Good morning! Happy Halloween! Yes, kids all around the nation get to enjoy one of life’s best treats: A Friday Halloween. Stay up late, kids, and eat so much candy. But before you wreck your teeth and stomachs, let’s get through today’s Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of gaming news and culture. Today, we have evidence of a Silent Hill 2 remake Xbox port, more layoff news, the reveal of pets in Fortnite, and some new ports of Turok 2 arriving courtesy of Nightdive Studios.
Fortnite adds animal sidekicks
©Epic Games
On Thursday, Epic announced that the long-rumored pets feature is finally arriving in Fortnite on November 1 alongside The Simpsons mini-season. These tiny buddies are officially known as “Sidekicks” and will follow you around in battle royale and other Fortnite modes. However, enemy players won’t see them in competitive modes, so your cute puppy doesn’t give away your position and get you killed. Sidekicks will also be immune to damage and will feature their own customization options that can be unlocked by completing quests. I can already hear Epic’s bank account filling with even more money.
The Silent Hill 2 remake is likely coming to Xbox in the near future
Folks have spotted an ESRB rating for a yet-to-be-announced Xbox port of last year’s excellent Silent Hill 2 remake. This doesn’t officially confirm such a port will happen, but it seems very, very likely that Konami is gearing up to bring the remake to Xbox Series X/S in not too distant future. At the moment, Silent Hill 2 is only available on PS5 and PC.
MGS3 remake’s multiplayer mode is now available
When Konami’s fancy remake of Metal Gear Solid 3 launched back in August, the game’s promised multiplayer mode was missing as it needed more time in the oven. Now, Fox Hunt is finally out as part of a free update. At launch, Fox Hunt features two stealth-focused multiplayer modes and supports 12 players. While it ain’t a new version of Metal Gear Online, I’m certainly curious to check it out. I mean, once I find time to play it and the 20 other games I still need to play this year.
More layoffs hit Heart Machine
The studio behind Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash is reportedly laying off employees for the second time this month. As reported by GameDeveloper.com, at least four different staff members have recently posted on social media that they were laid off. One now out-of-work dev shared a video suggesting that by the time the studio’s next game, Possessor(s), launches on November 11, most, if not all, of the people who worked on it might be gone from the indie studio. This is the second round of layoffs to hit the company this month and the third round in early 2025.
