It’s that time of the year when the games industry tries to prank the public with obviously fake April Fool’s announcements.
The games industry loves to make its April Fool’s jokes every year, but it can’t exactly afford to make them too convincing or appealing. Announcing a really cool game only to turn around and admit it’s fake will more than likely attract vitriol from an already easy to anger audience.
So, it tends to make do with obvious fake announcements that either aren’t that funny, are really bizarre (and not that funny), or do something odd within the games themselves.
We’ve experienced a number of them ourselves today (and there may be more to follow once America fully wakes up), so here’s a rundown of the stand-out April Fool’s pranks of 2022, for better or worse.
Pokémon Go is infested with Ditto
The best April Fool’s gags are usually ones that temporarily impact actual gameplay, allowing for harmless but entertaining deviations you’d otherwise never experience.
In Niantic’s case, it’s filled Pokémon Go with almost nothing but Ditto, the little pinkish blob whose only gimmick is that it can transform into other pokémon. The suggests that Professor Willow has been replaced with one too and maybe even you are a Ditto. Actually, this is starting to veer into something more Halloween appropriate.
Among Us adds playable horses
Innersloth has added a free update to its social deduction game Among Us, called Horse Mode. As you can guess from the name, it turns crewmates into horses or, rather, gives them horse-like bodies.
The only other real differences, according to , are a new ‘neigh’ kill sound and a new kill animation for imposters, one Innersloth describes as ‘anticlimactic.’ It’s only available until April 2 and, while you probably won’t be missing out on much, it’s worth giving it a go so you and friends can horse around.
Fake Metal Gear anniversary website mocks Konami NFT auction
This one just about skirted on the possibility of being believable, but for the Metal Gear franchise was met with scepticism since Konami has thoroughly neglected the franchise for four years now.
While it’s sad to know that hasn’t changed, the website’s true nature is amusing, offering Konami memorial NFTs that just link you to the Metal Gear website, perhaps to raise awareness and encourage people into asking Konami for some re-releases. Enjoy it while it lasts, though, because Konami will likely have it taken down before long.
Tetris Effect studio selling energy drinks
This one’s definitely a contender for oddest April Fool’s joke of the year. Enhance Games, the publisher for visually stunning puzzle games and , announced that it would be entering the ‘beverage space’ with a line-up of flavoured drinks.
The almost looks legitimate with how it advertises its energy drink, but it gives the game away when it starts promoting green tea and cold brew coffee in a can. The way Enhance tries to sell you bog standard water that it admits to filtering from its Tokyo office is deserving of a chuckle.
Sonic Frontiers limited edition is just a bath set
One of the first April Fool’s jokes to pop up, desperate Sonic The Hedgehog fans may have fallen for this one with how eager they are for news on the next game. At least until they realise that all the limited edition’s goodies are for the bathroom, barring the Game Gear handheld console that Sega admits isn’t waterproof.
Funnily enough, items like look like genuine products that some fans would pay money for. They even have brand-new artwork on them as well, featuring a sharply drawn Sonic staring across the landscape at a mysterious looming tower.
Elden Ring 2 delayed until George R. R. Martin beats Margit, the Fell Omen
This one comes courtesy of , which says that, in an exclusive interview, director Hidetaka Miyazaki admitted development on the sequel can’t start until George R. R. Martin beats a particular boss fight. What’s more, it’s Martin who’s refusing to meet with FromSoftware and he’s even making it harder for himself by challenging the boss at level one and making a new character every time he dies.
The thought of Elden Ring 2 being indefinitely delayed because of Martin’s stubbornness is funny. Although it’s far too soon for Bandai Namco and FromSoftware to worry about a sequel, even if one is expected to be made . Whether Martin will return to assist with worldbuilding is another question entirely.
PlatinumGames announces nine new games and we can’t tell if they’re fake
Easily the most infuriating joke of the bunch, because it may not even be a joke. announced nine new games in active development, with names like High-Speed Action Racing and Apocalyptic Giant Robot Fighting that hint at their genres. They even have character silhouettes.
It almost feels like too much effort for an April Fool’s gag (one of them even has detailed character art) and the last time Platinum made , it wound up being real. That game was , which is even listed with the other nine as part of its Neo Classic Arcade line-up.
So, is at least one of these other games actually going to be made? If Platinum’s aim was to confuse everybody, it’s succeeded. Considering the quality of its games has kind of nosedived in recent years (with an unmitigated disaster), we’d rather it be a bit franker and more honest with its upcoming projects.
Email [email protected], leave a comment below, and .
Follow Metro Gaming on and email us at [email protected]
For more stories like this, .
