Take a deep breath. It’s been one of the most crowded spring release schedules I’ve ever seen, and we’re not quite done—Prey releases next week. But we’re almost done, and then you’ll have a solid four months to catch your breath before we head into fall. I’m looking forward to finally getting around to NieR Automata, Sexy Brutale, and finally finishing off Snake Pass.
But for now, news. This week Terry Crews received a custom-built PC full of Old Spice, Planet Coaster shows off its hidden cheat codes, Night Trap is getting an HD remake (for some reason), and Forza Horizon 3 has the best DLC in the world: Hot Wheels-themed racing. Hell yes.
This is gaming news for April 24 to 28.
Releases
The last two weeks have been crazy for game releases, so I’m taking a bit of time this week to highlight some of the more interesting ones. We’ll hopefully do reviews of these at some point.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a short little bundle of feelings that’s one of my favorite games so far this year:
And while I know next-to-nothing about Little Nightmares, which releases today, I’ve fallen in love with some of the images in this launch trailer. It looks unique, if nothing else.
Cheat code central
Good ol’ cheat codes have really fallen by the wayside nowadays. If I had to guess, it’s because people take achievements seriously? But whatever the reason, it feels like a special occasion when a game not only includes cheat codes but openly discusses them.
Give a round of applause to Frontier and Planet Coaster, then. This week Frontier sponsored a series of videos detailing how to—among other things— drive go-karts, turn off coaster friction, and make all your guests vomit at the same time.
Infinite Quakes
Every week I tell myself “This is the last Quake Champions trailer I’m going to post for a while,” but come next week Bethesda’s released another and, well, everyone could use more gibs right? Also the closed beta is running right now.
Wooorld record
The new speedrun record for Dark Souls 3? Approximately an hour and a half. An hour and 24 minutes, to be exact. I can’t comprehend how this is possible, even after watching through it. (Via PC Gamer)
Fraud prevention
Can’t say I’m excited about this precedent. After requiring a phone number to use the Steam marketplace, Valve is now moving (as of May 4) to require a phone number just to play ranked Dota 2 matches, ostensibly to cut down on the number of people smurfing new accounts. Seems...a bit extreme, and I’m none too excited for EA, Ubisoft, and every other publisher to suddenly require the same.
It’s a trap
Back in 2014 there was a Kickstarter campaign to fund a Night Trap HD remaster. The Kickstarter died, in part because it made some weird (read: probably impossible) promises and also...Night Trap? It’s a bad FMV game known mostly because it led to the creation of the ESRB. Did it really need a remake?
But in spite of a failed Kickstarter Night Trap is back, this time for a “25th Anniversary Edition.” Best part? The game, at one point so offensive the ESRB needed to come into being, is rated Teen by 2017 standards. Heh.
Mental block
Jonathan Blow unofficially-officially showed off a prototype of his new game at Reboot last weekend. Mark your calendars for (I assume) seven years from now when it finally releases. Jump to 16:16 in the below video, and thanks to Daniel Bross for uploading.
Slow zoom
If this week’s Outlast 2 release isn’t enough to sate your horror needs, keep an eye out for Sylvio 2 later this year. Or uh...check out the below, very short and very static teaser vid.
New horizons
In case you thought Rocket League was the only video game to snag awesome car licenses, think again. This week Microsoft announced a Hot Wheels expansion for Forza Horizon 3, which is the most out-of-left-field DLC I could possibly imagine—and also the greatest. Orange track, loops, jumps, verticals, giant ring of fire, and an honest-to-goodness Tyrannosaurus Rex. Incredible.
Even better? It’s only two weeks away, releasing May 9.
Spicy
If you didn’t know, Terry Crews has low-key become one of the biggest celebrity proponents for PC gaming over the past year-ish. That’s about all you need to know to enjoy the below video, wherein YouTuber JayzTwoCents did a gorgeous custom build for Crews complete with Old Spice coloring and a stick of Old Spice inside. Should’ve gone with Wolfthorn instead of Bearglove though.
