This week, Kentucky Route Zero launched its final act, Monster Hunter improved performance, and GTA Online is giving away cash. Read on for more of the week s PC gaming patches in The Weekly Updates Update.
Right, listen. There hasn’t been a single good goose-based goof, joke, edit, photoshop, tweet or otherwise made in the five months since House House let Untitled Goose Game loose upon the world. Slapping the feathered devil into any old context just doesn’t cut it, and the phrase “and you are a horrible goose” is a patter abyss – this is the hill I choose to die on. But VR developer Sam Chiet may have broken that trend with Desktop Goose, a digital companion that walks the walk, honks the honk, and causes chaos upon your poor PC.
Did you know Alien Hominid first appeared on flash portal Newgrounds in 2002? Do you also suddenly feel a sharp pain, as if all your bones had shattered into dust in an instant? Flash games might be dead and buried (for the most part), but one of its most enduring legacies is about to make a screaming, toothy comeback. Only a whole eighteen years after the head-munching rascal’s debut, The Behemoth are bringing him back in Alien Hominid: Invasion.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a nice hole to fall into.
Well, we’ve made it to February of 2020. Has the sheen of the new decade worn off yet? It sure does seem like, even with the new numbers and everything, we’re pretty much right where we left off. My laundry doesn’t suddenly do itself now that I live in the future, and politics still suck. It seems that coming to live in the brave new world of the 2020s is a lot like growing up — I keep wandering around, blindly waiting to feel like I’m an adult. I’m almost 30, and I have a sinking suspicion that nothing is going to start making sense any time soon.
Here’s your free games roundup, folks. Today’s collection features the absurdity of being alive and navigating the horror of perseverance. But fun!
Once, long ago, Size Five Games’ Ben-and-Dan ’em up Lair of the Clockwork God was gunning for a Summer 2019 release. But last July, Size Five pushed the release back into late 2019, perhaps even 2020. There was a bit of last-minute tuning to do, sure – but more than that, Dan was worried his plucky platformer might struggle for air. Last year had a few bangers – and beneath the likes of Death Stranding, Call of Duty, Jedi: Fallen Order n’ that, who’d pay attention to a silly little puzzle-platformer?
But whether they’re confident in next month’s lack of competition, or simply decided they can’t keep sitting on Clockwork God forever, the pair have settled on a concrete release date – with a new trailer revealing a February 21st debut for Ben and Dan’s next adventure.
Ha ha shut up with your ‘February’ nonsense, no one’s buying it. Second week of January, that I’d believe. I’d also accept the third week of March. But February 1st? That’s either way too soon or way too late. Pull the other one. Look, keep this up and I’ll give you a pinch and a punch for the first of the month (no returns, obvs).
What are you playing this weekend? Here’s what we’re clicking on!
Don’t panic. Or don’t get too excited, depending on your opinions on the long-dead The Sims Online from 2002. During a recent earnings call, EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson alludes to experimenting with social and competitive elements in a future Sims game but the word “MMO” was definitely not mentioned. Instead he says that “this notion of social interactions and competition […] will start to become a part of The Sims experience in the years to come.”
Early this month, the studio behind the archaeological language adventure Heaven’s Vault tweeted out seven words teasing their next project. At the time, the story-focused Inkle Studios had only this to share: “swords, anguish, Britain, unrequited, forests, hope, and revenge.” As of today we’ve still got no imagery to go with all the teasing but we do have some more words and they’re much less abstract this time.
We’ve known about Adobe’s plans to kill of Flash for years now. Back in 2017 Alice O shouted off a list of memorable Flash games and it’s telling that I’ve an entirely different list in my head (as do all of you) of games that it will be a shame to lose. Fortunately there are enough preservationists here in the wilds of The Internet looking to keep an archive of what was, even the wonky ones. Flashpoint is a launcher preserving all the old games and animations built in Flash before Adobe trashes support this year.
It’s come to everyone’s attention that Blizzard have revamped their User Generated Content policy just in time to launch Warcraft 3: Reforged, and claim ownership of all maps made in its editor. The new legalese, while definitely overbearing and disappointing, shouldn’t be a surprise: they started tightening legal claims years ago with StarCraft II.