Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark Rolls Out
Merging canons. Not cannons. Though robots might merge cannons too.
When I was young, Transformers was about heavily-armed robots who could transform into trucks and dinosaurs and cassette recorders yet mostly hung out with tedious humans talking about boring drama between them and some other robots they didn't get on with, then sometimes they would all get into a disappointing fight. As far as I can tell, the main difference in Michael Bay's Transformers is that the robofights are more exciting. Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
High Moon Studios' recent Transformers games were pretty good for robots fighting, so I hear, though their story universe is smooshed together with Bay's movie world now that Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark launched yesterday. Look, I've got a video of some robots to prove it.
As well as merging universes, Rise of the Dark Spark switches developers, away from High Moon to Edge of Reality. They've mostly worked on ports, but you may know them as the folks behind free-to-play shooter Loadout, which I'm told is good stuff.
So the two universes are now merged. Does this matter? Are you excited or mortified by this? It's not real anyway, you know. If you enjoy the stories more with the two separate, then think of them as such! We could all benefit from being more disrespectful of the authority of 'lore' and 'canon.' Probably still give cannons a wide berth, though.
Reviews aren't out yet, though, which may not be the best indication. If you're bold enough (or adore fighting robots enough) to plunge right in, it'll run you £29.99 on Steam. Here are those robots I promised you: