The Video Games You Should Play This Weekend – September 19, 2025

Ghost of Yotei is just a few weeks from launch, but if you’re feeling a historical Japanese-themed hole in your heart, we have good news! Assassin’s Creed Shadows has released its first major story expansion, which is free to those who pre-ordered the original game, and otherwise is available for purchase. The base game left some important threads unanswered, and this new expansion does a good job of helping to resolve some of those threads. Naoe and Yasuke are both given some new and satisfying targets to track down, taking them to a new island with additional story development. While Naoe gets a new weapon type (bo staffs!), the roughly 10 hours of new gameplay should otherwise feel pretty familiar. Nonetheless, this is a welcome addition for those who felt the game’s plot didn’t wrap up as well as it could have.

Like many, I am basically a sucker when it comes to Apple tech. I don’t get a new phone every year, or a MacBook, or a watch (I am a games journalist; let’s be reasonable), but I am always eager to get the new AirPods. With the exception of my phone, they are my most-used pieces of technology. I always have a podcast going, or they’re connected to my Switch 2, or my TV – I use them a lot. It’s a roundabout way to say, I got the new AirPods Pro 3 today, which required an update to iOS version 26. I fear change, so I don’t like the way it looks and animates (I will get over it), but I was surprised to see a new dedicated Games app.

I love this conceptually. As it stands now, I have a few folders on my phone labeled things like Apple Arcade, Games, and of course, Games II. I don’t like organizing them, and they have become unwieldy because I download a lot of games on my phone – far more than I actually play. I am fully on board with a separate app that automatically organizes them. It’s functionally like Steam. I don’t know if it will be as good as Steam, but I appreciate that Apple is trying to make a place to organize all of it. It will also, I hope, help with comparing high scores with friends and all that. Those elements have been available for some time, but it’s been hard to track up to this point.

All of this is to say, if you like playing games on your iPhone, don’t be scared of the new update.

If you’re looking for something co-op to play this weekend, I’d recommend Lego Voyagers! I beat it in two sittings with my fiancée, so it’s nice and short, but paced very well. The story, especially the end, is a real standout, and it’s shocking how emotional I got about these two nameless, one-eyed Lego blocks. Its puzzle-platforming gameplay is generally fun, but I far prefer the puzzles to the platforming, and despite the game’s visuals, I expect some jumps will give younger kids a hard time. Still, it’s worth trying if you’re interested, and there’s no problem too difficult that handing the controller to the parent or older sibling won’t fix. Note that, unlike some other games, this can only be played co-op, so you need someone else to play it with you, but it comes with a free friend pass you can gift to someone else so you can play with them online. It’s a consumer-friendly practice that makes me an even bigger fan of the game.

I highly recommend jumping into The Finals if you’re looking for a multiplayer title to play this weekend. I argue that developer Embark’s first-person shooter continues to feature the most interesting mechanics and systems currently available in the genre. The team released Season 8 a little over a week ago, and it’s a fantastic time to jump into The Finals to experience the immense fun and creative strategies it cultivates.

For years now, I’ve heard about how good the Trails series is, but any attempt to start has seemed daunting. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is now out, and alongside being a complete overhaul of the first game in the Trails series, it’s also the perfect jumping-on point. It’s actually quaint by comparison to many other recent RPGs; rather than fighting world-ending disaster or running in a fantasy election, you follow the adventures of Estelle Bright, an up-and-coming adventurer trying to follow in her father’s footsteps. 

I’m still in the early chapters, but already, 1st Chapter’s commitment to having a lived-in world, where NPC dialogue changes over time in response to story events and side quests are smaller scale but more heartfelt, really works for me. If you’re an RPG fan who’s been on the Trails fence for a long time, now’s the time to hop on over.