Hooded Horse has announced that Long Jaunt’s noble family management game, Norland, has reached Patch 26. This one might be the largest yet, as it adds family trees, new NPCs, and �perhaps most notabl?y �an overhaul to the world map.

Norland launched into early access in kind of rough shape. The framework was there, but I found it to be unbalan??ced and required too much juggling to really enjoy. As I described it in my early access review, none of its facets have any time to breathe, leading to things breaking dow?n.

Since the time I played it, the devs have been hitting it hard and fast with updates to address player concerns. The gusto is admirable. I haven’t jumped back into the game since my initial encounter, but I have seen certa??in tweaks that seem like they would make things more palat?able. Things like cutting down on the amount of babysitting the peasants need.

Here’s what information I have on the update: “The latest update for Norland completely overhauls the world map with new sprites, more topology, and more regional diversity. Players will start each game battling for control over a single region before transitioning to the “world�stage and fighting over nation-states of different cultures. The overall map size is also bigger now, and a previous patch allows players to compel nearby vassals to tackle distant issues, freeing their own nobles to focus on matters closer to home.�/p>

On top of that, an added family tree means you can keep track of your lineage so that, I don’t know, you can keep second cousins from marrying each other. If you can stop them. There are also new “guest�NPC characters such as cultists and pilgrims. I’m not sure why “guest�i??s in quotes, but that’s how it is in the press release.

Norland is currently in Early Access and ava?ilable on PC. Also, it's on sale for 35% unti??l December 4, 2024.

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Paradox Arc has published some absolute bangers as of late including Nexus 5X, Mechabellum, and Space Trash Scavenger. It has now entered the isometric city-builder genre with developers Bellwood Studios and Perspective Games' ancient Aztec-themed colony sim Tlatoani: Aztec Cities which has been released in Early Access.

Tlatoani: Aztec Cities (PC)
Developer: Bellwood Studios and Perspective Games
Publisher: Paradox Arc
Released: October 31, 2024
MSRP: $19.99, $15.99 with launch discount through November 10

I have fond memories of playing Egyptian-themed isometric city-builder Pharaoh and its expansion Cleopatra as well as the Roman-themed isometric city-builder Caesar III. Both of the games were released when I w?as about ten years old, and while I didn't understand all the intricacies of properly managing and overseeing the cities I built, simply building them and watching them grow was enough to keep me engaged for many hours in striving to build up my city.

Tlatoani aims to rekindle that nostalgic feeling by tasking players with building an entire ancient Aztec empire one city at a time. You'll still focus on one city at a time, building it into a thriving metropolis in Mesoamerica, but you can eventually expand to have multiple city-states that trade and continue to gr??ow your empire as a whole. It's a very unique addition to this old-school style of city-building that fixes one of the major problems in the genre. In Early Access, the foundation for this is laid but that's about it. Most of the focus is still on building a single city which can be done via the Campaign or through six different Scenario missions.

In most entries into the genre, including the classics like Caesar III and Pharaoh, you build up your city, complete your tasks for that mission, and then move onto the next where you're once again building your city from scratch. In Tlatoani, you'll instead star??t a new city perhaps with a separate produc?tion focus, before intertwining it into your entire Aztec civilization.

The gameplay itself when it comes to building your city in Tlatoani is for the most part similar to other entries in the genre. You build up your city by adding housing for your citizens while also setting up production lines for goods they require such as access to food, water, and entertainment. As yo??ur city grows, your inhabitants will require more—and be?tter-quality—goods.

A huge staple of Ancient Aztec life was religion and so that's understandably a big part of the needs of your citizens as their ruler in Tlatoani. When building religious buil?dings you have the freedom to choose which gods to dedicate them to, each with their own unique buffs as well as traditions that must be satisfied to appease them. You can throw festivals and engage in other historic Aztec trad??itions like animal and human sacrifice.

