Monthly Recap - April Edition
For this month’s recap of interesting events in gaming we have prepared a few different stories that stood out to us in their own ways. One is about a classic FPS getting an interesting experimental generative AI version that could disrupt the industry forever, the next one is about a remastered fan-favorite as well as its incredible reaches to new heights and the third is about a current hit title that is strikingly breaking grounds on the scene in just mere days from its official release. Buckle up for this one as it is going to be quite intriguing! Let’s begin!
A Generated AI Version of Quake II Has Seen the Light of Day!
Recently Microsoft has released and showcased a free-to-play, generated AI version of the massive 90s classic first-person shooter Quake II and the concept is truly igniting a lot of debates.
It demonstrated that there is no need for preset locations and fixed enemy positions anymore and that they should not be placed in the same order every time you play through the levels, the game’s content got generated on the go by a powerful Microsoft AI model, and it was all based on the iconic aesthetics and graphical style of the beloved original version of Quake II.
This in-browser game gets its assets by using Muse AI, a generative AI model that is partially designed by Microsoft in order to better assist video game developers in the future. Muse AI is being actively developed in partnership with the UK-based game studio Ninja Theory, and it was all trained on specific type of data collected from human players of the 2020 Xbox game Bleeding Edge. The aforementioned dataset consisted of more than 1 billion images and controller button activity to get compiled.
Given enough time, Muse AI could gradually replicate the visual graphics and gameplay mechanics of already existing video game titles and expand on them with its input.
If you are among the people who would be eagerly interested in giving the in-browser Quake II game a fair try, you should perhaps not set your expectations too high before you dive into it. The technology is still getting improved upon and is quite experimental at this early stage. The resolution is on the lower end of the scale and the controls seem to be a bit slow and even show some lag at times. There is also a restriction placed by Microsoft regarding how long you could enjoy the experience as it is more of a technical DEMO and not intended to be played through in its complete capacity.
The purpose behind the project however could be to build certain generative AI gaming titles that would always play out differently for any of the players that decide to enjoy them, making the experience much more personal and individual, so as the technology becomes more advanced it could certainly hold a lot of potential for gaming fans who wish to experience something truly unique each time they play a new favorite title.
The Oblivion Remake Has Already Managed to Set a New Concurrent Player Count Record
As it was expected, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered has easily managed to beat its previous concurrent player count record on Steam as an increasing number of players decide to spend their days revisiting Cyrodil.
Ever since it was initially only rumored that Oblivion would be having some sort of a remake or remastered version that was scheduled to drop early this year, it became clear to everyone around that it would be a release to not miss out on. The sheer excitement around the project only increased as time went on and the updates became even more interesting.
From a huge announcement made by Bethesda and following the rather quiet subsequent drop to market the reception of Oblivion Remastered has been hugely positive so far, and that is directly reflected by the player number count it has managed to bring back ever since it got originally released all the way back in 2005. Pretty much as soon as it got released Oblivion Remastered reached a new player count record getting more than 200,000 players on Steam.
Considering that it happened on a pretty much random Tuesday, it was predictable that the number of concurrent players would increase even more as the weekend got nearer and more players have the time to spend in the game. Oblivion Remastered was able to do something truly amazing for a 20-year-old game that just had a remake almost out of nowhere.
It Seems that Everyone is Talking about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Right Now!
At the very end of this month came the first title from the French developer studio Sandfall Interactive. It got released for the Windows PC and the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S consoles merely days ago on the 24th of April 2025 and immediately Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 became the highest-rated game of 2025 so far.
It holds a magnificent and very hard to beat user rate of 9.7, with more than 4200 impressions on Metacritic, which actually is cementing its position as one of the highest scores of all time on the gaming platforms around.
With such initial success it is no surprise that the game managed to sell more than 1 million copies within the first 3 days of its release. Both critics and players praised Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for its features such as the exceptional story, tight world building, dynamic combat, interesting characters and the very much rewarding exploration experience.
Sandfall Interactive stated that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 offers players with something that has been absent from the AAA scene: a turn-based RPG experience. What’s more interesting is the fact that the game also brings a very unique twist by introducing a real-time parry and dodge mechanic thus keeping the combat mode much more interactive than it usually is in this type of games.
The whole storyline happens in a mysterious world where a mighty figure known as the Paintress awakens once a year and draws a number on her giant monolith. Anyone whose age matches the number gets erased from existence forever, but it also is an opportunity for the rest of the inhabitants to join in on the annual mission to locate the Paintress and put an end to her sacrificial and ritualistic practices before their number gets painted.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was certainly being pointed at as a possible Game of the Year nominee even before its official release had even happened and now with players praising its combat, graphics and soundtrack so very much, it may seem more likely for the title to snatch the award. Although it is relatively short (about 30 hours) to complete the main story of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, there is much more to discover and keep players busy for a longer period.
This title has managed to garner so much attention from gamers everywhere, so in case you have missed out on the strong launch we would definitely advise you to check it out and see if it fits your preferences!
These were among the standout stories of April that captured our attention and we simply cannot wait to find out what May has got to offer us all, as we get nearer and nearer to the summer season. Do make sure to stay tuned for more interesting reviews and promotions as we are reaching the half of the year 2025 mark!