ranked Mode works can be found here.
The Wolf mount has been added to the game as a rideable beast as part of Episode 2, and is free to all players. If you play 10 matches of Ranked Mode, you will earn the Shadow Wolf skin, which is pictured below.
Elsewhere in Episode 2, players can expect better POI loot, new Ultimate Charger items, waypoint markers, changes to Speed Gates, and quality-of-life updates like a new Stats menu, additional Orange Weapon Mods, and balance changes and improvements to gameplay and Highguard's technical performance. All of that and more can be found in the Episode 2 patch notes here.
Highguard Episode 2 is now live.
For more about the game, read Game Informer's review-in-progress of Highguard, and then check out the Highguard reveal trailer.
Are you hopping into Highguard today to check out Episode 2? Let us know in the comments below!
Sonic And The Black Knight - Part 4 | Super Replay
Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most iconic characters in all of video games, but not all of his games were hits. Sonic and the Black Knight is allegedly one of those games, but associate editor Charles Harte remembers playing it as a nine-year-old and feeling like it might be the coolest game of all time. Nearly 17 years later, we're revisiting this medieval adventure to see whether or not he was correct.
Originally released on March 13, 2009, Sonic and the Black Knight is the second and final game in the now-abandoned Sonic Storybook Series, which began in 2007 with Sonic and the Secret Rings. Both games see Sonic get sucked into the worlds of classic folklore, with Black Knight whisking him into the world of Arthurian legend. Armed with the legendary blade Caliburn, he embarks on a quest to save the kingdom. Critics at the time of release were less than enthusiastic about the outing; Sonic and the Black Knight was released to mostly poor reviews, including a 5/10 on page 87 of issue 193 of Game Informer.
Join Charles Harte and Marcus Stewart as they wield a Wii remote and travel back in time to the mythical days of 2009. You can tune in live each Friday on Twitch or YouTube at 12 pm PT/3 pm ET, or check out past episodes below:
Sonic And The Black Knight | Super Replay
Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most iconic characters in all of video games, but not all of his games were hits. Sonic and the Black Knight is allegedly one of those games, but associate editor Charles Harte remembers playing it as a nine-year-old and feeling like it might be the coolest game of all time. Nearly 17 years later, we're revisiting this medieval adventure to see whether or not he was correct.
Originally released on March 13, 2009, Sonic and the Black Knight is the second and final game in the now-abandoned Sonic Storybook Series, which began in 2007 with Sonic and the Secret Rings. Both games see Sonic get sucked into the worlds of classic folklore, with Black Knight whisking him into the world of Arthurian legend. Armed with the legendary blade Caliburn, he embarks on a quest to save the kingdom. Critics at the time of release were less than enthusiastic about the outing; Sonic and the Black Knight was released to mostly poor reviews, including a 5/10 on page 87 of issue 193 of Game Informer.
Join Charles Harte and Marcus Stewart as they wield a Wii remote and travel back in time to the mythical days of 2009. You can catch up on the full series below.
Part 1 - Starting a Medieval Marathon