Game Informer

Game Informer

Rivals Of Aether Sequel Give Series A Big Makeover, Coming In 2024

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 11:02 AM PDT

Pixelated platform fighter Rivals of Aether is getting a sequel and a glow-up with Rivals 2. The indie development studio behind the series Aether Studios revealed the first trailer for the game today, and it's definitely not a joke.

Rivals 2 jumps to detailed 3D models, a huge visual change from the 16-bit inspired sprites from the original. The footage shown looks gorgeous, showing HUD-less gameplay of three Rivals duking it out. Fiery lion Zetterburn, the wind wielder Wrastor, and the poisonous frog martial artist Ranno all make their return and have plenty of screentime showing off their updated looks and moves. 

Click here to watch embedded media

While new characters weren't shown in the trailer, new mechanics were. Those who are familiar with Super Smash Bros. may be very comfortable with the additions. Shields are being added as a defensive mechanism, as well as grabs to counter them. Also, "throws look cool," says an FAQ answer for why they've been added to the game. More nuanced questions and answers for changes being made to the combat in Rivals 2 can be found on the game's FAQ page.

Rivals 2 isn't expected to release until 2024, according to Aether Studios, but does plan to hold a closed beta sometime next year. The original Rivals of Aether is currently available on Xbox One, Switch, and PC.

Game Infarcer: Hidetaka Miyazaki Masterfully Dodges Elden Ring Criticism, Saying, "No, That's A Feature"

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 10:45 AM PDT

Speaking to Game Infarcer, Hidetaka Miyazaki, director of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, among others, and president of From Software, shed light on his creative process – specifically saying criticisms of his most recent directorial effort, the lauded Elden Ring, were misunderstandings of deliberate design choices.

"I've seen people on the internet say the lock-on feature in Elden Ring is bad, that it never seems to choose the closest enemy to the player, leaving them completely vulnerable to attacks while they try and correct it" Miyazaki said. "Have you ever been in a fight? Ever had to deal with the threat of getting your ass kicked in? Do you think you'd be singularly focused on one opponent? No, in the rush of the moment, your lizard brain takes over, and your mind oscillates between the numerous threats surrounding you. It's hard to concentrate. We kept this in mind when designing Elden Ring. We implemented a very complex algorithm that makes your lock-on miss the target you want nine out of ten times." 

While Elden Ring's boss fights are generally fantastic, many have pointed to the Fire Giant as an outlier. Due to the creature's immense size, accurately reading attacks proves difficult for many players, who have taken to various social platforms to voice their frustration. The main issue is: if you have to be directly under the giant to attack at its ankles, then you can't see when the Fire Giant is swinging down upon you. 

Again, Miyazaki balked at the idea that this was somehow a design flaw on From Software's part. 

"Is this a real complaint," Miyazaki asked incredulously. "I guess we all can't have shared life experiences, but every time I've fought a Fire Giant, this is the risk I've had to take. When you take on a creature 60 feet in size – as I have done many times – due to your comparatively small size, your only hope is to stand under your opponent, striking their ankles. It's just a fact of life that you're not going to be able to see when they swing above you. Does that make it fair? Perhaps not. But players always talk about how much they want realism in video games. Yet when we give them realistic features, they complain? Who am I making these games for? Idiots?"

Towards the end of the interview, the conversation turned to the oft-controversial topic of video game difficulty. Specifically, whether From Software's games should feature an easy mode to appeal to players that might not enjoy the developer's typical difficulty level or players who rely on accessibility features to enjoy video games. Miyazaki did not seem thrilled at the idea of changing his core design philosophies to appeal to the scores of diverse gamers in the world that might want to enjoy his work. 

"What? So you can cheat the game and yourself," Miyazaki screamed at the top of his lungs, ripping off his shirt and banging on his chest as he made his point. "My work is for the true gamers of the world. I am their God. They bow to me like the little ants they are. You will play my games and you will love the pain – you will savor it as it creeps across your entire being, infecting your bones and turning your skull hollow. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

The interview abruptly concluded with Miyazaki turning into the eldritch abomination Cthulu, devouring the world and claiming ownership of the universe.

Elden Ring is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One

Game Infarcer: Video Essayist Spends Two Hours Comparing Video Game To Movie

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 10:00 AM PDT

game infarcer

In an astounding feat of mental gymnastics, acclaimed video essayist The Intellectual Gamer's (TIG) latest YouTube video spends two hours and 42 minutes breaking down why Sifu reminds him of No Country For Old Men – the movie, not the book, as specified by TIG at minute 36.

The thesis of TIG's video, opened with a paragraph from Diana Athill's 2009 memoir, Somewhere Towards the End, which fades from the screen too quickly for the reader to finish, is such: "In Sifu, as you progress through the game, you get older and older. And also, you're in a country: China. Which, given the number of people you must fight in Sifu, you might say, is …" At this point, TIG lowers his voice to nearly a whisper to emphasize his point but mostly sounding creepy. "... no country for old men."

Throughout the video, found here at the link, TIG lays out his argument, never indicating what themes from either media are even remotely similar rather than drawing a parallel between the name No Country For Old Men and the fact that Sifu has a mostly-maligned mechanic where the character ages. 

Bringing his thesis to a personal level and couched between ad reads for Manscaped and Nord VPN, TIG reveals we, too, are aging. "I'd like to leave you with one thought. All of us will be old one day," TIG astutely says in the video. "When that happens, what country will there be for us? Until then, I'll Sifu on the other side." 

At the time of writing, TIG's video, aptly titled, "The fragility of life, as viewed through the lens of martial arts and Tommy Lee Jones," has received almost universal acclaim from various echo chambers around the internet. While some pointed out his core thesis could've been relayed in about 30 seconds – and even then, hardly necessitated a video – the comments were quickly deleted under mysterious circumstances.

In the days since publishing, TIG tells Game Infarcer he's seen unprecedented growth on his Patreon crowdfunding page. 

"It's been great to see this video connect with so many people who are happy to support me financially at Patreon dot com slash The Intellectual Gamer," he says and advertises. "I love this community, and I can't wait to see them show up in my Patron Discord server. No, I never check that thing. Are you kidding me? I don't want to talk to those people. I have mods that handle all that – I don't pay them, so it works out great for me. You're not going to print that last part, right? That was off the record. By the way, can I plug my TeePublic?"

TIG says his next video will be an unexpected departure from his previous work. He won't give us any specific details but does hint: "You know, I think Fumito Ueda and Steve-O have more in common than people might think." 

