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SYFY WIRE The Last of Us

Gaming: Animal Crossing teases Halloween update; Last of Us board game; Farmville ends

By Jacob Oller
Animal Crossing Halloween

Halloween is right around the corner, which means that the holiday-happy quarantine game that kept everyone sane and soothed over the summer is getting a suitably spooky update. Animal Crossing: New Horizons will soon be bringing costumes and candy to the island life.

Nintendo dropped a trailer showcasing the update’s offerings, which include pumpkins, costumes, decorations, and an actual Halloween event. Get ready to completely restructure your island to make room for a pumpkin patch and check it out:

Jack, the Halloween representative, is certainly a lot more fun than the terrifying visitor harping on players to find easter eggs. Much more chill. Pumpkins, bats, and the seasonal fall colors of black, orange, and purple fill the island life with the spooky spirit. New crafting recipes allow gamers to get their islands ready for the big night, when their islanders will don their own costumes and seek to impress each other to score some candy. And don’t forget to save some for Jack.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ fall update launches on Sept. 30.


Next, those amped by the second iteration of The Last of Us (or those excited for its upcoming TV adaptation) will soon have another way to enjoy the apocalyptic franchise: on tabletops everywhere. That’s right, a board game version of the emotionally destructive series.

In a release by CMON, the company behind the upcoming game explained that they will be following up their Bloodborne and God of War games with another Sony adaptation: The Last of Us: The Board Game. The franchise’s first foray to the tabletop, The Last of Us: The Board Game will look to replicate the intense, thrilling nature of the games’ story and gameplay.

“Remembering the impact The Last of Us had on me when I first experienced it years ago, and then being completely stunned by The Last of Us Part II, I knew this was a narrative experience we wanted to bring to the board gaming table,” said Geoff Skinner, VP of Entertainment and Head of Licensing at CMON. “The Last of Us is a series that many of us at CMON have followed from its inception and we are eager to adapt the stirring character-driven player experience to tabletop, letting fans explore the world and story in a entirely new way.”

No release date is yet set for The Last of Us: The Board Game.


Finally, one of the Facebook games that made everyone and their mom into a gamer is coming to an end. Farmville is losing the farm on Facebook.

A forum post by the game’s company, Zynga, explained that the super-popular 2009 game is ending because Adobe will soon stop giving out and updating Flash Player for all browsers, while Facebook is stopping support of Flash games in 2021. That means the original Farmville couldn’t continue even if it wanted to. However, the sequel, Farmville 2, and its side games are still available on mobile and web—with Farmville 3 on the way.

A strange quirk of ending the original game is that while the game will be playable through Dec. 31, the in-game purchases will stop working on Nov. 17—so spend your Farmville cash if you’ve got it.

It’s the end of an era for Facebook gaming, which may see more casual gamers make the move to mobile.