We’re approximately four days from the Oculus Rift’s launch, so maybe read this week’s gaming wrap-up whilst wearing flip-flops, in honor of Palmer Luckey. Or don’t, if you think feet are weird.
This week: The Banner Saga 2 gets a release date, as does Hyper Light Drifter, Verdun gets around to showing the “horrors of war,” and Elite: Dangerous gets a Shatner voice pack. He’s a rocket man, and this is gaming news for the week of March 21 – 25.
Fashionably late
World War I shooter Verdun finally got around to implementing new troops this week, the good ol’ apple pie-eating American boys. And it’s free. The new “Horrors of War” expansion also adds the Belgians, a Champagne map where you fight under the light of the moon, a bunch of weapons, new squads and uh…gore options? Watch the trailer below if you want to see a pretty harrowing depiction of a guy with his arm blown off.
The rest of the tale
It’s been two long years since The Banner Saga rolled credits on me right when I thought things were about to heat up. Two long years of cliffhanger. So imagine my delight when I opened Steam and saw a big Banner Saga 2 banner on the front page. It’s arriving April 19.
The real Walking Dead
Speaking of cliffhangers, it’s been nearly two years since we hung out with Clementine and the rest (if you managed to save anyone) of Telltale’s Walking Dead crew. Good news for people who like bad news: Mashable reports that the third season is scheduled to arrive later this year.
It’s finished
This one’s not so much a cliffhanger as just a loooooooong development cycle: Hyper Light Drifter finally has a release date. Originally scheduled to come out in June 2014, it’ll now arrive March 31, 2016. I guess that’s what happens when you raise thirty times your initial Kickstarter goal.
You’ll face death
Dark Souls III is out April 11. From Software sure is talented when it comes to trailers. Damn.
Gorilla warfare
Blizzard’s always been best-in-class when it came to cinematics, but they’ve really doubled down for their upcoming shooter Overwatch. The initial announcement trailer was basically a Pixar-quality animated short, and now Blizzard’s making a bunch of those to introduce the world of the game. Here’s the first, starring gorilla scientist Winston:
The final frontier
“But what can I do in Elite: Dangerous?” You’ve asked, and now someone’s come up with a solution: Listen to William Shatner’s dulcet tones as you putter around the galaxy. To be clear: This isn’t an official Frontier development. It’s courtesy of HCS Voicepacks and plugs into VoiceAttack, a bit of voice recognition software. But it’s great.