This week in games: Psychonauts goes temporarily free, Fortnite goes Battlegrounds

Okay, I’ll keep this short because we are well-and-truly into review season now—this week alone we had Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Tooth and Tail, Cook Serve Delicious 2, some strategy game called Oriental Empires, and more. So many games.

Death of the Outsider has a launch trailer below, plus Humble is giving away copies of Psychonauts, thatgamecompany unveiled its Journey follow-up, Fortnite added a PUBG mode, Sea of Thieves lays out the essentials, and more.

This is gaming news for September 11 to 15.

Crazy

The free games keep coming, for whatever reason. Last week we had a grip of them, this week EA started giving away the Star Wars Battlefront season pass, and now Humble is handing out copies of classic Double Fine game Psychonauts—you know, the one about the kid who romps around in people’s brains. Grab it fast though, because the offer’s only good until early Saturday, Pacific Time. (It comes with a Steam key.)

And your “free” game of the weekend is Dead by Daylight, the 4-on-1 horror game where one person gets to kill off the hapless idiots who stumble around in the dark and try to turn a few generators on. It’s free-to-try until Sunday, which is probably a good call because Steam reviews have been mixed lately.

Oh, Ubisoft’s post-apocalyptic shooter The Division is also free-to-try from now through Sunday, wooing PC gamers to its grind before Destiny 2 launches on Windows next month. 

Longest Journey

The next game from Journey developer thatgamecompany was revealed this week…during the Apple event. It’s called Sky, and it turns out it’s a timed exclusive for Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad. Emphasis on “Timed” though, and we can only hope it comes to PC in the not-so-distant future.

Super

Another exclusive that miiiiiight hit the PC soon: Injustice 2. That is, if you believe a couple of retail listings from European games stores. PC Gamer and WCCFTech spotted a PC version of Injustice 2 on Amazon.fr and Game Mania, which might indicate a forthcoming port. It wouldn’t be the first time—NetherRealm and WB did the same with Mortal Kombat X’s DLC.

Fortress of solitude

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Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds

Price When Reviewed:$29.99

The onslaught of games hanging on Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds’s coattails has begun, with Grand Theft Auto V adding its own battle royale mode two weeks ago and now Fortnite following suit. Battle Royale with a base-building element sounds kind of cool, but lord I’m already sick of this trend and PUBG isn’t even six months old yet.

Ghosted

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Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands

Price When Reviewed:$59.99Best Prices Today:$10 at Amazon

“Wait, is Ghost Recon Wildlands adding a Battle Royale mode too?” Well, you’d think so with that huge map of theirs, but no. Instead it’s adding a class-based 4-versus-4 Team Deathmatch mode, with a beta running next weekend from September 21 to 25. I guess we’ll have to wait until the next Ghost Recon to get that 100-person multiplayer mode.

Feral Tribe, this time

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Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War

Price When Reviewed:$59.99

Three more weeks. Three more tribes? I don’t know. Anyway, EA’s Middle-earth: Shadow of War launches on October 10. Check out the feral tribe trailer below and be sure to read our hands-on Shadow of War impressions.

Root of all evil

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The Evil Within 2

Price When Reviewed:$59.99

I never finished The Evil Within—its clunky controls and save system broke my resolve about halfway through. The Evil Within 2 looks absolutely wild though, this new trailer included. Maybe I’ll reinstall the original and give it another go.

Stranger danger

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Dishonored: The Death of the Outsider

Price When Reviewed:$29.99Best Prices Today:$14.95 at Amazon

In other Bethesda news, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider releases today (or last night, technically). If you were hoping the series had put away its Dishonored 2 launch woes, well, not quite—Steam reviews as I write this are sitting at “Mixed,” with plenty of people saying the game won’t even launch. Hopefully those issues are ironed out quickly.

It runs fine on our PC though. Check out our Dishonored: Death of the Outsider first impressions.

Hollowed

I don’t know how the Hollow Knight team keeps adding new stuff to its already-enormous game for free, but wow. After already releasing one enormous expansion for free, a follow-up titled “The Grimm Troupe” is set to release in October. New quest, new bosses, new enemies, new everything. For free.

Masquerade

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Assassin’s Creed Origins – PC [Online Game Code]

Price When Reviewed:$59.99

If you want to see a bunch of people stabbing each other while wearing cool masks, this Assassin’s Creed Origins story trailer has you covered. Personally hoping I can wear an Anubis mask when the game releases next month.

Flyover

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Total War: Warhammer II

Price When Reviewed:$59.99

Total Warhammer II is mere weeks away, so I expect this will be the last (maybe?) trailer we see of it before release. In it, you’ll get a glimpse of the new battle maps, from ashen forests to spire-filled deserts to muggy swamps to “Who shaped that cliff into a skull anyway?” Cool stuff.

Speedy sailor

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Sea of Thieves

Price When Reviewed:$59.99Best Prices Today:$14.99 at GameStop | $27.99 at Amazon | $37.49 at Walmart

“Okay, what do I need to know about Sea of Thieves, Rare’s upcoming pirate game that everyone keeps raving about?” Wow, how convenient, Rare put out this “10 Things You Need To Know” trailer this week. Makes my job quite a bit easier.