Super Replay | Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – Episode VIII

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 09:47 AM PDT

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, PC
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Release: (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia), (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S)
Rating: Teen

A not-so-long time ago in the same galaxy we all reside in, Respawn Entertainment deviated from its first-person shooter roots to create Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. This third-person action game was the studio's first stab at tackling the coveted Star Wars license, crafting an original adventure set five years after Revenge of the Sith. It stars Cal Kestis, a padawan turned junker (played by Shameless star Cameron Monaghan) that managed to evade the Jedi purge of Order 66. After he's outed by the Sith, he embarks on a quest to recover an artifact capable of locating force-sensitive children while also avoiding capture by the Inquisitors, who are elite Jedi hunters. 

The game features a blend of lightsaber combat and a suite of Force abilities. Borrowing inspiration from FromSoftware's Soul series, encounters are challenging, requiring a strategic blend of blocks and parries to outduel opponents. Meanwhile, the various planets take on a Metroid-inspired progression with players unlocking abilities to backtrack to previously inaccessible areas. 

Click here to watch embedded media

Fallen Order was released November 15, 2019, and was a critical and financial success. It also served as a saving grace for single-player fans, providing proof to an increasingly multiplayer-focused EA that linear story-driven experiences can still make the big bucks. With a sequel reportedly in the works, we're revisiting this gem of the Star Wars video game pantheon. 

Join Marcus Stewart, Daniel Tack, and John Carson on Twitch today at 2 p.m. Central as we journey through the entirety of Cal Kestis' adventure. Expect plenty of laughs, deaths, and general nerding out over all things Star Wars. We encourage you to hang out with us in chat. Just as a reminder, subscribing to Game Informer on Twitch rewards access to the official Game Informer Discord channel where you can interact with our lovely community as well as the editors. See you in chat!

Game Infarcer: Geoff Keighley Learning TikTok Dance For Heartfelt Summer Game Fest Performance

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 09:15 AM PDT

summer game fest

Geoff Keighley, host and creator of The Game Awards and G4TV.com, invited the Game Infarcer team to his Los Angeles apartment for an exclusive, early look at this year's production of Summer Game Fest. 

Keighley – best known for his long-time admiration of game designer Hideo Kojima, the long-time admirer of actor Norman Reedus, the long-time admirer of motorcycles – begins reading from a small teleprompter situated in the center of his living room. 

"We're really excited about SGF this year. The event will be in-person for the first time ever, and we've prepared an amazing show to celebrate," Keighley says. In addition to exclusive reveals and updates to fan-favorite games, attendees can look forward to a Gillette-themed soft pretzel food truck and a black-tie mixer presented by Raid: Shadow Legends. "But that's not all we have in store for you," the showrunner excitedly tells us.  

For the first time in the show's 24-month history, Geoff Keighley himself will be taking to the stage for a heartfelt dance routine set to "WAP" by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. 

"It was tough to keep this under wraps for so long," he explains. "On top of working with dozens of vendors, sponsors, and the entire cast of Fast & Furious 9, I had to watch a lot of video tutorials on TikTok. Needless to say, I'm so proud of the team for keeping this a secret until now." Unaware we're already friends on the popular social media app, Keighley briefly explains the concept of TikTok to me, likening it to "if Instagram had a baby with Just Dance."

As he begins his routine, it's clear the famed presenter has watched quite a few tutorials. Keighley sways his body gracefully, his arms and hips swinging in sync with one another, his feet shuffling back and forth in a style reminiscent of the dance scene in The Last of Us Part II. Noticing he messed up an earlier part, Geoff breathily reassures us, "I'm still tightening this part up." As the song reaches its climax, Keighley's performance intensifies as he widens his stance and begins thrusting in a way that can only be described as visceral. Unfortunately, we can't specify further due to a Non-Disclosure Agreement. 

The living room's RGB lights dim as we begin to make our exit. "Hey, if all goes well, maybe you'll see me in the next season of Dancing With The Stars," Keighley jokingly concludes. 

(Editor's Note: After further clarification from Summer Game Fest's public relations agency, our subject's final remarks were more sincere than we first thought.)

Final Fantasy XIV's Patch 6.1 Trailer Revels In Its Newfound Adventure

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 08:55 AM PDT

Platform: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Release:

Patch 6.1 of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is just two weeks away, and in today's Letter from the Producer Live presentation, Square Enix revealed the trailer for the upcoming content. 

Titled "Newfound Adventure," the footage shown from the new quests, raids, and other content is refreshingly adventurous, especially after spending an entire expansion on saving the world and more from threats that have been building since the outset of Final Fantasy XIV in 2010. Now that those worries are behind us, it's going to feel nice to go on some light-hearted escapades. 

Click here to watch embedded media

The trailer above shows off Tatatru enjoying her downtime and reveals she's been keeping an eye on her fellow Scions, who are all doing well in their various endeavors since the events of Endwalker wrapped. New dungeons, bosses, and cutscenes are teased throughout, giving just enough of a look at the new content and story to leave an FFXIV fan like me practically begging to see more. Was that Y'shtola who casually mentions trying to find ways to travel to other shards (alternate dimensions of sorts) of The Source? Surely nothing could go wrong with that scheme.

A new Main Scenario Questline will kick-off in 6.1, along with a side quest dedicated to the Scion's fixer Tataru herself. The first Alliance Raid for the expansion, Myths of the Realm, Part 1: Aglaia, will pit the Etheryan heroes against a pantheon of gods. The patch will also include a new dungeon, a brand new PVP mode, an expansion to the Duty Support system, harder difficulty modes for previous raid encounters, and much more. You can check out the entire list of additions here. It really is a meaty addition of content that will likely set the stage for the future narrative of the game.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker's 6.1 Patch, "Newfound Adventure" will be available on April 12 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC. 

Game Infarcer: How Twisted Metal Black Helped Me Cope With My Divorce

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 08:30 AM PDT

twisted metal black

Platform: PlayStation 3
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Eat Sleep Play
Release: 2011
Rating: Mature

My wife left me three weeks ago.

I was heartbroken, completely taken aback – it truly came as a surprise. How did I end up here? Why had she decided to leave me? I know she mentioned something a few weeks ago about me not being present or something like that, but I can't seem to recall what she said. Regardless, life hasn't been the same since. 

There's a flame that shines in this eternal darkness I now feel, though: the light of the fire that burns atop Needle Kane's head in Twisted Metal Black. I'm trying to work through all the ways I failed as a partner in marriage, but it's Twisted Metal Black that leaves me resting each night feeling like the day I had just lived through was better than the one before it.

Twisted Metal Black begins with a demolition derby called Twisted Metal in which different characters like Sweet Tooth risk it all in an arena fight to the death. When I learned that the tournament in the game was actually called Twisted Metal, I was blown away - that's the title of the game!

I enjoyed my time behind the wheels of Raven, Dollface, and others, but it wasn't until I felt the rumble of Needles Kane's Sweet Tooth that I felt, for the first time in a long time, that I could move past my divorce and feel love in this world again. 