The best change up to the classic city-builder formula in Tlatoani in my opinion is the symmetry system. In Ancient Aztec history, symmetrical building layouts were a huge part of the tradition. As Tlatoani, it's up to you to put your architectural prowess to good use and attempt?? to mirror and maintain symmetry in the layout of your city. This will not only make it easier to satisfy the needs of your citizens but it will also appease the gods and your citizens simply for being better to look at. It's a fun element when planning out your cities to keep in mind the symmetry of everything.

In its Early Access state, Tlatoani: Aztec Cities is pretty much exactly what I hoped it would be: a spiritual successor to Pharaoh and Caesar III with its city-building elements. What will really make Tlatoani stand out in my opinion is how much they continue to flesh out and build upon the system of building an entire Aztec civilization comprised of many city-states working together. If the developers can figure out how to eliminate the normal burnout of having to start a city from scratch with no real benefit for creating the previous city other than reaching a milestone to unlock the next mission, I think Tlatoani could be a standout title in the genre. But even in its current form, Tlatoani still scratches that classic city-builder itch.

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During the opening night live event at August's Gamescom, Grinding Gear Games revealed plans to bring Path of Exile 2 t??o Early Access ??on November 15. Things have changed, though, and folks who have been eagerly awaiting this one will need to hold out a little longer.

According to Grinding Gear's latest update on the project, Path of Exile 2's Early Access release has been delayed to Dece?mber 6, 2024. Game director Jon??athan Rogers shared the news in a video on the game's official website and social channels, starting off with a quick intro and an apologetic announcement. 

"Unfortunately, I have some really bad news. We have to delay Early Access for three weeks," he began. He addressed the fact that people even tend?? to plan time off for the?ir launches, but said they "just have to do it." 

As Rogers noted in the video, the game itself isn't the issue at hand. The delay came about as the resu?lt of "a bunch of server-side infrastructure work that has taken us a lot longer than we expected." 

Some of this has to do with fulfilling the promise that all microtransactions will work across Path of Exile 1 and 2. To pull that off, they have to integrate the account systems for both games, as well as the platforms. A bunch of new sy?stems had to be created ??in the process, all of which needed to be backward compatible with the old data. 

He said that while he was actually confident they could have made the original launch date, he wasn't certain they could do it without making mistakes. "When you're migrating databases that are this ??old and with this much data, you find all sorts of strange demons in there," Rogers added. 

The only strange demons we're looking to battle are?? the ones in the game, and it sounds like this will hopefully be the last snag before we can do so. Beyond that, the team will also have a livestream to?? talk about all the content players can expect in Early Access in "about four weeks."  

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Whereas Anger Foot might've cornered one sub-sub-sub-genre of door-kicking games, the venerable Early Access hit Door Kickers 2: Task Force North is going in a wholly different direction. While the developer KillHouse Games might not have had an update in a year, a new blog?? claims 1.0 is coming still.

Door Kickers 2 is a known quantity in the turn-based/timeline-based tactical gaming circles. Already enjoying some stellar reviews even in its Early Access form, Task Force North hadn't received any meaningful content updates in about a year now, which might've eaten away at some fans' goodwill. Thankfully, KillHouse Games' delightful new blog post on Steam claims not only that the development is progressing well, but also that Door Kickers 2 will "feel like a new game once released."

Door Kickers 2 1.0 is going to be loaded with content, Steam Deck support confirmed

According to KillHouse Games, Door Kickers 2 is due to launch from Early Access in the relativ?ely near future: "We can't commit in advance to a certain release date - quality is paramount so it will be done when it will be done," says the studio's latest blog post, adding that "we're definitely not far now!" The reason why we haven't had a meaningful content update in so long makes sense, too: "We [reckoned] it would be more efficient to have one release instead of countless cycles of building, testing, announcements, bug fixing, and so on."

While I'm not all that good at Door Kickers, I have spent a whole lot of time playing the original title and the Early Access sequel already. I can personally vouch for the game's quality, and even if you somehow manage to burn through Door Kickers 2's content in a short time, there's over 7,500 maps available on the Steam Workshop. To say nothing of other similar titles, such as No Plan B.

