For many in the gaming industry, April is something of a cursed month thanks to the arrival of April Fools’ Day, which is, of course, the day on which gaming companies decide to get silly.
Not every studio pulled a prank on its fans for this most auspicious of days, but many did, and games journalists often curse April Fools’ Day for interfering with genuine news.
Thankfully, April Fools’ Day doesn’t last all week, so there are still plenty of intriguing things to report on even without all of the “hilarious” jokes. Here’s our roundup of this week in gaming news!
April Fools’ Day jokes galore
If our opening paragraph sounded somewhat curmudgeonly, it’s only because we’re jaded industry commentators. The fact is that April Fools’ Day can still be great fun in the world of gaming.
Gamespot’s excellent roundup of the best April Fools’ Day jokes demonstrates that to a tee. Palworld dev Pocketpair, for instance, decided to create a mock dating sim based on its game, while Naraka: Bladepoint introduced a deadly new weapon in the form of…wait for it…your hands.
Other highlights include IGN’s Virtual Boy comeback trailer, PowerWash Simulator flipping the script with a game that lets you spread dirt all over everything, and Cyberpunk 2077 now coming on tens of thousands of floppy disks. Ask your parents, kids.
Xbox’s April Game Pass lineup
The announcement of new Game Pass games is always a momentous occasion, and the first half of April is getting a rather impressive haul indeed.
Games heading to Game Pass in April include shooter-puzzler Superhot: Mind Control Delete, calming explore-’em-up Lil Gator Game, and frenetic racer Lego 2K Drive.
Later in the month, the promising-looking Botany Manor rubs shoulders with Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and a rather curious-looking narrative adventure by the name of Harold Halibut. You’ll have to play it to find out, we suppose!
Nobuo Uematsu will return for the third and final part of Final Fantasy VII Remake
The Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy has proven to be an epic undertaking, with the game’s second part, Rebirth, garnering critical acclaim and fan adoration alike.
Now, Final Fantasy fans have something to get even more excited about: longtime series composer Nobuo Uematsu will return for the game’s third and final instalment, which doesn’t have a name or a release date yet.
Uematsu confirmed his return in a discussion with project lead Tetsuya Nomura, and although it sounds like he’s only composing a single song for the game (as he did for the first two parts), it’ll still be nice to hear Uematsu’s work once again.
Hey, Bloodborne Kart is still around, but it’s not called that anymore
If you keep up with fan passion projects, especially those made in tribute to From Software games, then you’ll probably be aware of Bloodborne Kart, a quirky racer that featured Bloodborne characters and locations.
Unfortunately, Sony put the brakes on that particular game, but that hasn’t dissuaded its developers, who have returned with a “legally distinct” version of the game called Nightmare Kart.
It’s essentially the same game as you know and love, but with the serial numbers carefully filed off; instead of Micolash, you’re getting “Nicholas”, and so on and so forth. The release date for this one is May 31st, so dust off your Threaded Cane and get ready to lap some eldritch nightmares.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 will cap at 30fps on consoles
Frame rate warriors beware: it looks like Ninja Theory’s upcoming mental health-oriented action-adventure game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 will have a somewhat restricted frame rate on consoles.
According to German gaming news outlet GamePro, Hellblade 2 will run at 30fps on both Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X (it doesn’t have a PlayStation version). This is apparently in order to make the game more cinematic.
We’re sure that there are plenty of gamers who would disagree with the assessment that a low frame rate makes a game more cinematic, but in any case, if you want to play Hellblade 2 with an unlocked frame rate, then you should probably pick it up on a fairly beefy PC.
Stop Killing Games wants to preserve your favourite games
The issue of game preservation is one that desperately needs to be talked about more. Frankly, none of us are paying enough attention to the fact that some of our favourite games may no longer be available in a matter of years, but thankfully, there are folks out there dedicated to fighting that cause.
Stop Killing Games is a new initiative by Accursed Farms YouTuber Ross Scott, and it’s aimed at making gaming studios accountable for creating games that rely on active support, thus becoming unplayable when that support is withdrawn at the discretion of the publisher.
This action was apparently inspired by the recent shutdown of Ubisoft’s racer The Crew, but it relates to all games that can’t be played without active servers or support, so if you care about video game preservation (and you absolutely should), then make sure you head on over to Stop Killing Games’ website and take action. You don’t need to spend a penny!
A new report accuses Life Is Strange developer Deck Nine of a toxic workplace culture
Thanks to the tireless work of IGN’s Rebekah Valentine, a new report emerged this week that shed light on an allegedly toxic workplace culture at Life Is Strange: True Colors and The Expanse developer Deck Nine.
The report, which is a fairly long one (but which is definitely worth reading in its entirety), contains details about hidden Nazi symbols within a development build of Life Is Strange, as well as low pay, crunch culture, and difficulties involving CCO and narrative director Zak Garriss.
Garriss refutes the allegations in the report in a response that IGN includes in its report. He says that the number of complaints lodged against him was “not significant” and that the majority of the feedback he received was “positive”.
