Brendan: Hello, John. We have been playing Trials Rising. It is a extreme game about being extreme. Do you have time to talk about motorbicycles and all the amazing flips and flops that they can do?

John: Oh, I suppose so.

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Once I went to the zoo in San Diego, and a load of people were banging on the glass at an orangutan and its baby instead of just being appropriately (quietly) awed. One man in particular was hollering at what was a very sad looking ape, and honestly if there was justice in the world the orangutan would have smashed free and liquified that man s limbs like a bouncer squeezing an uncooked sausage. In Ape Out, there is that justice. And jazz. And it is glorious.

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If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, engages in turn-based tactical combat like a duck, and is free to look at like a duck, it must be a demo for Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden. All and sundry are now invited to try out 2018’s delightful tactics ’em up for free, sneaking and shooting through the post-apocalyptic wasteland full of mutants and oddities in the game’s opening stages. It’s a bit XCOM-meets-S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-meets-Howard The Duck-meets-Hitman, and really quite a bit good. As you can now see for yourself. For folks who were already Stalking around the Zone, hey, a new challenge mode with leaderboards launched this week too.

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Ahead of The Division 2‘s free open beta test running this weekend, you can now preload the beta client so you’ll be ready to go when it’s go time. Well, you’ll be ready if you can download 44.5GB by tomorrow morning. Yes, that preloading period does seem a little short for folks without mega-whizzy connections. But hey, if you want to scamper about apocalyptic Washington D.C. with your warpals in Ubisoft’s online looter-shooter, hop to it.

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Pirates and their natural meme enemies, ninjas, have brought their decade-old cyberfight to Fortnite with the launch of Season 8. Epic have once again reshaped the landscape of their free-to-play battle royale ’em up, sprouting a volcano sicking up lava. What I’m most interested to see, however, is the pirate cannons now scattered around the map, which players can use to fire boooring cannon balls or hop in themselves and fly with terrible destructive force as a human cannonball. I’ll take that foolishness, thank you.

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The people have spoken. The people, it turns out, would like anti-vaxers to be added to Plague Inc, an infect ’em up inspired by (well, copied from) hit noughties flash game Pandemic. You play as a disease attempting to eradicate humanity, like a viral incarnation of Nickelback*. Anyone who says Change.org never has a meaningful impact on the world is a fool.

Developers Ndemic Creations have heard your cries, and announced a special scenario involving anti-vaxers. An easier one, presumably.

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Hue is an delightful puzzle game which is incredibly bright and colourful (unsurprisingly), where you progress by changing the colour of the background. At its core it s quite a sad game. You re searching for your missing mother, and you uncover her story as you go. This takes you through various themes of love, loss, remorse, and existence. It might be sad, but damn it s beautiful.

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Starbreeze and Overkill Software’s awful few months just got worse, as Overkill’s The Walking Dead has been pulled from sale on Steam over a falling out between license holders. Skybound – Walking Dead rights-holders and company of series creator Robert Kirkman – announced they were terminating their contract with publisher Starbreeze. Starbreeze have since issued their own statement saying that they hope to “resolve the issue to find an amicable solution”, with hopes of returning the game to sale, and delivering the remaining planned episodic updates.

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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the upcoming Star Wars game by Titanfall and Apex Legends studio Respawn Entertainment, will be a little less shrouded in mystery this April. In this official blog post, they announce that EA will be showcasing the game on Saturday, April 13th at the Star Wars Celebration convention in Chicago. If you’ve been off in a galaxy far, far away, Fallen Order is set shortly after the prequel trilogy, and tells the story of a young Padawan who somehow survived Order 66, the backstabbilicious Jedi purge carried out by the Emperor’s loyal clone army.

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The big melee revamp for space-ninja loot n’ shooter Warframe might be late, but Digital Extremes just rolled out an overhaul of one of its older, clunkier core parts. Alerts – time-limited side missions, rewarding players with money, crafting blueprints and the occasional bit of rare crafting gear – are out. In their place comes Nightwave, seasons of new story-driven missions delivered by pirate radio host Nora Night, with a progression track and less capricious reward store. This season, Tenno are hunting an escaped convict; The Wolf Of Saturn Six. The update is live – see the trailer below.

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