The Games to Try This Weekend — December 5, 2025
Friday, December 5, 2025 marks the first Friday of the month and another step toward the winter holidays. No matter how you celebrate, chances are there will be downtime, good food, and a controller within reach. With the year winding down many of us are finally staring down our growing backlogs — downloading a half-dozen games is easy; finishing them, less so — but there’s still time for a few standout sessions this weekend.
It’s been a hectic week at Game Informer. We finished production on our oversized end-of-year issue (subscribers, watch your mailbox), and published reviews for several major releases, including Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and Octopath Traveler 0. We also rounded up the biggest headlines of the week so you don’t miss anything important.
Notable stories from this week:
- Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review — Worth The Wait
- Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review — Making The Dream Work
- Octopath Traveler 0 Review — Going From Zero To Hero
- Why Steam and the Epic Games Store Refused to List Indie Horror Game Horses
- Paramount Announces a New Sonic Universe Film for Holiday 2028
- Helldivers Movie Taps Justin Lin to Direct
- Sony to Publish Four-Player Co-Op Shooter From Bad Robot Games
Games Worth Your Time This Weekend
Routine
Routine arrives after a long, admittedly strange development arc, and it’s the sort of atmospheric survival horror that rewards careful exploration over firefights. You play an engineer stranded on a deserted lunar station; the game leans into investigation and environmental interaction. Instead of marching into combat, you’ll be examining terminals, flipping switches, reading scattered notes, and using your handheld C.A.T. device to piece together what went wrong. The title’s 1970s sci-fi aesthetic — heavy film grain and vintage production design — elevates the dread, and the tactile, hands-on puzzles make every discovery feel earned. If you prefer creeping tension and methodical problem-solving in space, Routine is an excellent pick for the weekend.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
After nearly two decades since Metroid Prime 3 and eight years since its announcement, Metroid Prime 4 has landed — and it largely delivers the hallmarks fans expect. The game doesn’t overhaul the series’ core formula, but it refines it: atmospheric exploration, interconnected levels, and satisfying reward loops. I ended up replaying it straight through twice, which says a lot. If you’re chasing completion, back up your save before the final stretch and collect green crystals whenever possible so you aren’t forced into a last-minute grind. For players after classic Metroid Prime vibes soaked in alien atmosphere, Beyond is a must-play. Read the full review here.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion
If your group loves comic-book mayhem and cooperative button-mashing, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a joyful, four-player brawler built for couch sessions. The game’s tag-team swapping — where each player juggles two heroes a la Marvel vs. Capcom — adds strategic depth to what might otherwise be a straightforward retro brawler. Gorgeous pixel art, robust combat mechanics, and an energetic soundtrack lift the experience, and the game’s online drop-in/drop-out support is excellent for impromptu matches with friends. It’s the video-game equivalent of a Saturday morning superhero cartoon: loud, fun, and best enjoyed with others. For a deeper look, see the review here.
Kirby Air Riders
Kirby Air Riders is less a kart racer and more a quirky, competitive arcade experience — closer in spirit to Super Smash Bros. than Mario Kart. Masahiro Sakurai’s hallmark design shows up in the game’s abundance of modes, bright animations, and approachable yet deep systems. Beneath its simple two-button controls lies a surprising range of riders and ship combinations, each with distinct stats that alter how you play. Between Air Ride, City Trial, and Road Trip modes, the title offers a variety of ways to jump in, and while it’s an acquired taste, fans of oddball multiplayer contests will find a lot to love.
Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved
A recommendation on Inverse hooked me with one simple phrase: “Ace Attorney.” Detective Instinct leans into that courtroom-adventure DNA while building its own identity with DS-era pixel art and a compact mystery. You play a college student on a study trip whose classmate befriends a mysterious woman who later vanishes — and nobody seems to know who she is. The narrative unfolds over a few hours, escalating from a quiet puzzle into a gratifyingly clever mystery. It’s short, sweet, and perfect for an evening where you want a focused, story-driven experience. Available on Steam and Nintendo Switch; read more about the title on Inverse.
Guild Wars Reforged
Having missed out on MMOs in my youth, I returned to Guild Wars via Reforged to see what I’d been missing. The experience is charmingly simple: small-scale quests, creature encounters, and the kind of community-driven moments that make older MMOs feel warm rather than clunky. Within an hour I was doing humble tasks for NPCs and teaming up with a player named “Zerosugar Bajablast” for a quest — tiny, perfect moments that remind you why people love these persistent worlds. If you’re craving a gentler, social online sandbox this weekend, Guild Wars’ renewed playerbase and cozy pace make it worth a visit.
Octopath Traveler 0
Don’t dismiss Octopath Traveler 0 because it originated from mobile gacha content — the team rebuilt and expanded that foundation into a full-priced JRPG with deep turn-based combat, extensive character progression, and a town-building hub that ties progression together. Its retro-inspired visuals and layered systems reward time and experimentation; you’ll find dozens of hours of content here. If you’re nostalgic for the golden age of JRPGs — think Chrono Trigger and early Final Fantasy — Octopath Traveler 0 is a rich, satisfying option.
MotionRec
MotionRec is a brilliant 1-bit puzzle-platformer that quickly became a personal favorite of 2025. You control a tiny robot and solve challenges by recording a sequence of movements, then replaying that recording from a different starting point to chain together solutions. That record-and-replay mechanic yields clever puzzles and satisfying “aha” moments as you collect musical notes scattered through each stage. Compact, inventive, and relentlessly clever — don’t skip this one.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A — New Side Missions
Pokémon Legends: Z-A already delivers a strong open-world Pokémon experience, and recent Mystery Gift support has added valuable content. Claim the current Mystery Gifts to receive a Diancite stone plus Mewtwonite X and Y; these unlock two new Lumiose side missions — Shine Bright Like A Gemstone and Project M — which let you encounter and capture Diancie and Mewtwo. With the stones you receive, both can be Mega Evolved. Additionally, participating in online ranked battles and climbing the ladder can net you the Greninjite, Delphoxite, and Chesnaughtite stones as rewards. Those rank rewards are tied to the current Season 3 cycle, so if you want those Mega Stones, jump into ranked mode soon.
More details on the Mystery Gift and side missions are available here and here.
