Here we are, almost a week after Ubisoft sprayed farts into my nose, and I’m still feeling a bit sick. Was it actually farts? Or was it something worse? Maybe tuberculosis, or black plague, or anthrax. Or maybe they ground up the source code for Watch Dogs and shot it straight into my nose. That would certainly explain the feelings of impending illness.
Anyway, some news happened this week. Mass Effect Andromeda showed off some new game footage, Interplay put itself up for auction, Deus Ex added DX12, and Shadow Warrior 2 killed a lot of people. Like, a lot. This is gaming news for September 5 through 9.
Freebies
Free games are always good, right? Even if it’s Ubisoft’s middling open-world racer The Crew? The latest in Ubi’s 30th anniversary celebration, The Crew will be free through Uplay starting September 14—meaning for the next four days, you can still grab a copy of Rayman Origins if you haven’t already.
And Humble is giving away copies of city-builder Tropico 4 until mid-day Saturday, redeemable on Steam. Might as well grab it.
Er…also Steam will let you play Homefront: The Revolution for free this weekend. It’s in your game library. Personally I’d recommend you do literally anything else with your Saturday and Sunday.
Requiescat
Interplay, one of the foremost publishers of the ‘80s and ‘90s, announced this week that it will sell off the rest of its remaining assets to those who want a piece. It’s a sad end to a storied company—one that developed The Bard’s Tale, Wasteland, and Fallout and published Baldur’s Gate, Carmageddon, Planescape: Torment , Descent, Earthworm Jim, Freespace 2, and about a hundred other games.
Not that Interplay in 2016 is the same as Interplay in 1999—that mantle’s been passed to Obsidian and inXile. But still, it’s one hell of a loss.
Come on, Mass Effect
You’re excited for Mass Effect Andromeda? I’m excited for Mass Effect Andromeda. I think most people are excited about Mass Effect Andromeda (where people is: the subset that plays big-budget games).
That being said: Come on, EA. This has to be one of the most generic, boring trailers you could put together for a series as storied as Mass Effect. Someone give me the over-under on this game being delayed again come 2017.
Still walking
No matter how prolific Telltale gets, no matter how many new games it churns out, I still have a soft spot for The Walking Dead—the first of the modern Telltale era. News this week has the third season of The Walking Dead, subtitled A New Frontier, hitting in November. Go ahead, do a little fist pump. And then check out this key art:
Silence
There’s yet another adventure game hitting in November. Daedalic announced this week that Silence, its follow-up to The Whispered World, will arrive on November 15. I’m excited for this one, both because I like the universe and because Daedalic’s grown a lot as a studio in the years since—The Whispered World feels incredibly dated, post-Memoria.
And in case you missed the Gamescom trailer:
A better aug
Still playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided? Haven’t started it yet? Well lucky you, because Eidos Montreal pushed DirectX 12 support to the game this week. Sort of.
If you right-click on the game in Steam, go down to Properties, and click the Beta tab you should be able to opt in to the new “dx12_preview” branch. This is an unofficial preview for DX12 support, so as Eidos says, expect “minor hiccups.” Radeon cards tend to see decent performance increases, while GeForce cards are experiencing massive performances drops in this beta DX12 release. Stick to DX11 if you’re packing Team Green’s goods.
…Why?
League of Geeks, the developer behind digital board game Armello, announced last week that it would be bringing out new DLC for the game—but only to the Steam version. And GOG.com owners of the DRM-free version? Left out in the cold with no (concrete) explanation given.
Lucky for you, GOG.com seems to be made up of some kind-hearted individuals. If you’re one of the unlucky ones who now owns a lesser version of Armello, GOG is offering refunds, no questions asked.
Prey for me
After keeping dark on Prey for years and years and years, Bethesda sure is ripping the lid off this game with all the force of a nuclear bomb. Trailer at E3. Trailer at QuakeCon. And now, yet more Prey footage:
(Via PC Gamer)
Off with their heads
This new trailer for Shadow Warrior 2 opens with decapitated bodies and gets more gruesome from there. Consider yourself warned.