I'm bringing this up because we're still almost certainly months away from the 1.0 release: KillHouse Games hasn't mentioned that the game is coming out in 2024, so early 2025 at the earliest is a safe bet. If you're intrigued by the prospect of Task Force North, it's still worth jumping in while?? Early Access is up.

On the flip side, the 1.?0 build of the game is ?bringing with it a truly impressive roster of goodness:

• 6 total Campaigns

  • 2 Tours of Duty: procedurally-generated campaigns
  • 4 Operations: hand-crafted narrative campaigns

• Doctrine progression system
• Unique Battle Honor gear unlocks (exotic firearms, etc.)
• At least 90 one-off Single Missions
• 5 different enemy Factions
• Full modding support (no longer limited to maps only, will support weapons, units, etc.)
• Native Mac support
• Custom Steam Deck control scheme, touchscreen support, and more
• Over 80 Steam achievements
• New music
• New gear, weapons, tweaks, etc.

KillHouse Games claims that "the new content is mostly finished, what remains is mostly tweaks, recording new voices and translating the game to other languages," which certainly tracks with the studio's belief that the 1.0 release isn't too far in the future.

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Witchfire has come a long way since the day i??t was first shown off to the gener??al public, though many of us might've missed that. Notably, the game made its way onto Steam only recently, and the developer already has a big?? content roadmap for us to dissect.

Those who were particularly intrigued by Witchfire have probably already been playing it over on the Epic Games Store, where it made its exclusive debut. The game's production pipel?ine has recently expanded to include Steam, too, and the full release is now fi??nally on the horizon.

Witchfire's future is bright and bold, with lots more on the horizon

The roadmap above promises five major content updates coming to Witchfire over the course of the next fifteen months?, with the final 1.0 launch slated for late 202??5. They are as follows:

• October 2024: Fast Response patch, focused mainly on improvements for the prior High Stakes content update.
• December 2024: new areas, supposedly a major step forward in the endgame department.
• Early 2025: new region, new enemies to go along with it.
• Mid-2025: final region, game is feature-complete.
• Late 2025: polishing and 1.0 launch window.

Th?roughout these updates, The Astronauts aims to implement all of the following features:

• Stats 2.0
• Alchemy system
• Witch Mountain
• Calamities 3.0
• Extraction 2.0
• Research 2.0
• Prophecies 2.0
• Melee Weaponry
• Quests, both repeatable and one-off

The Astronauts have almost certainly deliberately not separated these features and content batches into any specific update, as it seems these systems are somewhat modular and can be worked on more or less independently. Thus, if one of them ends up misbehaving, it could get nudged further down the line. We do know that Witchfire is supposed to be content-complete by mid-2025, so we shou??ld have access to all of the above b?y then.

Since the game mak??es a big deal of its fantasy-based gunfighting system (and for good reason, too, as it's phenomenal), weapons are a major concern. As it currently stands, we only have 16 ??armaments in total, though The Astronauts promises that there will be at least twice as many in the game on launch day.

In general, then, The Astronauts still has a long road ahead before Witchfire could be considered a finished product. The good news is that the game already feels and plays remarkably well, and so the lack of content doesn't bother all that much. Within a year, we should be able to assess Witchfire in a?? more concrete sense, though, for those who are still on the fence about?? it.

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Following an Early Access launch in March 2024, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist now has a date for its full release. The sequel to acclaimed 2021 Metroidvania Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights will leave Early Access and make its way to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, ??Nintendo Switch, and PC on January 22, 2025.

Binary Haze Interactive is on publishing duties for the game from developers Live Wire and Adglobe. In Early Access, the sequel has netted Overwhelmingly Positive review s??tatus on Steam, and you can get a feel for the journey through the Land of Fumes in the new trailer below. 

The story of Ender Magnolia is set decades after the events of the first game. Artificial life forms now run rampant throughout the land, and it's up to a corruption-cleansing Attuner named Lilac to set things straight. Players will need to guide Lilac through the land to find the source of the discord between humans and Homunculi, taking on 10 possessed ?bosses and gaining their abilities in the process.