The way Sweet Tooth twisted around corners in Midtown reminded me that sometimes, life requires detours and that's all this divorce was. The way Sweet Tooth's napalm missiles fired at other vehicles gave me hope that my passion for love could be reignited again. The way bullets ricocheted off Sweet Tooth's windows, stained with runny soft serve, reminded me that I could be bulletproof through all that life throws at me. 

Twisted Metal Black's in-game tournament solidified the game's most important lesson to me, though: make every moment count. You see, Calypso's tournament promises the winner a single wish that will be granted by the host himself. Throughout my 273-hour journey in Twisted Metal Black, I came to the realization that this wish would be a defining moment in Kane's life, should he come out on top. Whatever he wanted, he could have. 

This caused me great introspection. What would I wish for if I had just one wish? B.o.B. and Hayley Williams' life-defining lyrics hit me like a ton of bricks at this very moment: "Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shootin' stars, I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now."

You see, I am not lucky enough to compete in Twisted Metal Black's titular tournament. I will not be receiving a wish like Kane. Instead, I look to airplanes in the night sky for a wish I will never get. But if that airplane flies by one fateful night, I know exactly what I'll wish for: No, not for a way to reverse the events that led to my divorce, but a chance to replay the masterpiece that is Twisted Metal Black. 

My friends and family tell me I need to go to therapy. But I won't do that. No, I'll lay my head down once more to dream of Needles Kane, his ice cream truck Sweet Tooth, and the way he and Twisted Metal Black permanently changed my life for the better.

Game Infarcer: Gran Turismo 7 Streamer Canceled For Playing Forza Horizon 5

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 07:45 AM PDT

gran turismo 7

Platform: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
Publisher: PlayStation Studios
Developer: Polyphony Digital
Release:

Popular Gran Turismo 7 streamer, LifeIsAHighway79, has seemingly been canceled after a disturbing discovery that he plays Forza Horizon 5 in his off-time. 

LifeIsAHighway79, otherwise known as John Jacobs William, was finishing up a 13-hour stream of Gran Turismo 7 –  where each time he lost a race he explained that the game was busted and "buggy as hell" – when he told his viewers that he needed to take a break and eat some "chicky nuggies" heavily dipped in BBQ sauce. 

William told his audience that he'd be back in about an hour to stream the same race he had lost multiple times in earlier and seemed to shut his camera off. However, the streamer forgot to kill the audio because after about 15 minutes of ASMR chewing sounds, viewers noticed themselves bobbing their heads to a familiar soundtrack. After the soundtrack continued to rip, song after song, they realized it could only be one thing: Forza Horizon 5. 

"I just couldn't believe it," one viewer told Game Infarcer. "He always plays Gran Turismo 7 because it's just better than Forza Horizon 5. Like, they're both trying to accomplish the same thing in the racing space, and just like, Gran Turismo 7 does it better. You can't really argue that. But yeah, he was clearly playing Forza Horizon 5. I threw up on my keyboard – that's how angry I was."

"I had given this guy $5 last month to help him buy that $185 digital car and this is how he repays the Gran Turismo 7 community? I won't be watching LifeIsAHighway79 anymore," someone else in William's community said. 

Another viewer told Game Infarcer that they hate William now. 

"Let me say this: I speak for the entire Gran Turismo 7 playerbase and he has stained the delicate leather interior that is this community. He has soiled the name of Gran Turismo 7, ruining its purity and respect and love for the art of simulation racing." 

Gran Turismo 7 director Kazunori Yamauchi released a statement on the PlayStation Blog in regards to the situation. Here's what it said: 

"Why don't you try growing up, LifeIsAHighway79? You want a bunch of random cars thrown at you at all times while a banging soundtrack plays. Yeah, well guess what – Gran Turismo 7 isn't that. Go enjoy Forza Horizon 5 or heck, try DriveClub. I don't care. As for me and my crew, we'll be measuring the distance between the outer side of our tires and the middle point of our axel to further increase our propulsion and suspension on the track that YOU ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED ON." 

William has publicly apologized on Twitch and by posting an iOS Notes app screenshot on Twitter, but his viewers tell Game Infarcer he's still canceled. Public documents show that despite being canceled, William is still making plenty of money by streaming. In fact, he's actually making more money now than before he was canceled.

MLB The Show 22 – Review In Progress

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 07:30 AM PDT

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch
Publisher: PlayStation Studios
Developer: Sony Interactive Entertainment San Diego Studio
Release:
Rating: Everyone

A few weeks ago, spring's annual crack of the bat was in question as MLB's lockout dragged on. The players and league eventually came to an agreement, and the season was delayed slightly, but no games will be lost. As of this writing, we are just a week away from the first pitch being thrown on April 7. Sony's MLB The Show series usually hits a few weeks in advance of the MLB season starting, but this year's installment hits the streets just two days before it on April 5 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and, for the first time, on Switch.

I just got my hands on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Switch versions, and will be updating this story throughout the day and weekend with initial impressions of my time on the diamond. Sony is saying that the hitting, pitching, and fielding are improved, and the audio commentary is coming from a different team. Players can also dive into a new online cooperative mode and can expect improvements in all of the series' core avenues of play, including Franchise, Road to the Show, and Diamond Dynasty.

I'm beginning my impressions with the PlayStation 5 version. The first thing you'll see is a short video of Shohei Ohtani revealing more of his path into baseball. After that, for returning players, you'll receive some rewards for coming back for another season. Here's what I received:

Before reaching the main menu, you select your favorite team, and then are given the option to enter a practice game to select which gameplay styles work for you. I recommend going through this process to get a hang of the gameplay again and to figure out which pitching and batting systems you want to use.

The new online co-op mode is front and center on the main menu, inviting players to play 2v2 or 3v3. This will be my first avenue of play. You can see what this mode has to offer in the trailer below:

Click here to watch embedded media

When entering Diamond Dynasty, before you can view anything, you will first need to complete five missions. As always, the game gives you a default squad to work with. Here's mine:

The first mission pits you against the New York Yankees in the bottom of the ninth. You are at the dish with runners on first and second. In my instance, I managed to send the first pitch over the right field wall to win the game and complete the mission. I received two cards as a reward: one of which is Vinny Castilla (72).

Since people who preordered the game get a four-day headstart on playing, I had no problem finding a teammate for my first cooperative game. We were greatly outmatched in terms of lineup. Before the action starts, both players select a handful of cards from their collections to use during that game (meaning you could use some Legends you never earn on your own). Our opponents must have opened a few packs to have Fernado Tatis Jr., Rickey Henderson, Joe Mauer, Giancarlo Stanton, and more jaw-dropping power in their lineup.

