MMO Weekly Recap #447 April 2nd – April Fool’s Recap, Undawn Revealed, ESO Free Play and More!

JamesBl0nde recaps the MMO gaming news for the week of April 2, 2021! Transcript follows.

NASCAR and Formula 1 fans will get excited about Rocket League season 3, the latest champion in paladins is firing her laser, we’ve got a new open world survival game from Tencent and the latest version of Smite lets you encounter the gods on the go… maybe that’s a bad idea.

What’s good everyone, JamesBl0nde here with the weekly recap for gaming news and announcements for the week of April 2nd 2021 and starting out the news this week

Yesterday was one of the best days of the year for gaming – no it wasn’t E3 or PAX, we’re talking April Fool’s. Some of the funniest jokes come out on this one day a year that game devs and gamers are allowed to be wild and imagine whatever they want. So starting off the crazyness is

Zoom Royale, which takes the work at home experience to a whole new level! Fight for the right to stand on your soapbox and take over the call – if you hesitate or show weakness, you’ll be eliminated. Of course, having a laggy connection will also see you losing points. And the winner gets to make their own chicken dinner.

Speaking of chicken dinner, PUBG is out – and POBG is in! Yes, PUBG is going to its roots with PlayerOmNom’s Battlegrounds. They’ve dug up this game out of the arcade bins and brought its top-down, chicken rampage straight to PC – for real, it’s actually playable on PC through PUBG until April 12th.

Battle Royales not competitive enough? Squad has announced its vaporware sequel, Squad 2, available on two CD-ROMS or 36 Floppy Disks. You guys probably don’t even know what that is. This promises to be the “next 360 no-scope major league gaming sensation.” You’ve never played a shooter on rails like this before.

Love neon but prefer a more modern aesthetic? War Thunder’s got you covered with Warfare 2077. Modern tech is so last year – we’re now all about stealth bombers, optical camouflage, smart missiles, and tanks with lasers. Lasers!  And if you miss some classic cartoon experiences, check out the TailSpin mode!

Not to be left out, World of Tanks has its own update prepped – the Update of the Year, 1.404. This update features slow motion so you can matrix your way past incoming fire, a new voice assistant, the anime graphics mode, and the Tier 0 DaVinci tank which has a 360 degree firing range!

If all this has you going “What the Cluck,” Neverwinter has you covered because they’re letting the chickens out of their cages! Until April 15th you can complete special events and quests, earn rewards, and unruffle your feathers in all sorts of hen hijinks. Not gonna lie, that’s kinda weird.

Need your gods on the go? SMITE’s revealed SMITE GO!, a new mobile AR experience where you can meet the pantheon out in the real world! Caution – some spells and effects might be a bit too realistic. If you’d rather stay at home to play with your gods, make sure you introduce yourself to Chad Gilgamesh, Soviet Khepri, and Body Pillow Tiamat all showcased in the latest god reveal.

And finally, if you’ve run out of dating sims – you’ve romanced all the dads, pigeons, and swords out there – Star Trek Online is adding a new mode so you can date your starship! That’s super sexy! Five paths and five hunks of spacejunk to win your heart.

Now that the Fools are out of our system, let’s move on to serious news…

Tencent’s announced a new open world survival game called Undawn. Created by the same team that created PUBG Mobile, Undawn is slated to release on PC, iOS, and Android later this year. The game utilizes Unreal 4 and focuses on a co-op experience, although it will combine players versus zombies gameplay with PvP to keep the survival experience tense. Expect the game to include scavenging, crafting, trading, and shelter building as part of this upcoming title.

Feeling the need for speed? Well then you’ll want a dose of Rocket League season 3! Beginning in early April, brace yourself for 70+ brand new items in the Rocket Pass premium pack, including the brand new Tyranno car!  Not enough?  How about NASCAR and Formula 1 content?  NASCAR content will arrive in May, with F1 items to follow.  Of course, with any new season, you can look forward to competitive rewards, all new challenges, tournaments, and more!

