Tekken 8 or Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth? Decisions, decisions.
This week, a critical choice must be made. Do we go down a road of violence and play the highly-anticipated fighting game Tekken 8, or do we enjoy an Avengers: Endgame-like team up of Yakuza protagonists Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth? Obviously, one could play both - if one had all the time in the world. It’ll take ages to master your mains in Tekken 8, and quite a bit of time to beat a game in the notoriously lengthy Yakuza franchise.
Either way, here’s what we’re playing and watching this week:
What we’re playing this week
A few games are coming this week that I’m pretty pumped for. First off, the 2022 interactive film game Immortality is coming to PlayStation 5 on January 23. The universally praised game is definitely worth checking out for anyone interested in a creative mystery story. Players solve a mystery revolving around the disappearance of actress Marissa Marcel by flicking through clips of her appearances in three movies spanning over three decades.
Besides Immortality, however, January's biggest hitters finally arrive this week: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Tekken 8, both launching on January 26. In Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, new series protagonist Inchiban Kasuga unites with old series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu in a rather unlikely setting: Hawaii! The series heads overseas for the first time ever as the duo look to find Ichiban’s mother and a cure for Kiryu’s illness, respectively.
Tekken 8 on the other hand, brings the iconic fighting game franchise back with new modes and characters, but the same ol’ Mishima family drama. The campaign will see Jin Kazama face off against his father Kazuya Mishima in a climactic battle, while Jin’s mother Jun Kazama mysteriously returns. If you’re looking for something else to play, Pokemon with Guns - I mean, Palworld - has launched and lit the world on fire with its cute Pokemon-like Pals which can be collected and used as weapons and/or slaves. Yeah, that’s a real thing! Here’s a very real clip of this very real game:
What we’re watching this week
There’s a bunch of new shows premiering this week! First up is Masters of the Universe: Revolution on January 25, Netflix’s continuation of the He-Man reboot. In this series, Teela has to prevent the end of the Universe by solving a mystery revolving around the missing Sword of Power, and in doing so uncover the secrets of Grayskull at last. On January 26, Amazon Prime Video is pushing out a series called Expats, created by The Farewell director Lulu Wang and starring Nicole Kidman. The series follows a close-knit expatriate community whose personal lives are intertwined, complicated and rather public.
On January 26, Apple TV+’s big-budget World War II series Masters of the Air drops, serving as a companion piece to HBO’s Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The series has a pretty stacked cast too, with the likes of Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, Callum Turner and Ncuti Gatwa. Check out our most anticipated TV shows of 2024 here for more!
