Stop looking at my cards, Claptrap!

May 05, 2013  Welcome to Poker Night 2. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Telltale Games has officially announced Poker Night 2 today, and the surprise sequel to the fan-favorite poker game is already shaping up to be one of 2013’s funniest releases. The original Poker Night at the Inventoryfeatured some pretty heavy hitters in the entertainment world, including the Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2 and Strong Bad from the Homestar Runner universe, so there was no question that Poker Night 2 would be pulling out all the stops for some more franchise crossover fun. This time, Telltale is partnering up with some of entertainment’s biggest companies, like Gearbox Software and Adult Swim, to lay all the cards on the table.

Poker Night 2 is set to feature four new entertainment all-stars taking a seat at Telltale’s volatile poker table: Claptrap from Gearbox’s shootin’-and-lootin’ Borderlands series; Sam from the Sam & Max video game franchise; Ash from the Evil Dead trilogy; and my personal favorite, Brock Sampson from the acclaimed Adult Swim animated series The Venture Bros. From what we’ve seen so far, the graphics are as sharp and crisp as ever, and Telltale has really accounted for the different visual styles of each respective character and franchise. But do you know what the best part is? The card dealer will be none other than everyone’s favorite sarcastic and conniving artificial intelligence personality, GLaDOS from Valve’s Portal series. I would watch her carefully while you play though if I were you: something tells me GLaDOS isn’t above slipping a fifth ace into the deck!

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The amazing introductory trailer features an aggravated Brock Sampson playing Telltale’s own The Walking Dead game, with some not-so-helpful commentary from Claptrap and company. The chemistry between these four characters already had me rolling in this short 1-minute video, and I can’t wait to see what kinds of wacky arguments will ensue once we get to play the actual game. I mean, can you even imagine the hilarity of having Claptrap and GLaDOS together in the same room?!

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In the official press release for Poker Night 2, Telltale CEO and co-founder Dan Connors sheds some light on the developer’s sense of humor, which some may not expect given the overly serious tone of The Walking Dead: “It’s great to revisit our roots after the success of The Walking Dead. People might not know that we have a strong history of humor in our games and players are going to find a lot of laughs in Poker Night 2.”

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A new feature to Poker Night 2 is called “Bounty Unlocks,” in which players can earn rewards for use in other games, like exclusive skins for Borderlands 2, character accessories for Team Fortress 2, and even unique Xbox 360 Avatar items and premium themes on PlayStation 3. How you will earn these Bounty Unlocks remains to be seen, but we can expect to learn more about Poker Night 2 in the weeks going forward. The game is currently set for a late April release, and will be appearing on PC, Mac, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade platforms.