The 10 abilities earned from bosses each come with three alt-fires, so Lilac will essentially pick up 30 new skills over the course of Ender Magnolia. Up to four abilities can be equipped at a time, so you'll be able to mix up your attacks however you see fit. The music pumping behind all? the exploratory action once again comes from indie band Mili.  

Physical versions will go up for pre-order in ??Japan soon, and there are also plans for other regions. We'll have to wait for more information on boxed releases outside of Japan, so stay tuned. 

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5PM Studio has released their city-builder Memoriapolis onto Steam Early Access today. The planned timeframe is 4-6 months, and currently features the ages of Antiqu?ity and Medieval out of a planned four.

Memoriapolis is a classic city-builder whose main hook is the way in which i?t progresses through historical eras. From Antiquity to the Age of Enlightenment. Along the way, you build production, cultural, and military buildings to keep your citizens ??happy and in their lane. You know, city-building stuff.

The feature that stands out to me most about Memoriapolis is the fact that you don’t build the roads yourself. In any city builder where you’re given control of where pavement gets laid down, it invariably leads to grids. At least it does in my case. I’ve learned to force myself to curve roads and avoid symmetry, even when it isn’t as efficient. The ??focus is on organic growth.

It’s certainly a lavish trailer they put out with the announcement as well. I tend to love city builders and management games, but I’m not sure that I can fit another one in. Not that I wouldn’t want to. Memoriapolis looks pretty solid. But I already keep telling myself to get back into Farthest Frontier. I just can’t find the time. Maybe I need ??to stop sleeping.

Memoriapolis is available on Steam Early Access starting today.

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Hooded Horse and Untitled Studio has announced that its upcoming smithing simulator game, Blacksmith Master, is hitting Early Access on PC on September 26??, 2024.

A blacksmith simulator seems like such an obvious concept to me. It’s just so easy to gamify. It’s practically in a slew of crafting sims already. A cursory search on Steam suggests it’s already trodden territory. So, I almost overlooked Blacksmith Master until I took another glance.

Rather than simply being a game where you take resources and produce items, Blacksmith Master is, in part, ??a management game. You’re in charge of the whole production chain. You hire people, build w??orkshops and stores, and unlock new recipes. There’s a building tool, so you actually get to design what you’re facilities look like. There are over 100 items to craft, from tools to weapons. If you’re looking for something more hands-on, there’s a direct control mode.

It’s a lot deeper than I expected. I was envisioning something more akin to Supermarket Simulator, where there isn’t much depth, but it tries to make up for that with breadth. This is closer to�I want to say it’s like Pizza Connection, but at this point I think I’m just fixated on som?ething capturin?g the spirit of that game.

Anyway, I love a good business sim, so hopefully, this will scratch on?e of my many itches. Gosh, Iâ€??™m so itchy.

Blacksmith Master is out in Early Access v?ia Steam, GOG, and Epic on September 26, 20?24.

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Developer Studio Seufz and publisher AMC Games revealed today that the upcoming comedic roguelike built as a continuation of the classic Flash game series, Lucky Tower Ultimate, will be headed into Early Acc?ess via Steam on September 13, 2024. The plan is to have three major milestones during Early Access leading into a capstone update for its full 1.0 release.

Described as a slapstick roguelike adventure, Lucky Tower Ultimate features cartoony graphics and comedic gameplay and interaction??s as you descend a massive tower, unlocking meta-progression with each successful run and accumulating loot and companions during your descent through the tower.

For those who have played the demo, the Early Access launch will feature new content including additional segments of the towe??r with new art styles and unique gameplay elements as well as new companions to liberate and enemies to defeat. The Early Access launch also adds Steam achievements.

The full release is expected sometime in 2025 and will include a final boss ??fight as well as the titles True Ending, and will fully launch on both Steam and the Epic Game Store.

Lucky Tower Ultimate enters Early Access via Steam on September 13, 2024. A demo?? for the roguelike is available now on Steam as well.

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Publisher Hooded Horse and developer Long Jaunt have released a road map for their noble house simulation game, Norland. The plans stretch from now until October, outl??ining what will be added to the Early A??ccess title.