Matchmaking worked quickly, teaming me with my teammate in seconds, and finding opponents within 30 to 40.  As you would expect, in a 2v2 game, you and your teammate alternate at bats. If someone gets on base, the player not batting becomes the baserunner. For the fielding, one player pitches for an entire inning, and controls the pitcher and catcher for that entire inning, too, meaning that this player handles steals and most bunts. The other player fields. Any player can enter the pause menu to get the bullpen active. If you are fielding, your view is behind the pitcher until the ball is put in play – allowing for you to get a good look at the pitch locations (you just don't see your teammate's meters).

We experienced a little latency in our game, but it was mostly smooth. We ended up netting 12 hits to their five, but two of their five were home runs. We left the bases loaded twice in our nine-inning game. One scoring chance was squashed by a groundball that was hit up the middle into a shift. The final score was 2-0. We played our hearts out but it wasn't enough.

The gameplay was nice and smooth, but I didn't see much that was visually different from last year. That said, it's still a hell of a game. Every fielding animation fit to the moment, player speeds seemed right both on the base paths and in the field, and the pitching/batting battle was as exciting as always. I like that you can see the PCI for your teammate to see just how close they came to squaring one up.

I'm going to stick with the cooperative play for a few games, and will report back if I find anything noteworthy to share. If not, the next update will be pack opening.

You Can Finally Play As A Horse In Among Us During April Fools' Day Only

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 07:30 AM PDT

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS, Android
Publisher: InnerSloth
Developer: InnerSloth
Release: (PC, iOS, Android), (Switch), (Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4)
Rating: Everyone 10+

We know April Fools' Day makes it tough to trust any game-related announcements since they'll likely be fake (not that our hands are clean either), but here's a gag that's actually legit. Innersloth is getting in on the fun by turning an old joke into a reality: Among Us Horse Mode.

For today only, this free update twists Among Us' crewmates into galloping four-legged versions of themselves. The idea stems from a screenshot of the then-hypothetical concept tweeted last April, posted below. 

More than just a visual gag, these space-faring stallions come complete with a "neigh" sound effect recorded by one of Innersloth's programmers and a unique Imposter kill animation. Horses can only wear visors and hats, however. If you're still wary, I booted up Among Us myself and can confirm this is a real thing.

Click here to watch embedded media

Innersloth says Horse Mode will disappear on April 2 at midnight UTC, which translates to today at 8 p.m. ET. So if you're feeling horsey (whatever that means), you'll want to wrangle some friends to jump on this sooner than later.

Game Infarcer: From Software And Red Lobster Bringing Cheddar Bay Biscuits To Elden Ring

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 07:00 AM PDT

elden ring

In an unexpected but mouth-watering development, From Software has partnered with Red Lobster to summon the restaurant's single greatest asset to Elden Ring: delicious Cheddar Bay biscuits. 

Coming in patch version 1.05, players exploring Liurnia of the Lakes will soon find oversized bipedal biscuit monsters roaming alongside the giant lobsters already terrorizing the area. These lip-smacking foes attack by pulling off pieces of themselves to lob at the player. When hit, your character is inflicted with the "hungry" status ailment, making them halt to obsessively devour the giant crumb. This leaves them vulnerable to attack by the bone-crushing lobsters, making them a deliciously deadly duo.  

In a press release, Red Lobster describes these savory troublemakers as "buttery, house-made horrors that are ready to feast on your runes! Speaking of feasting, Lobsterfest is back at Red Lobster! Get your revenge on those mean (but tasty) crustaceans by indulging in our Lobster Lover's Dream® and our new Lobster-Topped Stuffed Flounder! Stay Tarnished, not Famished!"

Slaying these tasty terrors drops the limited-time "greasy butter finger" consumable multiplayer item. Using this item summons a dozen cheddar biscuit enemies into your friend's sessions because, according to Red Lobster, "everyone loves the friend who requests more biscuits for the table."  You'll also be rewarded with the special "lean back and loosen belt" gesture. 

To return the marketing favor, Red Lobster plans to promote the game with a new menu item:  the Elden Lord's Feast. This limited-time dish consists of fried calamari rings, a side of "rice of lost grace," and an abnormally aggressive live lobster that guests must kill at the table. 

Game Infarcer Cover Retrospective: Fake Games Through The Years

Posted: 01 Apr 2022 05:00 AM PDT

Our April Fool's Day tradition around here is Game Infarcer – a parody magazine featuring fake games, pretend news,  and even a non-existent editor-in-chief. This year's edition went online today, including a wonderful illustration of Resident Evil IX by artist Zander Cannon. But if you've been reading Game Informer for a while, you know that this isn't the first time Zander has created the cover for Game Infarcer. In fact, this is the 16th consecutive year we've collaborated with him on this project. 

To celebrate such a long history, I got together with Zander, my colleague Ben Reeves, and former GI editor Jeff Cork to take a stroll down memory lane. The four of us worked together on the majority of these covers, so we traded stories about all 16 of them. In this retrospective, we share our recollections on all things Game Infarcer, from the origin of the core cover concepts to the technical details of creating the illustrations. 

Halo 3

2006

 

ZANDER: So, the first thing is: I got hooked up with you guys through [former Game Informer editor] Jeremy Zoss … I was really unhappy with all the stuff I was doing in my career, so when I heard: "We're going to do an illustration, and it's going to be about Halo 3," I was like, "Oh my god. This is going to be hilarious and awesome." And I knew that I had to triple-over-deliver. You guys had this absurd, overstuffed concept – basically everything written at the bottom of this cover – so I was like, "Yeah, I can do that, and plus some."

JOE: As I remember, our idea for this cover was to overpromise on everything anyone could ever want for a video game with Halo 3, because expectations were so high. But I like how your angle expanded that to more of a "Let's include all of that, plus every video game ever." And then some things weren't even video games. Like, just regular old games.

ZANDER: With the playing cards? Clearly, I had hit the edge of my ideas there. But I also remember Jason Jones [from Bungie] saying something like, "If Halo 1 is like this, then Halo 2 is Halo 1 being chased by helicopters and ninjas through a hospital zone, and the ninjas are on fire." So I added that ninja on fire on the right-hand side. That's a deep cut for people who pay attention to the gaming press.

JOE: Zander, I wanted to ask: Since this is the first cover you did for us, what about the art stands out to you? If I were to read something I wrote in 2006, I would just cringe the whole way through it. What makes you cringe here?

ZANDER: I'll stand by this one. It's got the main thing right in the center, and it's reasonably well-constructed. I'll be cringing way more at the other ones. I was pretty happy with this as a debut, though it's a bit sloppy. I've certainly cleaned things up in the intervening years, but this one's okay.

Metroid Prime Xtreme

2007

 

JOE: You might think you know what gave rise to this joke. "Oh, it's Team Ninja's sexy take on Samus, because the studio was actually working on Metroid: Other M." Except this was early 2007, and Nintendo had made no announcements about Other M. We had no idea it was happening. It's pure coincidence that Team Ninja actually made a Metroid game later.

