With a likeable loser anti-hero, colourful high school hallways full of misfit teens and teachers to meet, and a snide remark at the ready for almost every interaction, Cyanide & Happiness – Freakpocalypse has all the ingredients to bring the caustic comedy of its comic strip origins to life in videogame form. But while this adults-only point-and-click adventure initially resembles South Park: The Stick of Truth minus the turn-based fighting system, the combat isn’t the only thing that it’s lacking.
For starters, its story is somewhat poorly structured, with the ‘Freakpocalypse’ event in question relegated to a cutscene in the cliffhanger ending. It’s seemingly there purely as a device to set up the two sequels that are apparently planned for a later date. I was pretty surprised to see the closing credits roll just as I thought Freakpocalypse’s story had finally begun to get out of first gear, and I couldn’t help but feel that – as a standalone game – Freakpocalypse comes across as noticeably unfinished, like abandoning a comic after reading the first panel in a three-panel strip.
Happiness is a Warm Pun
For the vast majority of its brisk four-hour runtime, Freakpocalypse’s plot centers around social outcast Cooper ‘Coop’ McCarthy and his quest to avoid bullies, woo his crush, and perform odd jobs for his grandma, whose raging libido is played for cheap laughs. That’s not to say Freakpocalpyse isn’t genuinely funny at times, and certainly I got a kick out of the mixed metaphor-riddled pep talks from Principal McNally and the freestyled song lyrics of the guitar-strumming Warren Wonderwall lurking outside of the school. It’s also endearing that desperately asking a character to be Coop’s prom date is an option in just about every dialogue tree.
But elsewhere, the humour is mostly either presented in the form of corny dad joke puns — with the kid getting a drink in the hallway being named ‘Walter Fountain’ or another in the locker room showers named ‘Hayden Shoulders’ — or it’s just toilet stall graffiti-style smut. When Coop eventually leaves the school and heads to Rod’s Pizzeria, there’s a jar on the counter labelled ‘Just the Tip’… and if that’s too subtle for you, there’s also a picture on the wall of a towering sausage with two vegetables at its base. I appreciate low-brow humour as much as the next childish idiot, but the dick jokes here are a bit too, well, limp.
Strip Search
So too are the puzzles, which are far too basic to even tease your brain let alone wrestle it into a headlock and give it a rigorous noogie. When the school janitor’s closet is locked, you go and speak to the janitor who tells you the keys are in the boiler room, and sure enough… they are. That’s it. Puzzle solved. Some of these fetch quests do get slightly more convoluted later on, but at no point did they stop me in my tracks or make me ever contemplate the use of the built-in hint system. It’s initially cute the way that Freakpocalypse self-deprecatingly refers to its story and side objectives as ‘chores’, but less so when they very quickly start to feel a bit too much like brainless busywork.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=%5BPuzzles%5D%20are%20far%20too%20basic%20to%20even%20tease%20your%20brain%20let%20alone%20wrestle%20it%20into%20a%20headlock%20and%20give%20it%20a%20rigorous%20noogie.”]Not only are Freakpocalypse’s puzzles overly basic and lacking in variety, but there’s also a slight clumsiness to how you progress through them at times. Early on I’d already stumbled upon a rope and pulley and combined them to lift up a desk in the woodshop classroom to uncover a missing library book, before I’d even encountered the librarian who tasks you with finding it. This meant that when I eventually did visit the library and open an initial dialogue with her, she sent me to search for a book that I was able to return it to her instantly, which came across as an unintentionally comedic exchange.
There are some moments that cleverly play with the conventions of the point-and-click genre. When you try and drag a USB thumb drive from Coop’s backpack to the printer in the principal’s office, for example, it doesn’t fit at first and returns to his inventory upside down for you to try and use again, because that’s literally the experience of inserting any USB device into any USB port ever. But such inspired instances are rare, and despite there being an abundance of objects to interact with in every corner of Freakpocalypse’s vibrant small town setting, the general lack of surprise means it’s mostly all click and no point.
Silver Rain Games, an interactive entertainment development studio founded by Assassin’s Creed Origins’ Bayek of Siwa actor Abubakar Salim, has partnered with Electronic Arts’ EA Originals Label.
EA Originals will provide funding for Silver Rain Games’ unannounced IP and will give “guidance and support in the team’s journey to bring a fresh perspective to games and to the industry.”
Abubakar Salim and Melissa Phillips
Silver Rain was founded in December 2019 in the U.K. and it launched with the intent to “generate thought-provoking and innovative games and content across different mediums of entertainment.”
Salim, who also starred in HBO’s Raised by Wolves, co-founded the company with Melissa Phillips. Phillips will lead as Head of Studio and has previously worked as the BAFTA Games Programme manager on BAFTA Games programs and events.
Since its inception, the company has grown to approximately 20 staff members, who are all currently working remote.
