Welcome to a roundup of some MMO-adjacent titles that sit just on the edge of our wheelhouse but not enough to tip it over and make this metaphor super weird.
Fortnite: Fortnite Short Nite? Yes, Epic is trying yet another type of event with Short Nite on February 20th and 21st (that’s this weekend). Players – if there’s still a game inside this advertising vehicle at this point, it’s fair to still call them players, right? – will be watching “acclaimed animated film shorts [on] Party Royale’s Big Screen.” Yes, Epic’s releasing popcorn too, and as in the real world, it’s not free.
“The animated shorts featured in Short Nite come from around the world. (Among them are shorts that were previously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film!) The total runtime of the Short Nite series is about 30 minutes, and the series will repeat non-stop for 24 hours. (No movie tickets required; jump in whenever you’d like!) If you’re new to Party Royale, check out our guide for getting to the Big Screen. Players will also have the option to watch Short Nite in standard Battle Royale via Picture-in-Picture, available at the start of Short Nite and every two hours afterwards.”
The Cycle: This week’s The Cycle update – number 25 for those keeping score at home – improves the early access survivalbox with an exploit fix, tweaks for social menus, and prepwork for the upcoming Overdrive limited time event.
Legends of Runeterra: Riot’s cardsy MMO revamped the graphical layout of cards, brought new modes to Multilab, tweaked expeditions, and more, but that was just a prelude for the announcement of a new expansion: Empires of the Ascended, which sounds like the name of an MMO guild circa 1999. Props.
AVA Online: Remember a few years back when Red Duck was trying to ready shooter AVA Dog Tag for a launch in the west under the En Masse banner? Neowiz is taking another stab at reviving the franchise with the release of AVA Online. Expect it to hit Steam on March 31st, though you can wishlist it right now.
Valorant: Finally, Riot’s shooter patched up to 2.03 by rebalancing the Stinger and Reyna and pushed the Escalation mode live. The studio also released a memo from the game’s “Social and Player Dynamics team” that discusses how the devs are detecting and addressing unwanted behavior in the game – things like AFKing and chat toxicity.