ZANDER: So the joke was just, "Remember Samus is a lady?"

JOE: Yeah, basically. In these 16 years of Game Infarcer covers, I think this one is just the absolute weakest in terms of general concept.

BEN: This was the first year I worked on Infarcer, and I remember thinking the idea was not that strong.

ZANDER: I've never been known for my ability to draw sexy pin-up girls … I remember doing this and thinking, "I can do it, but I don't know that this is something I'm super-stoked about." Although I thought it turned out great – just maybe a little too sexy.

JEFF: I like the Metroid in the background in a bikini. That's cute.

ZANDER: Yeah, Metroids in bikinis is much more my style.

JEFF: Did you get to re-use the star field in the background from the first cover and save a little time there?

ZANDER: Oh, I wish. These two were both done on paper. And not even very good paper. So I had to draw the stars, and do the inking all around them. It's so laborious, and not fun at all. And there's no real payoff!

JOE: I think it's funny comparing this one to the previous year … that one was just packed, and this one is just barren space, a barren beach. That's no fault of yours, Zander. We just didn't formulate the jokes to hide in there.

ZANDER: If I were doing it now, I'd want a bunch of characters, a bunch of gags. I'd do a lot more research; I hadn't really played Metroid games or Dead or Alive games – the fighting ones or the volleyball ones.

JOE: I think you gave this the appropriate amount of effort.

Assassin's Creek

2008

 

ZANDER: For one thing, I'm not a good caricaturist, as you can see. Those could, very broadly, be those characters. But they're not obviously James Van Der Beek and Katie Holmes. I'm not always known for knowing my limitations, but I did in this case.

JEFF: You nailed Pacey.

ZANDER: Listen, man, sometimes you're backed into a corner. This is actually the cover that the GI production team altered. In my version of this, the two Dawson's Creek figures are darkened in the same way the assassin is, because the sun is behind them. But they lightened them up.

JEFF: This really benefits from the fact that we're looking at something so old. Because we just take for granted that this must have been relevant at the time. But really, this whole joke was well past its expiration date at the time of publication.

JOE: I just looked it up. Dawson's Creek ended in 2003, so this is a good five years after that.

BEN: The whole point was just the pun. This was back when all we needed was a strong pun – or even a not-so-strong pun – to run with. Once we came up with that "You won't wanna wait" tagline, Joe was like, "That's it. The cover is done."

ZANDER: From an art perspective, I was still doing all the line art on paper. But I added that orange hillside, and the yellow one further back, to give more atmospheric perspective. I remember thinking I was pretty clever for that. And the rendering on the clouds is pretty poor, but I was starting to figure out how to be a bit more sophisticated with my color. Every year, Game Infarcer was always my opportunity to try out a couple new tricks, color-wise. [A Game Infarcer illustration] was something I was going to get to spend more time on, so I could tinker with it. All the rendering of the sun on the water – you can tell that took a while, and I had the time to play with it.

JOE: And even though we give ourselves grief for the basic concept of this cover, I think it actually looks great.

ZANDER: If you cover up their faces, then I'd really like it.

Braid II

2009

 

ZANDER: This is my first one since the Halo one where I was very familiar with the game. I played the heck out Braid and loved it.

JOE: I remember that we changed the text to "Rip time a new one" at the last minute. The cover originally said "Braid II: Time Harder." I still like that one better, since it was like Die Hard 2: Die Harder. But visually, I think the action-movie-poster vibe is great here.

ZANDER: In a way, I kind of wish I'd drawn Tim more like he was in the game. With a big head. I was focused on getting him all muscled up, but it might have been a funnier piece if I'd made him more like he really was, but meaner and with blood on his face. If he was more recognizable as that character.

You know, you play Braid, and you just hate those stupid bunnies, so I was like, "I can't wait to crush that bunny's skull with a cool-looking key."  The Swiss-cheese holes in the plant, that was my homage to Fearless Fosdick in Lil' Abner. I liked doing that explosion, too. And there's a whole bunch of stars and stuff, like the ones in the game, that are behind the logo.

JOE: But nothing here that's making you cringe yet, looking back at your old work?

ZANDER: No, this one isn't so bad. But there's one I'm really going to cringe at. That's coming up soon.

JEFF: The only thing I remember is that this was my first contribution to Game Infarcer. I wrote the "Everyone on friends list watching Netflix" snipe. Because I think I was still on the online team at this point, so I didn't do a lot of stuff for the magazine.

ZANDER: I think this was the first year that social media got ahold of the cover, because I remember Jonathan Blow posted something about it. Like, "We have a sequel coming soon," and then attached a photo of our gag cover.

BioShock 3

2010

 

JOE: This is one of my favorites.

ZANDER: Yep.

BEN: Me too.

JEFF: Absolutely.

JOE: When I think of our best covers, I think of the ones that are immediately recognizable as the featured game, but then they have a twist that reinvents or reframes it.

ZANDER: And this one takes the two data points – the Big Daddies and Big Sisters – and obviously the next step is Big Grandpa. It's that perfect escalation of the concept. I remember being really excited about that. And Joe, you loaned me a Big Daddy figure, which was so helpful. Because you can find pictures, but they never have, like, the bottom of the tank and details like that. I also remember I had a normal "Please wait to be seated" sign, and it was Jeff Cork who suggested we change it "Would you kindly wait to be seated."

This was the year Jeff Marchiafava reached out and asked if I was able to do the cover, but asked if it would be possible to draw it a little bit more realistically. And I remember saying, "Oh yeah, absolutely." And I drew it the same as I always drew it! That's my secret – saying, "Oh yeah, absolutely." One thing I did do is I rendered out the shadows with a little more detail, and that has the effect of seeming a little more realistic. 

BEN: One reason for that request about realism might have been tied into the Game Informer redesign. This is the first year with that new logo – we may have been asking "How does Game Infarcer fit in with the redesign of our magazine?" I remember having a conversation about that.

I remember we actually spent some time thinking about what this cover would look like ahead of time, too. What the Big Grandpa would look like. Usually we'd just come up with the concept.

ZANDER: Yeah, Joe, I think you might have even given me a sketch. That really helped, because you guys had a sense of what might fill out the space. I think one of the reasons this one works so well is that there's nothing really happening except this character design and a bunch of stuff around him to fill out the visual story.

JOE: The other thing I remember about this cover is someone from 2K reached out to our boss – I don't remember they talked to Andy [McNamara] or [Andy] Reiner – but they called to complain that our joke about all the 2K studios was too mean.

BEN: And today, that's just modern game design.

ZANDER: Can someone explain to me the "Android Ryan" joke? Is it just because it sounds like "Andrew Ryan"?

JEFF: Yeah, and it was supposed to be a Chuck E. Cheese-style mascot.