“In what has been a challenging year, we have assembled an extraordinarily creative and worldly team who are eager to work on projects that bring their global perspectives to life. Together we will construct an exciting universe that unlocks the power of storytelling and the brilliance that brings,” said Salim. “We couldn’t be happier to work with the EA Originals team, who are phenomenal partners for us as we begin this journey. Not only does each of them understand our vision to inspire and entertain, but they also welcome this exciting new age of game development.”
EA Originals is EA’s way of working with the “best and boldest independent studios across the world to make sure these games get the scale of audience they deserve, with zero compromise on artistic vision.”
The label has already released such games as Unravel, Sea of Solitude, Rocket Arena, and Josef Fares’ A Way Out.
Electronic Arts has announced that it has partnered with Silver Rain Games, welcoming the studio’s upcoming debut title into the expanding library of EA Originals. Silver Rain Games is an indie studio founded and now led by Abubakar Salim (who voiced Assassin’s Creed Origins‘ Bayek and currently portrays Raised By Wolves‘ Father) and Melissa Phillips (who previously worked as the BAFTA games program manager). Prior to EA’s announcement about the partnership, I had the chance to sit down with both co-founders.
“It speaks volumes–the fact that you can’t actually define the genre of what [EA Originals] has built,” Salim told me when I asked as to Silver Rain Games’ reasoning for wanting to partner with EA. “That’s the beauty of the art form of what they support and build. There’s a freedom that the EA and the Originals team bring that allows you as the developer to truly find the strengths and weaknesses of what you bring to the table. At the end of the day, it’s the developer’s game.”
Phillips said that “for now” Silver Rain Games and EA’s partnership is only in regards to this first game that the studio is working on, which is still unannounced. During the interview, both Salim and Phillips remained tight-lipped about the game. “We want to tell you; we totally want to tell you,” Phillips laughed after I jokingly admitted that, though I was trying my best, it was proving difficult to talk around a game that I knew nothing about.
A recent video surfaced of drone footage travelling through Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and what’s notable is how skilled the pilot is along with how cool the final product of the video looks like. It’s worth your time to check it out for yourself.
It’ll be a few months yet before we can start thinking about things like putting our grubby mitts all over bowling balls thrown by dozens of other bowlers. Even so, we’re anticipating the day when we can once again gather at places like this bowling alley, which is the subject of the stunning short film, captured via drone, below.
The video comes via YouTuber jaybyrdfilms. In the video, an FPV drone begins above the bowling alley and snakes in through the door and around the alley as people bowl and chat. It works its way back into the back of the alley and back out, giving us a look at the whole building before the end.
GTA Online‘s latest update sees the return of savvy businessman Lamar Davis, who’ll be handing out double cash rewards and Reputation Points all week long. Davis won’t be the only game in town though as Martin Madrazo will also approach players with the same offer, so it’ll be worth keeping your eye on your phone to see who calls you first.
Double cash rewards and Reputation Points will also be available in a number of other activities, as Transform Races and Business Battles will be vying for your attention with added financial bonuses.
Hunting Pack: Remix will also offer increased rewards within its high-risk and high-reward arena. If you play as a Runner in this mode, you’ll need to keep the speed up to stop the bomb strapped to your vehicle from exploding while Attackers are tasked with bringing you down by any means necessary, avoiding any Defenders in the process.
An Xbox broadcast to celebrate Bethesda joining the company will be aired today, but it won’t focus on providing news or revealing projects. It will likely feature announcements of new Bethesda games joining Xbox Game Pass.
The broadcast is titled ‘Bethesda Joins Xbox – Roundtable’, and is scheduled for 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK on YouTube today. The video description reads: “A conversation with key leaders celebrating Bethesda joining Team Xbox.”
Xbox head of marketing, Aaron Greenberg has made clear that “this is NOT FOCUSED ON NEWS/REVEALS, but a great chance to learn more about the teams & people at Bethesda.” [Greenberg’s Emphasis]
The broadcast follows Microsoft’s official acquisition of ZeniMax, which turned eight Bethesda developers into first-party Microsoft studios. In that initial announcement, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer promised further Bethesda games would be added to Xbox Game Pass later this week to celebrate – it’s likely those will be announced during the broadcast.
We may not learn quite as much about Microsoft’s plans for Bethesda studios, however. Spencer previously explained that more news about how Xbox’s new teams will work is coming “later this year”. Spencer has previously explained that Microsoft legally could not address plans with Bethesda until the acquisition was complete, so discussions may still be in the early stages.
One thing we do know is that “some” future Bethesda games will be Xbox & PC exclusive after the acquisition. “With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams,” Spencer wrote earlier this week, “gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Greg breaks down the true stories that inspired major plot points in AHS Asylum. Season 2 references Ed Gein, Josef Mengele, alien abductions, and more.
Greg breaks down the true stories that inspired major plot points in AHS Asylum. Season 2 references Ed Gein, Josef Mengele, alien abductions, and more.