Zack Snyder, Film director and guy-who-spells-Zack-correctly, is out promoting his new Netflix film, Rebel Moon. But because he’s talked about Epic’s popular battle royale shooter Fortnite in the past, people keep asking him about the game and recently, someone wondered if he would be willing to direct a movie based on the franchise. According to Snyder, “of course” he would.
Dead By Daylight Devs’ New Game Is Fortnite Meets Doom
Rebel Moon is a gritty, space-adventure that is poised to set up a larger franchise for Netflix. Let’s check out what the critics are saying about Snyder’s newest movie…oh…oh boy…ouch…well…uh… actually, let’s talk about something else and not that seemingly horrible film. Instead, Snyder has some thoughts on the world of Fortnite and making a live-action movie based on the ever-expanding free-to-play game he’s been enjoying for years.
As spotted by IGN, during a December 15 interview with Etalk, the film director behind Man of Steel, 300 and that Dawn of the Dead remake where the zombies run was asked if he would ever “want to combine” his two passions for filmmaking and playing Fortnite.
“I mean, of course,” Snyder quickly replied. He further added that he was trying hard to get skins based on Rebel Moon added to Fortnite, a game that is famous for its many brand crossovers. That didn’t happen, but Snyder doesn’t seem bitter about it and is still into the Fortnite universe.
“Look, Fortnite is an amazing world, and it is an amazing distraction for me,” Snyder said. “It’s really cool, and the alchemy that they’ve created there is really unique. When I started playing it I thought I knew what it was and then it was something entirely different.”
When playfully pushed by the interviewer about his vague answer, Snyder added: “You definitely don’t know. You definitely can never say never. That’s my mantra in this business.”
If Zack Snyder does end up making a Fortnite film, I will expect a big starring role for Rick and Morty’s Mr. Meeseeks as that is, according to the filmmaker, the main skin he uses when playing the game. What a movie that will be.
Fortnite, Epic Games’ crossover meme of a video game, is once again becoming the stage for some historical education, as a group of developers has used Epic’s Unreal Editor For Fortnite program to create an in-game museum dedicated to the Holocaust.
Dead By Daylight Devs’ New Game Is Fortnite Meets Doom
As absurd as that might sound in premise, Fortnite did this in an official capacity for Martin Luther King Jr., and it was a well-intentioned if incredibly jarring tribute to a civil rights figure’s legacy. However, unlike that display, which was done as part of an official Epic Games partnership with the DuSable Museum of African American History and the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., this is from Luc Bernard, who directed The Light and the Darkness, a free historical game meant to educate players on the events of the Holocaust.
Bernard posted about the in-game display on Twitter, saying bringing something like this to Fortnite’s millions of players can bring museums and all their information to people, as a vast majority of people never visit these places in-person. According to a study, around 80 percent of people have never visited a Holocaust museum, so a digital alternative may at least reach some new people. In an interview with Euronews, Bernard said this was especially to reach Fortnite’s younger audience.
If you want to see the museum for yourself, it’s not live yet. But when it is, the code for the map is 4491-8501-3730.
All UEFN projects go through Epic, which has veto power over anything that comes through the system. So between the people making it and the big corporation approving it, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt that this will be informative and respectful, even though Fortnite feels like a strange platform for this kind of thing. The game’s scale and reach makes it ideal for creators and historians to use it, but all the best intentions won’t make it any less ridiculous when you see Rick from Rick and Morty and Master Chief reading about one of the most heinous acts of human cruelty known to man. All that being said, kudos to the team, and I hope this reaches people and proves Fortnite can be more than just a meme.
Yesterday, the news dropped that Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland had not only been dropped from the hit TV show by Adult Swim, but also that he was resigning from High on Life studio Squanch Games, which he co-founded. This all comes as Roiland faces two felony domestic abuse charges from 2020. Instead of leaving Adult Swim high and dry as it faces the challenge of carrying on Rick and Morty without the man who voiced a great many of its characters, a sizeable chunk of fans took it upon themselves to submit mock audition tapes for the now-vacant roles of Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith.
Prior to the shitstorm of Justin Roiland news revelations, Roiland voiced a multitude of voices in Rick and Morty and in last year’s Game Pass hit, High on Life. Back in 2018, while Rick and Morty was in its third season, Adult Swim forged a long-term deal with creators Dan Harmon and Roiland for 70 additional new episodes of the adult animated series, according to Deadline. Following yesterday’s news, The Hollywood Reporter has said that Roiland’s voice roles will be re-cast and Dan Harmon will remain the sole showrunner through season 10.
