Guild Wars 2 returns to the old-school with a new Super Adventure Box

Super Adventure Box was one of the more ambitious pranks of this year's Make Up Some News Day ; mostly because it was real . For the month of April, Guild Wars 2 got an 8-bit console downgrade courtesy of a) Asuran technological experimentation, and b) a game lore flexible enough that its developers can go, "ah screw it, let's just make a platformer".

The update adds a new World 2 realm, filled with more not-at-all-frustrating jumps, leaps and massive drops into oblivion. Both worlds will also get Tribulation Mode, a harder difficulty version, described as "ridiculously challenging" by the game's update page .

Non-themed improvements and upgrades are also scheduled - and this time, they're fairly significant changes. The level cap for Weaponsmith, Artificer, and Huntsman crafting is being increased to 500, with new recipes allowing players to craft Ascended weapons. In response, Legendary weapons will be given new functionality - allowing owners to choose between different stat bonuses while out of combat.

Magic Find is also being overhauled, so it will no longer be available as an equipment bonus. Instead, an account-wide bonus will be applied, that can be boosted with new items - Essences of Luck - which will be available through salvaging Fine and Masterwork items. So there might actually be a point in doing that, finally.

Super Adventure Box: Back to School will go live September 3rd.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.