Infinity Nikki ushers in the Year of the Horse with... a deer-themed Version 2.2

Infinity Nikki's version 2.0 is the game's biggest evolution yet, transforming almost every part of it. Infinity Nikki has officially evolved into a bigger, more feature-rich game. After months of waiting, version 2.0 has arrived to bring massive overhauls - and plenty of new content - to the dress-up RPG.

Image credit: Infinity Ward, Activision. In yet another surprising move for Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 4 studio Infinity Ward has announced that the game's extraction shooter mode, DMZ, will be released prior to the game's official launch. DMZ will be available starting 20th October for players who pre-order a copy digitally.

While the returning ships from UQM have had their flight and weapon characteristics lovingly re-created in Fred Ford’s new SIMPLE game engine, there are some important differences this time around—chief among them the fact that, unlike in the 1990s, the ships now can turn much more naturally. UQM melee pros will find that their skills with existing ships will translate pretty well to the new melee environment—but they’ll also have some brushing up to do. In the older game, at least for me, melee was the drug that got me hooked—it’s accessible, easy to figure out, and fun as hell. I can’t count the number of hours my little brother and I spent locked in mortal space combat, blowing each other up with different ship combinations. (My favorite matchup was to let my brother pick the Ur-Quan Dreadnought, one of the most powerful ships, while I would hop into the lightweight Arilou Skiff and, in cruel older-brother fashion, mercilessly reduce him to frustrated tears. Ah, siblings.)

Austin Manchester is a writer and editor living in New York City. At Polygon, he covers gaming and entertainment news, reviews new video games, interviews behind-the-scenes talent, and more. He enjoys discovering hidden gems and sharing them with Polygon's audience. Previously, he was the gaming editor for AIPT Comics and has written for other outlets like XDA, How-To Geek, and The List. He enjoys soulslikes, character-driven RPGs, and third-person shooters plucked straight out of the Xbox 360 era. He also likes to flex his non-video game nerdy knowledge sometimes, whether that's explaining who's who in the new Wolverine game or recommending a comic book series about a sentient sword.

While his politics and bigotry have long been part of the parsing, Lovecraftian scholars benefit a great deal by the fact that the namesake died before 1939. Tales of unfathomable beings, the reaches of sanity and proto-steampunk sensibilities are ultimately parceled with race science sentiments and colonial expeditions. A new game from Umurangi Generation creator Naphtali Faulkner seeks to wield the horror genre without excusing its many sins. And how does he accomplish this? Adorable penguins. In Penguin Colony, you play as Antarctic birds. A great deal of them. Big emperor penguins. Little baby penguins. Rockhoppers. Chinstraps. By nuzzling up against another penguin, the player can transfer their essence in an instant. Each has alternating characteristics. Speed. Swimming. Jumping. A photo mode. And while it’d be dandy enough to belly slide around the tundra, their harsh but uncomplicated lives are upended. With dabs of alternative history, the game retells Lovecraft’s At The Mountain of Madness, this time with Nazis unlocking the ice sheets instead of well funded New Englanders. Learning of an ancient god, captured in frost, their research team attempts to uncover the deity.