Taskmaster VR: Alex Horne Tells Us All About It

Your newsletter starts... now.

Alex Horne stands menacingly with his weapon and shield at the ready.
Taskmaster’s Alex Horne Tells Us About the Upcoming Taskmaster VR Game

Our Editor in Chief Andrew Otton was graciously offered the opportunity to chat with someone who works on British comedy panel show Taskmaster. Unfortunately, it was with Alex Horne.

The assistant to Lord Greg Davies told us all about the upcoming Taskmaster VR game. As the man behind the tasks on the show, he plays a vital role for the game, creating prompts for players to solve in the most ridiculous ways possible.

You can read more about the methods behind Alex’s madness in our interview with him.

This month is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and as a Filipino American, I wanted to share a feature I wrote back in 2021 about Life Is Strange: True Colors, particularly its lead character, Alex Chen.

She’s Chinese American, which has its own set of nuances that I’ll never understand. On top of that, Chinese Americans aren’t a monolith; everyone’s had a different experience.

What spoke to me, however, was how the game made it clear she was raised by Chinese parents without patronizing her for being Chinese. Her story focused on her journey, not so much her race.

It feels a little weird highlighting that in relation to AAPI Heritage Month, but at the same time, I’ve found part of my lived experience as a Filipino American is simply being a person who happens to have Asian blood in me. That same feeling is something I found True Colors just nailed perfectly.

Have I been mocked for being Filipino? Of course; it was one of my first experiences in Ohio. But have I also played a game of Mario Kart, for reasons completely unrelated to being Filipino? Absolutely; I’m only human, after all.

And It’s Working on Two “Very Ambitious RPGs.” Exciting!

Baldur’s Gate 3 was a critical success for Larian Studios, who’s been known for making incredible RPGs with deep mechanics and intricate narratives. This new location in Warsaw is its seventh studio, but we shouldn’t assume that means we’ll get their next project any time soon. Perfection takes time, and they deserve all the time they need to cook.

That’s not the only new big game studio in Europe this week. Amazon Games has opened a new location in Bucharest, Romania, and it has Cristian Pana at the helm. At Ubisoft, he’s worked on franchises like Far Cry and Tom Clancy’s The Division. This new studio will play a supporting role in Amazon Games’ portfolio.

Reading Between the Headlines

What’s New This Week?

It took me a little less than 7 hours to roll credits on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and it did give me a reason to jump back in and test out some things. Unfortunately, I didn’t walk away with the most favorable impression of the game’s story, which left a lot to be desired.

If you still wanted to check it out, it’s on Xbox Game Pass right now, and it’s got a lot of nice accessibility features to make your playing experience smooth and easy—just make sure to bring a good set of headphones.

Right before Wizards of the Coast releases new core rules for Dungeons & Dragons, it released one last hurrah with Vecna: Eve of Ruin. Our resident Dungeon Master Andrew Stretch spent a lot of time with this epic adventure, which starts at Player Level 10 and goes up to 20.

If you’d like to get a taste for how it plays, you can check out our actual-play miniseries that we started last week! Part 2 dropped earlier this week, which features my favorite use of Expeditious Retreat that made me cry laughing. It’s truly a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment.