Every Friday, A.V. Club staffers kick off the weekend by taking a look at the world of gaming, diving in to the ideas that underpin the hobby we love with a bit of Game Theory. We’ll sound off in the space above, and invite you to respond down in the comments, telling us what you’re playing this weekend, and what theories it’s got you kicking around.

At the time of writing this, I’ve had my Switch 2—a press unit sent by Nintendo, it’s worth noting—for almost exactly 24 hours. In that day of futzing around with my new toy, I can easily say that the best games I’ve played on it were The Binding Of Isaac, a game I’ve already logged literally 2,000 hours with, and a mouse-based minigame buried a couple of menus down in the Bravely Default remaster. This feels at least mildly inauspicious.

“But what of Mario Kart?” the people cry out, and, yes, Mario Kart World is a very good Mario Kart game: The new courses are genuinely gorgeous—I giggled like an idiot the first time I realized the gimmick of DK Spaceport, which turns the original Donkey Kong into a switchback-heavy race track—the open world mechanics are intriguing (if a bit thin), and the battle royale-esque Knockout Tour mode is a thrilling, unpredictable distillation of the franchise’s automotive chaos. But it is still Mario Kart: It’ll kill in multiplayer, and it’s easy to throw on when you want to get a few quick rounds in. But, like the Switch 2 itself, the new game feels like a very safe iteration on what’s worked in the past—notably, the supported-for-a-literal-decade Mario Kart 8—rather than something thrilling and new.