April 1st brings about the annual dance of gamers’ emotions once again — the crushing realization of a fake announcement juxtaposed with the pure joy of creative limited-time modes and genuinely hilarious social media gags. Let’s dive into the best gaming April Fools’ Day pranks of 2024.
Pokémon Sleep: Pokémon Sleep Championship Tournament
Well, I’ve found my true calling. The Pokemon Company is calling upon the sleepy heads of the world to see who can nap the best in the Pokémon Sleep World Champions Tournament. Ask my editors, and they’d definitely tell you I could win this with my eyes closed. It would be hard to win it with them open, I suppose.
Overwatch 2: Balanced Overwatch
Blizzard finally listened to the fans and delivered the desperately needed changes. Reducing Mauga’s health from 350 to 25, letting Mercy shoot from her staff, giving Zenyatta the ability to fly, increasing Brigitte’s size, and giving Tracer literal time travel powers — y’know, the sort of changes we needed for a healthy, balanced game.
These super fair changes can be enjoyed in the limited-time Balanced Overwatch Arcade mode, which also allows players to earn incredible new Sprays designed by Megabubu. Like in previous years, all characters (and even the payload) are outfitted with a pair of googly eyes, and all Ultimate voice lines have been changed to far better ones.
Dead by Daylight: My Little Oni
Dead by Daylight’s April Fools’ prank is really big this year. In the limited-time game mode My Little Oni, the Killer gets to play as a colossal (and I do mean colossal) Oni, while the four Survivors are positively minuscule.
With no perks or hooks, My Little Oni matches are incredibly fast, fun, and accessible to all players, whether you’re a seasoned DBD player or don’t know your Blight from your Cenobite. My Little Oni lasts until April 3 at 9 am EDT.
Pokémon GO: An Excellent Opportunity
Rather than opting for a mischievous prank, Niantic has chosen a rather beneficial one. During Pokémon Go’s April Fools’ event, An Excellent Opportunity, every Nice or Great Throw becomes an Excellent Throw.
Excellent Throws are the hardest throws to achieve in the game, granting trainers a large chunk of XP for catching Pokémon when the catch circle is at its smallest. The “An Excellent Opportunity” event is undoubtedly a fitting name, making today the perfect time to complete tricky Research Tasks or farm easy XP with a Lucky Egg.
World of Warcraft: 10.6.2 “patch notes”
It’s an annual tradition for World of Warcraft to release “leaked” patch notes for an upcoming update, and 2024 is no exception. Patch 10.6.2’s extensive list of very real features is too long to detail here but includes highlights such as underwater Dragondiving, PvP-free Plunderstorm, and the statement that all classes are perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
SEGA: Cartridge Loadable Content & Knuckles
Remember how you could combine Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles cartridges to create Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the Sega Genesis? What if we could use that technology to see Sonic’s feet or give him a comically enlarged head? SEGA answered those questions we didn’t need answers to with their Cartridge Loadable Content gag below.
Overwatch Cavalry: Overwatch 2 x Valorant
Overwatch’s leading fan news source, Overwatch Cavalry, pulled a fast one on the community with an impressively crafted Overwatch 2 x Valorant crossover post featuring a stunning render of a Kirko Jett skin.
The mastermind behind the post was Cavalry manager and designer Zenofy and ShipLumityOW, who told me he worked alongside 3D artists Uberchain and Velencourte to bring this Blizzard-worthy concept to life. The foundation for the design came from concept art created by Nirvan0211.
Call of Duty: Totally Advanced Resurgence
In Call of Duty Warzone’s Totally Advanced Resurgence mode, all players drop into Vondel with ridiculous traversal abilities, such as ultra-high jumps, super slides, and increased movement speed. Get ready to see even more clips where “professionals” look like their arm is being tased as they move their mouse.
Among Us: Long Mode
I was going to write about Among Us’ April Fools’ Day mode here, but it would’ve been too long.
Borderlands: Thresher popcorn bucket
The Borderlands Thresher popcorn bucket is the latest product in the market of popcorn holders with questionable holes fashioned after worm-like aliens. At least it would be if it was real. Trying to purchase one will bring you to a brightly colored 404 screen with a dancing Claptrap voiced by Jack Black to promote the upcoming movie. It’s a shame because I would totally buy one of these. Wait, why are you looking at me like that?
