Game Rant Recap for 08/26/24 – 09/01/24

Today, Game Rant’s weekly recap takes a look at some of the most notable headlines from the past week: Patrick Star is taking the lead role in an upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants game, Control 2 will be self-published by Remedy to ensure its creative freedom, and The Callisto Protocol’s follow-up from Striking Distance Studios is an exciting new direction for the IP. All that and more in this week’s roundup of games industry news.

Patrick Star-Led Spongebob Game Announced

SpongeBob SquarePants games seem like a dime a dozen nowadays no matter how whimsical and great they are. Still, the fact that SpongeBob’s latest will be focused on Patrick Star this time around is a welcome mix-up to the formula.

Balatro Launches Free Collaboration Update ‘Friends of Jimbo’

Balatro is a lovely poker roguelike with a stunning pixel art style. Now, Balatro’s Friends of Jimbo update is crossing over four unique games into the card game: The Witcher, Vampire Survivors, Dave the Diver, and Among Us.

[REDACTED] Revealed from The Callisto Protocol Dev

The Callisto Protocol underachieved and it appeared implausible that the IP would have any legs afterward. Fortunately, The Callisto Protocol has been salvaged via an isometric roguelike titled [REDACTED].

Control 2 Being Self-Published by Remedy, Financed by Annapurna

Remedy has never seemed to shy away from the oddball gimmicks and multimedia tropes it enjoys. That may only become more evident, though, due to the fact that Remedy is self-publishing Control 2 with financial support from Annapurna, boasting a creative partnership that will probably speak volumes for the sequel.

Xbox Game Pass Loses Its Three Latest Games

Xbox Game Pass is recycling and refurbishing its lineup all the time. This weekend, that involved cutting ties with NBA 2K24, Atomic Heart, and Guilty Gear Strive.

Features

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead launches next month and already seems to feature a number of fun survival horror features. That said, how The Road Ahead designs its asthma mechanic with consumable inhalers could make or break it.

Movies & TV

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has begun airing on Prime. Giving a more introspective deep dive into Sauron and the context leading up to the events at the beginning of season one, season two’s premiere promises a greater focus on the Dark Lord now that his true identity has been revealed.

Guides

Star Wars Outlaws’ biggest narrative draw is its four syndicate factions players repeatedly choose to align with or backstab. There are numerous reasons to choose one faction over another, and doing so has a great effect on what players can or can’t achieve depending on what their reputation standing is at any given time.

Game Rant Exclusives

Game Rant attended a hands-on preview demo at Camouflaj for Batman: Arkham Shadow a week before Gamescom and got to dive deeply into gameplay. Putting all VR-related woes to rest, Shadow fully adapts the Arkham games’ traditional formula on Meta Quest 3 and cements itself as a fully-fledged entry in the series.