Like the old adage of uncertainty breeding opportunity, Rick and Morty fans are throwing their hat in the ring by submitting audition tapes for its titular characters. Unlike the “Get Schwifty” episode of Rick and Morty (fuck me for remembering that), candidates by and large aren’t taking the auditions seriously, which is honestly pretty on brand for Roiland’s vocal performances. Here are a couple of standout performances that would make Cromulon nod in approval.
Now that I’ve sent my editor an email for financial compensation for the emotional damage writing this article has dealt me, I’d like to earmark two alternative solutions for Rick and Morty’s “lack of a lotta voiced roles” situation.
Twitter user Shinimomi suggested Rick and Morty take a page out of the prolific comedy anime series Pop Team Epic’s book by having random celebrities voice characters every episode. That way Adult Swim can keep things fresh by having a pool of notable actors (preferably those who aren’t alleged sex pests) rotate throughout the show’s next “100 Years.”
Justin Roiland, creator of TV series Rick and Morty and the recently released High on Life game, has been charged with domestic violence against a former girlfriend.
NBC News reports that it obtained Orange County Superior Court records stating that a criminal complaint was filed against Roiland back in May 2020 by the Orange County District Attorney. The complaint charges Roiland with “one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit.” Roiland was arrested and released with a $50,000 bond in August 2020 and pleaded not guilty to both charges in October of that same year.
According to NBC News the victim says the incident between herself and Roiland occurred around Jan. 19 of that year. A protective order was filed in October 2020, which states that Roiland can not harass, threaten, surveil, or be within 100 feet of an unknown person protected under the order. The order also made Roiland relinquish ownership of any firearms he owned or possessed. The order lasts until October 2023. According to NBC News, Roiland is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a pre-trial hearing.
This news comes shortly after the release of High on Life, a first-person shooter game created by Roiland’s video game company, Squanch Games. Despite the game’s popularity on Game Pass, Xbox’s Netflix-like game subscription service, it’s been at the center of controversy for its use of an AI generator to create poster art and vocal performances. Prior to High on Life’s release on December 13, Roiland launched two NFT projects in 2021 and 2022 called The Best I Could Do and Art Gobblers.
Yesterday, after 1,410 days (or 3 years and 10 months) the Grim Medicine cosmetic set—complete with the popular Plague Doctor skin—returned to Fortnite’sin-game store, letting players buy it for the first time since the start of the covid-19 pandemic. And many believe it was the pandemic itself that kept the plague-themed items and skins out of the game for such a long period of time.
I doubt I need to explain Fortniteto you, but just so everyone’s on the same page: Epic’s Fortnite is a free-to-play battle royale PVP shooter available on nearly every modern platform out there. It supports crossplay across all of them and for the last few years has been one of the most popular games in the world as it continues to expand and include more characters from other franchises, like Star Wars,Dragonball Z,and Street Fighter.
But Fortnite also has plenty of its own original skins and cosmetic items too, like Peely and the previously mentioned Plague Doctor. But until yesterday, these plague-related items hadn’t appeared in the game since March 1, 2019, making them extremely rare, as the only people who could use them were folks who bought them back when they were last available. Meanwhile, most other skins appear again and again in the store every few weeks or months.
Fans had theorized that the Grim Medicine cosmetic set had been blacklisted and retired by Epic due to the covid-19 pandemic. This makes sense, as including those skins during the height of the deadly pandemic that has killed over 6 million people worldwide as of January 2023 would have been a bad look.
Reserve the next gen Samsung device All you need to do is sign up with your email and boom: credit for your preorder on a new Samsung device.
The working theory is that the skin popped up in the store on March 1, 2019. Then before it could appear again in the store, covid-19 was detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and eventually spread around the world, officially becoming a pandemic according to the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. It’s not unreasonable that Epic saw this happening and decided to pull the plague-themed items from the store’s rotation in order to avoid any controversy.
