Poker Night 2

Overview

Poker Night 2 is a 2013 poker card game developed and published by Telltale Games. It is the sequel to the 2011 game Poker Night at the Inventory, and was first released on Xbox Live Arcade on April 24th 2013, subsequently on PC and Mac via the Steam platform on April 26th 2013 and on the PlayStation Store on April 30th 2013, except in Europe where it released on PSN on May 1st. On May 23rd 2013, Telltale released the game for iOS devices. The game was officially announced on April 1st 2013 following a ten day viral marketing campaign, though information suggesting the existence of a Poker Night sequel had already been leaked prior to it.

Like the first game in the series, Poker Night 2 is set in a secret underground club called the Inventory, which is hidden underneath a video-game storage warehouse, where four characters from different franchises face each other in a high-stakes game of Texas Hold 'Em, with the new inclusion of Omaha Hold 'Em, while engaging in casual humorous conversations.

Unlike the first Poker Night title, the game features characters from franchises and series that are not prominently established in the video game medium, as is the case with the Ash Williams character from the Evil Dead series of movies, and Brock Samson from the Venture Bros. cartoon series, which has never had an official video game.

Poker Night 2 also marks the first time the franchise appears on XBLA, PSN and iOS, which resulted in the franchise's first game content rating.

Following the closure of Telltale on November 2018, the game was delisted from all digital storefronts.

Characters

One specific dialogue in the game suggests that the four main characters were chosen to represent four different pillars of entertainment: TV (Brock Samson), video-games (Claptrap), movies (Ash Williams) and comic books (Sam).

All of the characters' respective voice actors return to provide voice work, with the notable exceptions of Bruce Campbell, the actor who brought Ash Williams to life on the silver screen, who is replaced by Danny Webber, and William Kasten, Max's voice actor in Telltale's series of Sam & Max video-games, who is replaced by David Boat.

The following characters appear in the game.

Players

• Ashley "Ash" Williams, from the Evil Dead film franchise
• Brock Samson, from The Venture Bros., an Adult Swim animated TV series
• Claptrap, from the Borderlands games
• Sam, from the Sam & Max franchise, who is accompanied by Max

Dealer

GLaDOS, from the Portal franchise, serves as the game's dealer. The artificial intelligence also converses with players often, usually down-putting them, and is frequently the target of Claptrap's attempted flirtations.

Bartender

Mad Moxxi, also from the Borderlands franchise, can be seen tending the bar. The player can order drinks from Moxxi for 5 Inventory Tokens "to get the players sauced and see their poker tells".

Cameos

Additionally, the game features a number of small cameos, including:

• Doug and a Save-Lot Bandit, from The Walking Dead
• Steve, from Borderlands
• A nondescript bouncer from Gravity Bone
• Reginald Van Winslow from Tales of Monkey Island
• General Skun-ka'pe from Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse

Cross-Game and Platform Unlocks

As with the first Poker Night game, Poker Night 2 will offer exclusive unique items and other unlockables for other games and platforms. Winning a set of three bounty challenges will give the player the chance to obtain a bounty item should they win the next tournament. Bounty items unlock aesthetic items for Borderlands 2 and Team Fortress 2, as well as Xbox 360 avatar apparel and PlayStation 3 premium themes. There are five available items for each game, four PlayStation 3 themes, and five 360 avatar items.

Though Borderlands 2 items are unlockable on all platform versions of the game, Poker Night 2 only unlocks items for a copy of Borderlands 2 on the same platform.

Customers who pre-ordered the game on Steam also received a free digital copy of Poker Night at the Inventory.

Borderlands 2 Cosmetic Items (PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)

• Max's Head for Gaige the Mechromancer;
• Guy with the Gun (a Head item resembling Evil Ash) for Axton the Commando;
• Bluffer's Bane for Maya the Siren;
• Brock Samson's Head for Salvador the Gunzerker;
• Portal Turret Skin for Zer0 the Assassin.

Team Fortress 2 Cosmetic Items (PC, Mac)

• The Samson Skewer for the Heavy;
• The Necronomicrown for the Pyro;
• The Long Fall Loafers for the Scout;
• The Bloodhound for the Sniper and the Spy;
• The Dapper Disguise for the Spy.

Premium Themes (PlayStation 3)

• Four PlayStation Network Premium Themes where Poker Night 2's characters invade each others worlds.

Avatar Apparel (Xbox 360)

• An Aperture Test Chamber with GLaDOS in it,
• Sam's Suit
• The necronomicon;
• An item from Venture Bros.;
• A Bloodwing companion.

Soundtrack

Just like the previous game, the soundtrack for Poker Night 2's is comprised of jazz renditions of songs from each character's universe.

• "Twilight Eternal" - Sam & Max (Season 2, Episode 5: What's New, Beelzebub?)
• "There She Is" - Portal 2
• "Short Change Hero" - Borderlands 2
• "No Vacancy / Venture Bros. theme" - The Venture Bros.
• "Prologue" - Army of Darkness
• "Still Alive" - Portal
• "The War Song / Good For You (Good For Me)" - Sam & Max (Season 1, Episode 4: Abe Lincoln Must Die!)

Viral Marketing Campaign

On March 22nd, 2013, Telltale launched a website with the URL "http://www.thekeyparty.com/". Initially the only image on the website was that of an empty wooden bowl. Throughout the following days leading up to an April 1st reveal, keys were added to the bowl starting with Sam's DeSoto keys.

A side menu promoted the Twitter hashtag #whatisthekeyparty, and teased the April 1st reveal date.

Before the game was formally announced though, files contained within a Team Fortress 2 update with the prefix "PN2" were found, and eventually screenshots of the game and the official box art were leaked onto the internet.

External Links

• Official Website
• Steam Game Page