Uncharted 4

2011

 

JOE: This is not one of our best concepts.

ZANDER: There are a million things in there. You have the Paramount stars, the raft, the Club Obi-Wan. There are a million Indiana Jones jokes. But there are no Uncharted jokes ... one reason being I hadn't actually played Uncharted at this point. I didn't have a PS3. And it's not like I'm a caricaturist – if I had nailed what Nathan Drake looked like, maybe that would have been different.

BEN: You got the untucked shirt! And I think it's good … I think it conveys the Uncharted part.

JOE: I remember feeling like that this was a slam-dunk at the time, but looking back on it now, I really feel what Zander is saying. It's just random Indiana Jones things. Which is what we wanted and asked for, but..

BEN: I think, after that BioShock cover, this is when we also started to be conscious of the fact that we wanted concepts with lots of gags. This one had that potential, but we maybe didn't have a strong enough concept.

ZANDER: And all of the gags are from one thing. "Oh, that's from Indiana Jones. And there's another one from Indiana Jones." The BioShock one was lots of jokes about old people, but those don't all come from the same place. But I think this is a solid cover. It's not my best drawing or anything, but it's okay.

JOE: Does anything stand out as memorable or fun to work on here?

ZANDER: It was fun to draw Short Round. I like the pose he's in. But I was doing a lot of those big black areas, and that made it really hard to get this depth of field. There's stuff that I obviously inked in black, but I just screened down so it's dark gray or whatever. That gives a sense of the depth, but it's not as effective as if I had just made it line art and colored it darker. I was still learning about how to do something sophisticated with depth-of-field.

JEFF: It kinda looks like Nathan Drake is bowling!

BEN: The Paramount stars are my favorite.

ZANDER: Yeah, that joke, I think, has the right degree of subtlety. It definitely isn't subtle, but it has the right amount of subtlety.

BEN: I also like the joke up top about the Japanese developer complaining about how much Japanese development sucks. It feels like that was definitely a theme in the industry for a while. 

Mortal Kombat vs. Warner Bros.

2012

 

ZANDER: I remember an argument – I think I permanently made an enemy of Dan Ryckert – because I was like, "Warner Bros.? That means Looney Tunes!" So I wanted to make it heavy on Looney Tunes. And Dan was like, "No, there's all these WB movies. Let's do that!" And when I got back to the studio and started drawing, I realized that he was correct, and the original [WB] concept was stronger. But I think Dan was like, "Who is this argumentative cartoonist?"

JOE: But now, looking at what Mortal Kombat has become, this is not as far-off or ridiculous as we thought it was at the time. They've had guest characters now like RoboCop, Rambo, and Freddy Krueger.

ZANDER: I still think they should put in the Gremlins.

JOE: Is that Pee-Wee Herman in the lava?

ZANDER: Yeah.

BEN: What about that hand?

ZANDER: That's Deckard's hand. And gun. There's Alex from A Clockwork Orange on the spikes, the girl from The Exorcist, Beetlejuice, Mars Attacks, Wesley Snipes from Demolition Man. And that's the gopher from Caddyshack. And a core part of the whole concept was that Risky Business Tom Cruise doing the "get over here" slide. And I did the toast on Bugs Bunny's shirt as a nod to the Toasty Guy from Mortal Kombat.

I did all the pencils on one sheet, but this was the first cover where I had inked all of these characters in separate stages, so they were different layers. So I could go, "One layer back has a bit of orange in front of the line art, so that's a little bit lighter, and things further back are a little lighter. So I could distance things out by how much haze there was in the lava.

But I am very proud of this Liu Kang pose. It looked effortless, in a way I didn't feel about Nathan Drake. It's pretty much what it would look like if you were giving an uppercut to Free Willy.

JEFF: I like the fact that you were just like, "People are going to have to figure out what this is." You didn't put a tag on his flipper saying "Free Willy" or anything.

ZANDER: It's mostly covered up by the background, but there's a sinister sky with clouds and lightning there. The funny thing is, I had done somebody's wedding invitations for them, and I did this whole sky for that. So I just reused the sky I made for a wedding invitation here. And I'm so glad I did, because you barely see the sky in the final version.

The Walking Dead

2013

 

BEN: The original concept here was "The Walking Dad." I think that was a Tim Turi suggestion. But it was so pun-heavy, and we had started to move away from that. So we dismissed it, but came back to it later and renamed it.

JEFF: Yeah, that's how I remember it.

JOE: I think we had "Dad Island" as a preview in this edition, instead.

BEN: For several years, we started to be very anti-pun. Or at least, we decided that there needs to be more to the joke than just a pun.

JOE: Assassin's Creek wouldn't have made the cut in this era.

ZANDER: And for me, I always wanted to make sure it was a good fit for my style – something that is on-brand for me. Like, something that is going to hinge on a good caricature, or look super badass, that's not why you'd want to hire me. But something that is silly, choked with detail, and has a lot of deep cuts, that's why I'd be there. I'd rub my hands in anticipation for that stuff in my wheelhouse.

JEFF: It's funny that you mention caricatures, because you've got your son in there riding on the zombie.

ZANDER: You know, that could be any child, basically.

JEFF: Uh huh, okay.

ZANDER: One other thing: This is the first Game Infarcer cover that I digitally inked. I don't think it's that obvious, but you'll notice that there are almost no solid black areas, because I knew I was going to do that in color.

And I'm really proud of that zombie hand in the sandbox. I feel like that's a solid-looking hand.

Madden 1313

2014

 

ZANDER: This is such a cool concept, and I am so unhappy with how I drew Darth Vader. I don't really think the illustration is up to the quality of the gag. I mean, it's fine. There's nothing wrong it. But I wish I had delivered more.

JOE: Really? That is immediately recognizable as Darth Vader!

ZANDER: Oh sure, you can tell it's Darth Vader from a mile away, no matter who draws him. But he's this great, iconic character, and I don't feel like I did him justice. I would have redrawn that helmet a bit. But looking past him at all the gags, there are some solid ones back there.

BEN: I love those lightsaber goalposts.

JOE: The floodlights are blocking them a bit, but I always liked the AT-ST tailgaters.

JEFF: And is that Akbar getting blue milk dumped on him?

ZANDER: Yeah! But from R2D2.

JOE: You know, of all the dumb game ideas we've had on Infarcer covers, I would love Star Wars football to be real. I want to play this game.

ZANDER: Totally. That would be awesome.

BEN: Over by the goal posts, what's that "D4" about? Is that some sort of Star Wars convention?

ZANDER: No, sometimes you see a D and a fence at football games, for "Defense." So that's a D and two fours. "D Fours"

JOE: "The Force!" Wow.

ZANDER: This Star Wars cover was the one I was most embarrassed to revisit, but now that we've gone through it, I'm like, "It's fine." But if I had redrawn that Darth Vader, I really would have loved it.