The thing is, Epic has never officially confirmed this theory at any point. Kotaku has reached out about the skin and the long gap in time between it showing up, but didn’t hear back from the company. Still, even if Epic hasn’t officially confirmed the reason for the Grim Medicine items going missing for nearly four years, the covid-19 theory doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. And regardless of why, many players were excited to see it return, even if only to make a joke about its long absence. Or to point out that covid-19 is still a thing in 2023, which it is, and it’s still deadly and dangerous, too.
“One of my friends IMMEDIATELY dropped money into the game upon getting this notification. He’s been waiting since it was last in the shop,” tweeted one person. “LETS GOOOO! I finally got PLAGUE!!! I wanted him for 2 years,” tweeted another player upon seeing the news of the Plague Doctor’s return to Fortnite. Of course, there were other players who found it funny everybody was excited over the skin, and others who owned it already and were now sad to see their once rare skin become common once more.
Personally, I’m not excited about the Grim Medicine skins as I don’t really like how they look. And besides, I only like to buy the most cursed and bizarre skins in Fortnite, like Mr. Meeseeks from Rick and Morty.
If you’re into Rick and Morty-style humor and enjoy a good first-person shooter with some unique guns, High on Life is a damn good time. While High on Life is a fairly easy game to fire up and jump into—made even easier by the fact that it’s on Game Pass right now—there are a few things to keep in mind while romping around through space, blasting evil alien cartel members to dust.
The latest from studio Squanch Games, High on Life is available now on Xbox One, Xbox X and S, and PC. With the mind and voice of Justin Roiland fully on display, High on Life contains much of what many love (or hate) about shows like Rick and Morty. Despite a few glaring bugs and some jokes that don’t know when to stop, it’s a fun shooter that doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is a great change of pace for the genre.
Pick your poison: This is a good time while under the influence
Yes, yes, I know. It’s the game everyone jokes about getting stoned before playing, but honestly, it’s pretty good advice.
High on Life contains a certain brand of humor that comes across well while you’re in an altered state of consciousness. More than that, it’s a visual and auditory treat only heightened by substances that make colors and sounds pop. High on Life is very vibrant, with many great textures, making it splendid for moments where you just want to melt into a colorful, bouncy, wise-cracking trip.
The humor may not be for everyone, but if you love getting blasted and having a fun time with a video game, there are few games that hit this spot right now while quite High on Life.
It’s a camera. For your car. The Ring Car Cam’s dual-facing HD cameras capture activity in and around your car in HD detail.
Turn the music up!
This soundtrack kicks ass. There’s some twisted, fucked up synth shit that is just a damn joy to listen to. Electronic musician Tobacco produced the music for High on Life, and it fits the mood and feel of the game so damn well.
The default music volume setting, however, is way too low. I cranked it up all the way during my playthrough and it was a delight for the ears the whole way through, though you might find you’ll want to flip the subtitles on if you do. If you’re not into the humor or find the gameplay to be too generic, do yourself a favor and check out the soundtrack at least. It really is great.
The game needs a content warning
It’s 2023, and it’s about time we expect more from devs when it comes to giving us a heads up about the content in their games. High on Life got a ton of laughs out of me, while other jokes felt rather tasteless. I wish the game would’ve given a bit of a heads up about certain topics.
High on Life contains a good chunk of drug and substance abuse references. It also makes some jokes about self-harm. The very absurd and fictional plot also talks liberally about the enslavement of various alien species.
Many who are familiar with Rick and Morty likely knew what to expect going into High on Life, but with an informative content warning (which, hey, wouldn’t that be a cool standard for Game Pass games or something?), it could help set the table so you could be in the mood for weapons that beg you to turn them on yourself.
Gif: Squanch Games / Kotaku
Keep an eye out for Knifey’s zipline and grapple prompt
I’m not sure how a game that makes as many video game jokes as High on Life delivered a 16-hour campaign where you zip around on rails without making a single BioShock Infinite joke (and if it did, I certainly missed it). There are an awful amount of opportunities for you to zip around the map like you’re out to save some weird girl haunted by her strange pet bird thing.
That said, it can be a little tricky to spot when and where you can do this. The HUD is helpful in indicating where a rail or climbable spot is, but it can be deceptive. While a circular icon will hover over a usable zip line, you can’t actually grab on until you see the actual button prompt (E on keyboard, LB on controller) in the circle.
Learning to spot this indicator will help you zoom around maps even faster.