Watch out, everyone, drones are taking over Crossout!  The Dronapocalypse is back, and will last until April 11.  Take control of a drone, with six new ones available, in an 8v8 combat and try and destroy your opponent’s Leviathan.  Feeling festive?  Well, you can always try and find the Easter eggs hidden throughout your garage.  A brand new pack is also available until April 30, featuring The Keeper.  This pack gives you a brand new unique vehicle and weapon type, plus you’ll gain access to the Syndicate garage simply by purchasing. Look out for this and some necessary balancing changes right now in Crossout!

Speaking of cars and demolition, Heavy Metal Machines has just introduced a new arena! Sacrifice Sanctuary is designed to take sacrifices to the Metal Gods to keep monsters banished to the depths. That’s pretty deep. This hellish arena features new hazards, shortcuts, and other mechanics to challenge even the most skilled racers. The arena’s now available on PC and console, so no matter where you’re playing you’ll be able to destroy in style.

There’s a new hero joining the Paladin’s roster, and she’s looking rather … indomitable, shall we say?  Octavia, the Indomitable looks to be a force to be reckoned with, what with her marksman rifle, ability to leap and levitate for a short period, and even call down a laser barrage on your enemies.  Her Distortion Field ability will also provide a measure of support to the battlefield, aiding allies and hindering enemies alike.  In addition to Octavia, the game has introduced a brand new challenge system to replace battle pass challenges, dubbed Trials of the Realm.  Complete weekly quests to unlock a variety of rewards, including sprays, avatars, and more!

Hi Rez has also delivered a new reveal this week for SMITE – introducing its second god of the year, Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is a Warrior with a fiery scimitar and moves that include slows, beacons, and a freakin’ dropkick! SMITE’s also revealed its upcoming new Conquest map, which not only has visual changes but introduces a new vine walls mechanic in the Jungle. During the patch notes update the team also hinted at the new Slash mode coming at the end of the year, which aims to combine both Siege and Clash modes into a better balanced 5v5 mode. Sounds interesting.

Checking in with Genshin Impact, it looks like the Windblume Festival is wrapping up. The festival featured plenty of small stories and Fall Guys style mini games – with some great rewards, including a playable harp! Of course, what people might be looking forward to the most is the release of Rosaria, the upcoming 4 Star Cryo Polearm user.  First introduced during the Dragonspine update of 1.2, Rosaria has been long sought after by players.  Her kit looks quite interesting, with her skill teleporting her behind her enemies — nothing personal, kid — and her burst sending out waves of cryo to continuously damage her enemies.  Rosaria’s coming soon, so now’s the perfect time to gather more primogems! And if you’re one of the lucky ones with a  PlayStation 5, good news – this week Mihoyo has announced the PS5 version of the game.

Meanwhile Ylands has received a new update this week, called Trading Territories. This is a pretty impressive update, which includes the ability to discover custom built islands while exploring your world map. Currently these maps are created by the Ylands team, but in the future, player-created islands and even entire game modes can be discovered this way.  There’s a new building and vendor crafting station, new permission options, and other quality of life improvements including the beta version of text-scripting API for the more hardcore creators.

Next up The Elder Scrolls Online held a preview event this past week for the Blackwood Chapter, the next upcoming expansion for the MMO, and we’ve linked the stream down below if you want to check out the gameplay and details revealed. But alongside that, ESO has added its Blackwood Prologue quest on all platforms, a questline available for anyone on the base game. Completing these quests gives you a special memento you may make use of in Blackwood itself. On top of that, ESO is hosting another free play event, running from March 31st until April 13th. Free players can access the base game, Morrowind’s zone, and access to the Blackwood prologue quest. Great time to check the game out or revisit it.

Finally let’s touch base with the free game of the week on the Epic Games Store – Tales of the Neon Sea. Head into a bright, futuristic world and try to solve a murder, while enjoying lots of collectables, achievements, and the ability to play as a cat. A great detective game!

But with that said, that’s about it for all the major news and announcements for this week. Be sure to stay safe, and keep your families healthy! Like always you can find more information on the news topics, linked in the description below, feel free to discuss the news or even more news in the comments below and don’t forget to like, subscribe, wash your hands a bunch, hit that little bell icon to get notifications and of course share this video! But until next time guys that’s going to be it for me… I’m JamesBl0nde… see ya out there gamers!