A Link Between Everything

2015

 

ZANDER: For most of the other covers, I had some familiarity with the games. But I had never played a single Zelda. I just remember thinking, "I am out of my depth." So I just went hog-wild researching every little thing. I watched a zillion Let's Plays. I was hitting you guys up for ideas, combining stuff that looked 3D and modern with stuff that was old and pixelated. I kind of feel like this one is a mess! 

JEFF: For not having any experience with Zelda, you certainly nailed Epona, who is also a train and boat and bird.

JOE: Do any of you remember where that idea came from?

BEN: I don't remember that, but I do remember feeling a little worried about the whole idea. "I love Zelda, but how funny is it to see three boomerangs?" But then you see the pile of stuff, and it works. The princesses behind the bars are funny.

ZANDER: If I could do it again, I'd make that mountain closer for maximum humor.

JEFF: I love the Like Like that just has its tongue out in anticipation of all the shields it's going to eat.

JOE: My favorite detail on this one, which I think is easy to overlook, is just the pile of broken pots on the right.

BEN: And the rupees in the grass. It's like, "Yeah, wait, why is there always so much money in the grass in these games?"

JOE: The original joke here was supposed to point out how similar all the Zelda games are. Like, you always get a boomerang. You always get a shield. But in the process of doing that, the illustration sort of points out how much variety the series actually has instead.

ZANDER: Yeah, when I was looking them all up, I was surprised at how much there was. So many instruments!

JOE: Also, I think those mountains in the background are pretty rad, too.

BEN: Yeah, what wedding invitation were those from?

Bloodborne 2

2016

 

JEFF: I love this one. This is one of my favorites.

ZANDER: This is probably my favorite.

JOE: Why is that?

ZANDER: Well, I knew Doctor Seuss backwards and forwards, so it was really easy to think of funny ways to twist the Bloodborne things. There's a giant pig? Green eggs and ham. To have Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3 as the dancing skeletons. It really stuck in my mind, because it's basically just taking all of the stuff in Bloodborne and visually translating it into a different style. In a way, it's easy – but it also means you can do a lot.

BEN: I was really jealous this year, because I missed the initial concept meeting. So I didn't even know what the cover was until I saw the initial sketch from Zander, but it just looked like it had been effortless. I think it came together perfectly. 

JEFF: To be clear, I have the dumbest ideas normally, but the "Suessian horror" angle was my idea. I was really pleased with myself about that one – but of course, that's nothing without this execution, which I think is just flawless.

JOE: What's going on with all those red hats?

ZANDER: Oh, those are the 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. And the "Unless" is from The Lorax.

JEFF: And you've got the Once-ler up on the Gatling gun, too.

BEN: What's the guy holding the brick in the background?

ZANDER: That's Clark, from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

JEFF: I think this is the deepest cut – the pants running up the tower from What Was I Scared Of?, which I know well because I would read it to my kids. It would really scare them, but they insisted we read it to them every night.

ZANDER: I've never thought of myself as being particularly good at matching art styles, but it turns out that Dr. Suess is not tricky. He's got a couple tricks, but they aren't very hard to do. I was pleasantly surprised.

Another funny thing: I had never played these games. But after this cover, I played Dark Souls. And then I played all the From Software games, and it all started with this illustration.

Metal Gear Solid VI

2017

 

JEFF: So, this is just the Zelda one again, right?

ZANDER: Including the fact that I hadn't played any Metal Gear Solid games. But I was still willing to dive in head-first.

JOE: I'm going to take responsibility for this one. In my head, the idea made so much sense: "Konami, having lost Hideo Kojima, will do everything possible to exploit the Metal Gear series – including reusing old ideas but making them dumber." But after talking to Zander about it, he was like, "So, what's the joke here?" And I just sort of insisted on barreling ahead without being able to fully answer that question.

ZANDER: If Kojima were coming back, doing "maximum Kojima" stuff, then that would be a joke to sink your teeth into. Because it would be the craziest stuff he ever did, like a victory lap for him. But Konami didn't quite have a brand you could joke about, other than pachinko machines.

JOE: Yeah, where we landed is just taking stuff from Metal Gear Solid V and making them sillier. Now he has a Swiss-army-arm, instead of just a robot arm. Instead of young Liquid Snake, you have Kid Otacon and Kid Snake – again with nametags, by the way! The old "Pacey Technique" coming back!

BEN: I do like the D. Skunk and D. Platypus, with the eyepatches. Actually, everything has eyepatches! But like you were saying, Joe, I remember sitting around for an hour, just trying to think of jokes for Metal Gear. I feel like we had a lot of jokes, but maybe the central theme didn't shine through.

JOE: I do like this illustration a lot, though. I don't know anything about composition, but that central image – Snake and Otacon as buddies having a good time – really works for me.

ZANDER: I think the colors turned out nice, and I like the sky combined with the characters. And I really like the Swiss-army-arm. But my favorite joke is the three snakes on the ground: "Snake? Snake!? SNAAAAKE!"

JOE/JEFF: Ohhh!

BEN: That's deep.

Just OK Luigi Odyssey

2018

 

JEFF: I remember this being a really long meeting to figure out what our cover was going to be this year.

BEN: I think our idea was something to do with a Mario battle royale, wasn't it? We talked for a really long time. And at the end of our second meeting about it, Jeff was just like, "What if we did Luigi throwing pants?" So, we were ready to move forward with an average Mario battle royale idea, and then Jeff came through at the last second with something better.

ZANDER: I remember that I knew about the battle royale concept, and I was gearing up to do something about that.

JOE: We thought Zander's style would work so well with Mario, and with Odyssey recently releasing, we were trying to make that work however we could. I don't think anyone loved the battle royale idea, but it checked that box. And then Jeff had the Luigi idea that checked the same box, but better.

BEN: The twist of it being pants instead of a hat is so stupid, but it also just fits Luigi's personality for some reason.

JEFF: Yeah, the idea of characters from the Mario universe just reacting to pants is so dumb, but so funny. No one knows what they're doing!

ZANDER: I had so much fun drawing this. My favorite is the dinosaur, who just gets pants on his head. And the Boo, who can't touch the pants, so he's just sadly reaching through them.

BEN: It's also funny to me just how many Mario enemies don't have legs. Pants just don't work for so many of them. And I just love how happy Luigi is to be throwing his pants!

ZANDER: This is a really dumb one, but there is something satisfyingly ridiculous about it. I'm not surprised this one got some traction on Reddit. But it was more of a pain than I thought to draw. All of the pictures required a different filter so the colors would match, so it was really difficult to mask off all those things differently from the main picture. It was a surprising amount of work for something that seems simple.