Always be swappin’Gif: Squanch Games / Kotaku
Screw reloading, cycle your weapons
Once I had all four main Gatlians, High on Life began to feel a lot like the Resistance shooters on PS3. If you liked those games, at least in concept, then you know the value of juggling weapons constantly. As I mentioned in my guide for beating Nipulon, cycling your weapons when they’re out of ammo is a better use of your time than reloading them, especially since all the Gatlians reload themselves while you have another one equipped.
I like to start each round of combat by aiming a Gatlian’s trickhole shot (this also gives you a quick window of bullet time to line up your aim), firing it off, and then emptying its magazine into enemies before swapping to the next gun and repeating the same process. Master this and you’ll almost never stop outputting damage. It’s a lot of fun.
If you’re stoned out of your mind, consider Story Mode. But Normal and Hunter aren’t too much of a challenge
As I said above, High on Life is just a good game to tune in and zone out too. The story is silly and not really that serious beyond a handful of delicate topics; and the gameplay has more depth than you’d assume. But the best part is that it prioritizes fun in a way that shooters sometimes forget to.
It can be a pretty passive shooter if you want it to be. If you’re just looking for a chill time with some goofy aliens who make you laugh, flip it on story mode.
But for those of us who like a bit of a challenge in a first-person shooter, you probably should just jump to the hardest difficulty. I almost finished my first full playthrough on this, but the Skrendel Bros. proved a difficulty spike I couldn’t get along with—at least in the state my poor brain was in. As a result, I played the remainder of the campaign after that fight in Normal mode.
You can hit Gus’ disc to keep it moving
J.B. Smoove’s character, Gus, is your shotgun and disc launcher. That disc will ricochet around the room, causing a bad time for anyone in its way. But blink and you’ll miss the melee prompt on it when it moves near you.
Keep an eye out for the button prompt to smack the disc with Knifey to get more use out of Gus’ trickhole shot.
Zip around like it’s Halo 5, minus fighting the same boss three damn times.Gif: Squanch Games / Kotaku
At its height, High on Life is like a Ratchet and Clank and Halo 5 space brownie
That last mention may make you close this tab. Don’t! One of the coolest aspects of High on Life is the movement abilities plus the versatile guns. With the ability to jet pack and hover in the air, it reminds me of Halo 5’s advanced but underpraised movement techniques. The versatile weapons, as mentioned, remind me of Insomniac’s Resistance or Ratchet and Clank. Maybe there’s a dash of Bulletstorm somewhere in there, too.
At the higher difficulties, you’re going to want to make the most out of that movement. Prepare to dash liberally; and once you can zoom around and hover with the jet pack, you’ll find it’s essential for staying alive.
Sadly, by the time the whole ensemble comes together, the game starts to wind down its campaign. While it lasts, though, it’s a ton of fun. So if you like experimental shooters, definitely give this one a spin.
Don’t miss the upgrades in the pawn shop
I mean, I can’t imagine why you’d have a hard time spotting tiny details in a game like this, but you should keep an eye out for the Gatlian upgrades and mods you can get at the pawn shop in Blim City.
It took nearly the entire game for me to realize you could buy these…don’t be like me. Screenshot: Squanch Games / Kotaku
Each of the rectangular cardboard boxes behind the shelves have unique upgrades that enhance the abilities of your guns, giving them larger magazines or augmenting their trickhole shots as a few examples.
There are also some upgrades for your bounty hunter suit, including one that lets you zoom around when sliding like you’re playing Vanquish. How can you not use this?
Don’t forget to go back and explore previous areas
High on Life is a bit of a metroidvania kinda jam. Early on, you’ll spot items and locations that you can’t get to quite yet. As you progress through the story, you’ll unlock new movement abilities that’ll let you explore a bit more. Keep an eye out for this stuff and don’t forget to go back!
Learn to follow the waypoints
Given the altered state you may or may not be in while playing High on Life, you might be prone to getting lost. By hitting the ping button, you can highlight a waypoint. If you’re lost in a blur of colors for whatever reason, the waypoint will guide you to where you need to go, but it can be a easy to miss.
High on Life’s waypoints move through different “checkpoints.” Once you follow it to a certain point, you’ll see it turn into a check before moving to highlight an area further along. If you’re lost in any of the game’s trippy environments, just follow those markers until it begins to make more sense.
