Metro: Last Light doesn't sound appetizing with its "suffocating despair" and "gnarled monstrosities," but it's that kind of loveliness that made Ludwig enthuse about the Metro 2033 follow-up in his four and a half stars review. He deemed Last Light "an unusual, meticulously detailed shooter inextricable from its environment."

Of course, Ludwig wasn't the only brave soul to delve into the underground sequel. Here are some other thoughts we dug up.

• GamesRadar (90/100): "Subtlety is what makes Last Light such an exceptionally immersive game. It nails the core tenets of a shooter, then forces you to react to enemies in ways outside of simply taking cover. It plops you in a post-apocalyptic world, then fills it with tons of minor but substantial details, like the shadows of once-living people now permanently nuked into stone walls. It strips you of hope, only to dangle a tiny sliver of it ahead of you like a carrot on a stick."
• Game Informer (88/100): "This sequel plays more like a shooter than its predecessor, but doesn't sacrifice its intricate narrative or creative vision in the process. Masochistic fans will appreciate the harder difficulties that recreate the grueling experience of the original, but no matter how you approach it, exploring Last Light's absorbing world is wholly entertaining."
• Giant Bomb (80/100): "By its very nature of being a sequel, Last Light doesn't feel as fresh as Metro 2033 did, but there's still nothing else like it. Few games generate immersion through gameplay and transport you to their world the way Metro does."
• Eurogamer (70/100): "Metro: Last Light is not a bad game, but nor is it a good one in quite the same sense as its predecessor. Metro 2033 was flawed but trying to do its own thing. If anything, Last Light feels like a regression. Similarities abound, but this is a more conservative FPS, one looking at the competition rather than itself, and one with some terrible missteps. So go in with low expectations, and you might be pleasantly surprised."

There's something odd going on with Wolfenstein 3D on PSN and XBLM. First off, this week the ESRB re-rated the classic game on Xbox 360 and PS3, nearly four years after it arrived on the platforms digitally. Secondly, it's sprouted an additional page on XBLM.

Playing Spot the Difference between the two pages, the new one lists the publisher as Bethesda rather than Activision. Developer id Software was acquired by Bethesda's parent company Zenimax in June 2009, just a few weeks after Wolfenstein 3D came to XBLM and PSN. Also, the release date is now listed as May 31 of this year, which is a bit odd. The box art is slightly different too, and once more notes Bethesda's name instead of Activision's.

Overall, the whole thing's as curious as Adolf Hitler in a mech suit. The timing's certainly interesting given the recent reveal of Wolfenstein: The New Order. When approached on the matter, a company spokesperson told Joystiq, "No comment on that from Bethesda."

Update: Bethesda VP of PR and Marketing Pete Hines told Joystiq there's nothing to see here.

"No changes. Was originally published through Activision, so now that it's reverted back to us we have to jump through ESRB (ratings go to the publisher, they don't "follow" the game to a new publisher) and console hoops (game has to be "re-certed" by the new publisher)," Hines said.

Atari's Breakout turned 37 last month, and that apparently (but not unsurprisingly) is enough of an excuse for yet another Google easter egg. If you type 'Atari Breakout' into Google Images' search, instead of finding graphics of the classic game, the screen will transform into a playable Breakout clone made up from those images. Clever, no?

So, if by the end of today you're wondering where all the Joystiq posts have gone, be sure to blame/thank Google.

Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery sets off for Vita and iOS this week. Lucid's cutesy-looking Unreal Engine 3 puzzler pitches up in North America via PSN on Tuesday, May 14 - it should be Wednesday in Europe. Then iOS welcomes it on Thursday. No prices are announced as yet.

The game features Jacob, a kid who prefers traipsing the outdoors to milling around with his peers. Thankfully, his trip to Camp Eagle Feather includes bumping into Bigfoot, an event that always brightened our summer camp excursions.

Meanwhile, we're still waiting on Lucid's mid-May announcement, which looks to be a racing game, and one possibly tied to Microsoft's own mid-May announcement. The studio, comprised of ex-Bizarre devs, gave a brief shout-out today to fans of Blur and Project Gotham Racing who'd sent the studio messages recently. Which group will be the more pleased later this month, if either, remains to be seen.

Chasm, the 2D action RPG with a Metroid soul, has handily destroyed its funding goal on Kickstarter. After reaching its funding goal of $150,000 five days early last week, the Chasm Kickstarter closed over the weekend with $191,897 pledged from nearly 7,000 backers. Developer Discord Games thank all of its backers for their "amazing and truly inspiring support."

