It's been something of a mixed bag in the gaming world this week. Forza Horizon 5 arrived on Friday and according to its reviews, it is very much a contender for Game of the Year. We were also shown almost 20 minutes of Elden Ring footage, which might well be 2022's Game of the Year. Elsewhere, Roblox players were left unable to access the game for days, and Wizards Unite fans were informed they will soon not be able to access the Pokemon Go spinoff ever again. More on all of that below and more from the biggest video game news of the last seven days.
Roblox Was Down For Three Days
Players of any online game with a big player base will be all too familiar with servers going down. The issue is usually fixed pretty quickly, but can still be pretty frustrating. Sadly, Roblox players were left in a serverless limbo for three days, and over a weekend no less. Some accused the server failure on Roblox's Chipotle-fueled Halloween event, although that wasn't the case, and the game's devs revealed an increase in the number of servers was to blame for the outage when Roblox eventually started back up on Monday.
Wizards Unite Is Shutting Down
Roblox players who were unable to get into their game for three days should spare a thought for fans of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Niantic revealed this week that its AR follow-up to Pokemon Go will be shutting down in 2022. Wizards Unite will be removed from app stores next month and then closed down for good on January 31, 2022. Niantic hasn't been deterred from trying to replicate Pokemon Go's success, though. Just last week it launched Pikmin Bloom, an AR game featuring a lot of the elements that have made Pokemon Go such a hit.
Marvel's Avengers Is No Longer Pay-To-Win
During the build to the launch of Marvel's Avengers, Square Enix confirmed multiple times that the game would not include any pay-to-win elements. That's why when they were added last month there was quite the reaction from the few people still playing it. So much so that Square Enix has now reversed the decision. It might be too little too late for Avengers, though. Square admitted this week that the game has been disappointing. There is good news if you play the game on PlayStation. Spider-Man finally swings into Avengers at the end of this month.
Animal Crossing DLC Arrives Early
Animal Crossing: New Horizons' next major update was always supposed to arrive this week. We all knew that. The thing is, it wasn't supposed to be here until Friday. When it arrived a day early, people went into a state of panic for two reasons. Either you were eager to be among the first to try out the update, or you're a guide writer who had time set aside on Friday to try the update out whose Thursday descended into chaos. The update has brought with it new hairstyles and the ability to store DIY recipes, among many other things.
19 Minutes Of Elden Ring
While we're not ones to encourage people wishing their lives away, especially with so many great games still to come in 2021, it's hard not to dream that it was already February. Especially after 15 minutes (which was actually closer to 20) of Elden Ring was shown off by FromSoftware earlier this week. The preview was the most extensive look at the Souls game yet, featuring a battle with a dragon and how co-op will work in-game. Not long to wait until it arrives, and we now have all that gameplay to watch over and over to keep us going until launch.
Forza Horizon 5 Might Be Game Of The Year
Less about 2022 and more on 2021. There are still two months of it to go after all, and this week demonstrated that the game of the year might not have even launched yet. Forza Horizon 5 arrived this week and the reviews were better than anyone was expecting. It shot to the top of the rating charts on multiple websites and is being praised for a variety of reasons. The game is stunning and has been described by some as the best racing game ever. Praise indeed, and we will see if the masses agree with that over the weekend.