JEFF: This is the deepest cut of this one: You remember how, in the logo for Super Mario Galaxy, the letters with stars on them spelled "U R MR GAY"? We used that trick on this logo, so the letters spell "U OLD."

Spider-Man: Award Bait Edition

2019

 

BEN: I was really excited about the idea of Peter Parker having an Old West gun that shot webs. But, I also remember us trying to find the right words – at one point, we talked about it just being an article inside Game Infarcer, instead of the cover, just because the joke needed so much explanation.

ZANDER: When that idea was sent to me, I gotta say, I knew it was going to be so much fun to draw. For one thing, I'd never drawn Spider-Man comics, so it was like, "I can finally do Spider-Man," which is cool. And it was lucky, because I had just played through all of Spider-Man and God of War, and I knew enough about Red Dead Redemption.

JOE:  I really like the different color tones on each half of the page. It's an intuitive visual separation, with Red Dead on one side and God of War on the other. I think that lifts a lot of weight that we were worried about in terms of the concept just making sense. 

ZANDER: Also, I may have been waiting my whole career to draw Spider-Man, but I've really been waiting my whole career to draw Spider-Ham.

JEFF: Is Spider-Man's beard made out of webs? That is very unpleasant to look at.

ZANDER: That was the idea. I don't know how well it comes across.

JEFF: Yuck. What's immediately to the left of Spider-Man's gun? Is that a ghost?

ZANDER: That's someone from Red Dead, except as Mr. Negative. But actually, about that gun that shoots webs: Drawing a revolver with a natural-looking hand on it is kind of hard. I was extremely pleased with how that turned out.

JOE: Do you just go online and look for a reference image?

ZANDER: Yeah, you can. There's also this thing called 3D Warehouse – this company Google bought that does simplified 3D rendering. So you can just look up a revolver, and then rotate it around until it's the right angle. I do that on a lot of stuff – more and more, as we go. It's really nice to take something complicated, throw it in there, and work off that.

Goose of Tsushima

2020

 

BEN: I remember pitching this idea, thinking it wasn't going to fly because it was so dependent on the pun. But I think the fact that it was a pun involving two games helped sell it. And aesthetically, this is one of my favorites. I think Zander did a great job melding the styles from both games.

ZANDER: I remember you saying "We're thinking of doing Goose of Tsushima, but maybe something else…" and I said "No, please, do Goose of Tsushima!" I was so excited.

JOE: Zander, I think this cover is a good example of how much you evolved as an artist over all these years. We loved those early covers, obviously – we kept asking you to come back – but it's so clear how much you have developed your skills when you compare this cover to those. 

ZANDER: A lot of time, before, I drew a complete drawing in black and white, and then I colored it. But in this, the goose doesn't even exist on the line art. It's just negative space. The same with all of the things with no outline. It's nice to be able to approach it like that, instead of guessing how it would work like I had to do on paper. But I was really happy with all these colors. I did another cheating thing with those leaves; I found a couple pictures of that kind of leaf, and kept dragging them all over the page and placing them.

JEFF: One thing I appreciate about this one is how it takes a pretty gruesome concept – the goose taking this guy's arm – but it doesn't lean into the blood and gore. I love the idea that the goose just has his arm, like any other object. And the guy shows no more distress than if his glasses had been taken instead. "Hey! My arm! I need that!"

JOE: Once this cover was out in the wild, several people sent me links to a different artist's Goose of Tsushima illustration. Like, they had the same idea we did … which is a bit of a bummer.

ZANDER: Yeah, it never occurred to me for a minute that this idea would have already been done. Maybe I was just too excited to draw it, and I didn't want to ruin the chance.

Resident Evil IX

2021

 

JEFF: When we first had the idea for this one, I pushed pretty hard for it, because I knew Zander would love to draw this. Because it's basically a Kaiju, and Zander does Kaijumax.

ZANDER: And it's very of-the-moment. She is very much in people's headspace right now, at least judging from social media.

BEN: That was where we got the idea. Everyone had gone nuts for that lady vampire. So we circled the idea with things like, maybe other companies see that and make their characters huge. Like a giant Pyramid Head for a new Silent Hill. We kept coming up with stuff like that, but at some point, we said, "Why are we circling around it? We should just do Resident Evil, and she is just ridiculously huge."

ZANDER: I do think it's too bad that so many of the gags are so tiny. But I like the ambulance spilling out only herbs, and Jill Valentine trying to find the right key to the car.

JEFF: The dogs running out of the ruins of the building and still smashing through the windows gets me. It's their thing! And the Tex-Avery-style wolf down in the corner.

BEN: I pitched the idea that Wesker should just have sunglasses everywhere, but you put a huge pair on his tank, which is also funny.

ZANDER: The tank, the helicopters, the ambulance – I used that same trick as the web-revolver. I found some 3D models and put them in as reference. That saves a lot of time.

BEN: This may have been a holdover from the Silent Hill idea, but I wanted to have Pyramid Head in there next to a sign that said "Must be this tall to get new game." But this got pretty crowded with Resident Evil stuff, so it didn't quite fit in.

JOE: I just can't see the word "sickos" without thinking about that cartoon from The Onion.

CORK: Yes! Ha ha ha! Yes!

BEN: One of the other ideas we had before we settled on this one was Steampunk 1877. That could have been really cool visually, but we just didn't have enough good gags for it. We talked too about a The Last of Us cover, but there was so much discussion about that series right as Part II came out … it was hard to find an untapped joke there.

JEFF: I really like the "Extra Large" with the IX in there.

ZANDER: Yeah, I think that was Blake [Hester] who came up with that idea. But it was fun to put all sorts of details like that in here. The tracers coming out of their guns, and figuring out how to do all the search lights, with the layers in the distance.

JEFF: Overall, looking back at all these covers over the years, one of the things that is the most fun about the whole process is, after we have our meetings about the concept, we send it over to Zander. And the fun part is when you'd send us your initial sketches, and we'd all just gather around Joe's desk and look at them; they were always so good, and they made the whole thing come to life and feel real. Joe would do his best to sketch out a rough composition – bless him, he tries. But getting that sense of how it would actually look was always a super-fun part of the process.

ZANDER: Thanks! That always was a super-gratifying part of the process for me too, to send it in and get feedback.

JOE: And I always felt like a broken record, because I was always just saying how great it looked. It's hard to articulate how impressive it is to see an image come in that was leagues beyond what we were thinking.

ZANDER: I looked forward to it every year. It's never "Oh no, I have to do that super-fun illustration again!"

JOE: Well, Zander, I'm very grateful we've been able to collaborate for so long!

ZANDER: I really appreciate it! And it's been fun to go through it all!

When he isn't doing illustrations about pretend games, Zander Cannon is the creator of acclaimed comics such as Kaijumax and Heck. You can buy them here and here (respectively), and get other updates on his work via @Zander_Cannon on Twitter.  
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