Since reaching the goal last week, the developer also began taking pre-orders for Chasm via the Humble Store. Even though the funding drive is over, pre-orders will continue to apply toward the game's stretch goals, the next one being arena mode at $200,000.

A 3D-enhanced version of Sonic the Hedgehog spins its way onto Japan's 3DS eShop on May 15. As Tiny Cartridge reports, the latest of Sega's 3D portable reworks has some interesting additions, including optional spin dashes, button remapping, and being able to choose either the Japanese or western version of the game.

You'd think that last one would indicate an impending western arrival, but we're still waiting on the 3D-enhanced versions of Space Harrier and Super Hang-On. We've reached out to Sega to find out what, if anything, is on the horizon.

If the thought of going to a store and purchasing something the day it comes out only fills you with panic (what if they're sold out?!) then we have some reassuring news for you. Best Buy is taking pre-orders for the Animal Crossing 3DS XL bundle, launching on June 9 in North America.

The $219.99 bundle comes with a 4GB card, pre-loaded with Animal Crossing: New Leaf. In this latest entry in series, players assume the role of Mayor.

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Developer Warren Spector and Blizzard Entertainment COO Paul Sams will help oversee a new gaming academy being put into place at the University of Texas at Austin. The Denius-Sams Gaming Academy, named after co-founders Wofford Denius, Sams and his wife, will begin in 2014 with only 20 spots for students, and will award a postbaccalaureate certificate rather than a graduate degree, which the school says will help it remain industry-focused.

Spector, the creator of Deus Ex and the Disney Epic Mickey series, will put together the curriculum, which will include a 12-month intensive program where students will make a game themselves. Students selected for admission will also get a tuition waiver and a $10,000 stipend for fees and housing expenses. The program will begin next fall.

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The Novelist stars three characters: Dan Kaplan, a father attempting to finish writing the most important book of his career; Dan's wife and their young son – and you won't play as any of these people. Instead, players control an omniscient presence in the family's summer cabin, able to watch their daily lives, read their thoughts, enter their memories and influence their actions. The only catch is that the ghost must stay out of sight.

"It's up to you to decide how Dan's career and family life will evolve, but choose carefully; there are no easy answers, and every choice has a cost," The Novelist's description reads. "Dan's relationships – to his work, his wife and his son – react and shift in response to your choices. With a different sequence of events in every playthrough, The Novelist gives life to a unique experience each time you play.

"The decisions you make will define the Kaplans' lives, but they may also tell you something about yourself."

The Novelist is the brain child of Kent Hudson, who worked on AAA titles such as BioShock 2, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Deus Ex: Invisible War, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, and maybe even more games with subtitles. He left the mainstream industry in 2011, and has been working on The Novelist ever since. We hope he wasn't working all the time, though – all work and no play make Kent a dull boy.

The Novelist is due out on PC and Mac this summer, with pre-orders live now at a 25 percent discount ($15) via Hudson's site, with a Steam Greenlight page ready to roll.

This week on Steam, Agent 47 takes more than a few lives – he knocks 50 percent off the price of Hitman: Absolution, bringing it down to $12.50. Also on sale for up to 75 percent off on Steam is the moody, 16-bit adventure Anodyne, Dark Energy Digital's Hydrophobia: Prophecy, 2002 strategy game Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood, adventure game The Book of Unwritten Tales, Postal 2 Complete (again) and puzzler Critical Mass.

The sale ends on May 20 at 10 a.m. PT, even though Valve's weekly news post still says "May 6th." Shh – nobody tell Valve and let's see how long before someone on the team notices.

Split controller designs are nothing new. We've seen them implemented by third parties such as SplitFish and, of course, major players – Nintendo's Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and Sony's PS Move and Navigation Controller. Now, Mad Genius is looking to up the ante with its new break-apart motion controller.

Mad Genius says the controller is capable of tracking movements as minute as 1/100 of an inch. A video demonstrates the controller being used in an unmodified version of Skyrim on Xbox 360, tracking the player's body movement to make the character move in the game world. A more practical application is splitting the controller apart to aim and fire a bow in-game.

Holding the two halves like a bow and arrow, the game automatically equips and begins aiming the bow. The control is so fine, according to Mad Genius, that players will actually have to hold their breath to steady their shots, lest a tiny movement knock them off target.

The motion-tracking system will work with any game on any platform, including even outmoded platforms such as the original PlayStation (though it's not clear how you would actually connect the two together). Mad Genius is planning to launch a Kickstarter to fund the final version of the controller, which will be wireless and, presumably, a bit sleeker.

This week, PlayStation Plus members in North America can snag a free copy of Knytt Underground, along with a sizable discount for Metro: Last Light.

