Guild Wars 2 goes retro with free browser game Rytlock's Critter Rampage

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PCG Towers has been plunged into darkness, after some malevolent external force - possibly a wizard? - left us trapped and without essential PC-powering electricity. Marsh has already fallen , his burning carcass providing the dim light by which the team manically scribbled pictures of desktops onto dusty notepads. Chris had glued on a crude Spotify window, before bursting out into a mental playlist of show-tunes.

I should send an SOS, so that the madness upstairs can be stopped. But hey, look! ArenaNet have turned the 2D platformer from their Super Adventure Box trailer into a browser game that you can play right now.

"In the opening shot of our commercial (which is based on this incredible classic video game commercial) we needed to show our young actor beating a 16-bit platform game," explains ArenaNet's Cinematics lead Matthew Oswald. "The game needed to look like it was being played on an older revision of the 'Super Adventure Box.' (Think SNES to N64) So, we came up with a game called Rytlock's Critter Rampage.

"Originally, we just wanted to build out a couple sprites to fake the game in After Effects, but one of the cinematic artists on my team (Delly Sartika) has long harbored an interest in building his own retro platformer, so he volunteered to build out a playable version of our totally fake game."

The resulting game is uncompromisingly hard. But, if you can make enough progress to not smack the window shut with an angry Alt+F4, you'll find secret routes and giant deadly rabbit beasts. You can also kick a snake in the face, so it's worth a quick go just to realise that lifelong dream.

Play Rytlock's Critter Rampage right here .

Phil Savage
Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

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.