Listen to all the dialogue and take in all of the comedy
High on Life is a comedy game, one where taking in the ambience of absurdity is as much the point as firing silly, talking guns. Don’t rush through the game, and take opportunities to observe the weird and wacky things around you.
Like an RPG where you should probably talk to every NPC you see, you should take the time to listen to all the humor Squanch Games packed in here. Characters will say some wild things, and you’ll participate in some genuinely funny and uncertain moments that are sometimes as surprising as they are humorous.
Some folks out there are even beginning to discover that the various dialogue options you get in the game do lead to some different outcomes for NPCs. So don’t rush. Immerse yourself in the absurdity of this game.
Who knows? You might even find it a little cathartic given how absurd our world is anyway.
Have you ever found yourself paying for over-salted food and overpriced drinks at an Applebee’s and thought: “What if I just stayed here…forever?” Well, a bug making the rounds in the Rick and Morty-adjacent shooter High On Life is allowing such a macabre fantasy to come true.
Released earlier this month on Xbox and PC, High On Life is a shooter steeped in the wacky comedic stylings of Rick and Morty. Developed by Squanch Games, a studio founded by Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland himself, the game is about as loud and obnoxious as you’d expect. Despite obnoxiously bright colors and talking guns capable of delivering a headache or two, the game has soared to the top of Game Pass’s most-played titles. Recently, players have been finding themselves trapped in the game’s rendition of well-known American chain restaurant Applebee’s. It’s a bug for sure, but one that feels fittingly on-point for such an absurd and silly game.
“TRAPPED IN SPACE APPLEBEE’S!!” starts one Reddit thread on High On Life’s subreddit. “Hey guy’s, I love Applebee’s. Like fucking LOVE it. I thought Space Applebee’s would be better (AND IT IS!!) but I am stuck inside. This is my checkpoint, trapped inside with the 2 for $25 for all eternity. Anyone know a way out?? Plz help,” the post continues.
Searching “Applebee’s stuck” or “Applebee’s trapped High On Life” on either High On Life’s subreddit, or Twitter, yields similar pleas for help. A few have even captured some footage to share the struggle.
Others who have managed to escape are finding themselves teleported back into the Applebee’s. “Before going home I saved a human outside of the Applebee’s, I got teleported by accident to the sanctuary then I was teleported back where I was, got killed almost instantly and now I’m stuck in the Applebee’s because the door won’t open.”
In addition to asking Squanch Games for comment, Kotaku has reached out to Applebee’s to find out what one should do if you find yourself in a similar situation.
Rick and Morty is a massively popular series. Every time I have to accept this reality, it’s like having to confront my own mortality. It’s surreal, it’s vaguely unpleasant, but I’m a better person for it afterwards (I think). Anyway, here’s how to get Pickle Rick as a cosmetic in Fortnite.
Starting from today, you can complete Horde Rush Quests for battle pass experience points. Once you’ve finished up eight quests, you can unlock the Pickle Rick back bling for free. Some of these quests are as simple as hitting a specific score, damaging cube monsters, or opening chests. Here’s the full list of quests (thanks, GameSpot!). Remember, you only have to complete eight of the nine.
Collect score multipliers (20) – 20,000 XP
Deal melee damage to Cube Monster spawners (6,000) – 20,000 XP
Earn 2,000,000 combined team points – 20,000 XP
Earn a team score of at least 350,000 XP in a single match – 20,000 XP
Earn a x50 KO streak – 20,000 XP
Eliminate Cube Monsters (500) – 20,000 XP
Eliminate ranged Cube Monsters with Sideways weapons (100) – 20,000 XP
Get headshots on Cube Monsters in a single match (70) – 20,000 XP
Open chests in Horde Rush mode (45) – 20,000 XP
Horde Rush is a limited-time game mode where players work with their friends to defeat waves of monsters. After completing three Encounters, they’ll fight a final boss together. The goal is to rack up as many points as you can, which can be easier if you pick up score multipliers on the map. This season of Horde Rush comes with Zero Build, which is great news for folks who don’t want to think about resource gathering and building entire houses while they’re trying to have a shootout.
Once you’ve done all this, you can join the ranks of 13 year-old boys who find nothing but joy in the existence of Pickle Rick, the meme that never starts giving.
Horde Rush quests will be available until November 15, so don’t procrastinate if you want this pickle man.