Knytt Underground, normally priced at $15, is an exploration-based 2D platformer in which players solve environmental puzzles by swapping between their default humanoid form and a bouncy "ball" shape that can access hard-to-reach areas. Knytt Underground is available as a Cross-Buy title, and is playable on both the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.

4A Games' first-person shooter Metro: Last Light, due for release tomorrow, is available to PlayStation Plus members for $48, or $12 off of its retail price. Codemasters' motorsports title GRID 2 also gets a discount ahead of its launch later this month, and PlayStation Plus members can pre-order it this week for $54.

Other free titles coming to PlayStation Plus this month include Pinball Arcade, Germinator, and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend.

In its latest financial report (translated here by Dr. Serkan Toto) Osaka-based publisher GungHo Entertainment announced that its mobile puzzle-RPG Puzzle & Dragons grossed over $113 million in April.

To put that in perspective, GungHo's catalog-wide earnings for April totaled ¥12 billion ($119 million) – a 1,142.8 percent increase over its performance in April 2012. Puzzle & Dragons currently generates $3.76 million in daily revenue, and boasts 13 million players in Japan.

Puzzle & Dragons originally launched for iOS and Android devices last year. A Nintendo 3DS adaptation is slated for release in Japan this winter.

Precursor Games has launched a second, simultaneous crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for Shadow of the Eternals, the episodic horror game serving as a spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. This is a supplement to the crowdfunding project that Precursor launched on its own site on May 6. The Kickstarter campaign looks to raise $1.35 million, while Precursor's campaign asks for $1.5 million.

"Due to overwhelming popular demand, we are happy to announce that an official Kickstarter campaign has launched for Shadow of the Eternals," Precursor says. "This gives potential pledgers even more options to contribute to the game."

Precursor's campaign accepts payments through PayPal – unlike Kickstarter – and doesn't necessarily have to reach its goal to take whatever money it raises. That campaign has 24 days remaining and has raised $156,000. The Kickstarter campaign has 36 days to reach its goal, otherwise Precursor won't receive any of that money.

Precursor will use the money raised in its crowdfunding efforts to launch a pilot episode in Q3 2014, and pay for the engine and core system development. Future episodes of Shadow of the Eternals – there will be 12 in total – will be "significantly cheaper and faster to produce," and Precursor will announce more episodes based on the success of its fundraising(s).

CD Projekt RED has released REDkit, an official set of tools that allows amateur modders to make The Witcher 2 even witchier than ever before.

REDkit, originally launched as a private beta back in August, is a robust toolkit that lets users create new characters and quests within The Witcher 2. If you want to further tweak your mod's fantasy setting, REDkit also allows modders to edit terrain and plant virtual forests using the SpeedTree system. User-created content can be shared with fellow Witcher series enthusiasts at CD Projkt RED's website.

Would-be modders might want to check out REDkit's wiki before delving too deeply into the REDkit's world of character creation and tree-planting.

There's a certain stigma attached to strategy games, where deep systems and mechanics can hoist a sky-high barrier for the uninitiated. Sid Meier's Ace Patrol sidesteps these stigmas, presenting a turn-based experience so simple that even the strategically challenged will be able to play and excel.

Designed for iOS devices, Ace Patrol is a dogfighting game set in WWI. With a series of taps, intense air combat is engaged over a battlefield of hexagonal grids. Using these taps, players execute everything from strafing to swooping dives, hard banking, the Immelman turn and other expert maneuvers.

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Take-Two announced its financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, revealing that the company took in $1.214 billion in sales last year, up from $825.8 million for the fiscal year 2012.

Take-Two notes that BioShock Infinite met with "significantly" higher sales than any previous BioShock release, shipping over 3.7 million units to date. The company reports a net loss of $31.2 million over the past fiscal year, but projects between $1.75 to $1.85 billion in revenue for the current fiscal year (ending in March, 2014), spurred by upcoming releases like Grand Theft Auto V and WWE 2K14.

The report notes year-over-year improvements in both revenue and net losses, bolstered by big sellers like Borderlands 2, NBA 2K13, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Catalog sales for older releases like Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption also saw strong performances, as Take Two noted a 192 percent year-over-year rise in revenue from digitally delivered software.

Max Payne 3 has shipped 4 million units and Borderlands 2 has sent out 6 million units, according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick during today's financial conference call.

"Borderlands 2 remains on track to become the highest selling release in the history of 2K," Zelnick said.

That's 2K Games, which should not be confused with Take-Two's other child, Rockstar Games, which has a clear highest-selling franchise with Grand Theft Auto. The next installment in that series, GTA 5, is scheduled to drive off with everybody's money on September 17.