This ??month will have focus on optimization, graves, and a??rchers. September is more optimization, ranged towers, and “unique guests.�Finally, October is when we’ll see city walls and gates, barons, and usurpers.

I’m not sure how barons will come into play, but another tier of noble would definitely be appreciated. Usurpers sound interesting since Norland’s big gameplay hook is a Rimworld-like system of generation where stories develop? from a chaotic interplay of the game’s mechanics.

I previewed Norland before its Early Access launch. I found that it suffered heavily from a lack of balance and progression. I wasn’t alone, as the Steam reviews show that it has a? 77% positive “Mixed�rating. However, the developers have taken community feedback and made significant changes over a vast number of patches and updates (they’re on patch 17). I haven’t jumped back in to see how it affects my opinion of the game, since I ??want to let it marinate for a bit, but I have seen some of the issues I had with it get adjusted.

It’s hard to say if Norland will eventually become recommended playing �and city walls aren’t going to be the fix it needs �but the developers are clearly listening and putting in the work to get it in shape. And to be clear, it isn’t that bad, it just isn’t where it needs to be. The core concept of Crusader Kings meets Rimworld is a tantalizing one, and there are some great ideas found in the execution??, so hopefully, it won’t be long before it reaches i?ts potential.

Norland is available now for PC via Steam Early Access.

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Last month, Streets of Rogue 2 set its Early Access date for August 14, but those plans have since changed. The sandbox roguelite sequel is now set to ??hit Early Access?? for all starting on October 22.

The reason for the delay is pretty straightforward: according to developer Matt Dabrowski and tinyBuild, Streets of Rogue 2 simply needs more time for additional polish. The announcement states that the team is "committed to providing the best experience possible," even in this early stage, so we'll just have to wait a little long?er to try it for ourselves. 

Part of that polish process involves putting the game through more thorough testing. As Dabrowski says of the new release date, "it will also give me time to conduct a large-scale pre-release playtest." His previous experience on the first Streets of Rogue taught him that this would be "very beneficial to devel?opment."

Procedural mayhem

The first game already had some pretty impressive scope to it, and it sounds like the sequel is going all out in that regard. Dabrowski previously touched upon how "stupidly ambitious" Streets of Rogue 2 is??, ramping the procedur??ally-generated chaos up to absurd heights. 

There are plenty of hand-crafted aspects in the mix, too, and that complex blend could likely benefit from the additional attention this delay affords. With dozens of character classes and an open world that is purportedly over 10,000 times the size of one of the levels from the first game, it'll be interesting to see how it all comes together. In the meantime, anyone can take part in the aforementioned playtest, which will kick off in "late August or early September." You can sign up right here. 

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If solo shredding isn't enough for you, some of the former developers behind the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series are here to throw 49 other players in the mix. Wrekless has been revealed as a skateboarding game that supports up to 50? players online, and it's heading to Early Access later this year.

Wrekless currently has a Q3 2024 window penciled in for its Early Access debut on Steam. According to the Steam page, the team at the California-based Free Range Games—which is also behind The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria—was founded by folks who worked on Pro Skater and "other action sports games in the 2000s." They describe Wrekless as the "massively multipl??ayer collaborative skateboarding game we've always wanted to make." 

In addition to skating around, mastering combos, and pulling off increasingly elaborate tricks, Wrekless lets you construct skate parks in real time. You can team up with friends and skate and build at the same time, from familiar warehouse pa?rks to city-sized constructions with massive ramps, bouncy floors, l??ava pits, and other novel additions. 

Once you've completed a park you'll be able to share it online with the rest of the community, so it sounds like Wrekless is going all in on the creative aspect. As the "Why Early Access?" portion indicates, this is an ambitious effort that's going to take a lot of work to get to the finish line, especially with a?ll the user-generated content to consider. We'll see how it pans out once the wheels hit the pavement. 

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It hasn't taken long for the Dead Cells developer, Evil Empire, to settle on an exciting new project. Its title? Prince of Persia! But not any regular old Prince of Persia; This is The Rogue Prince of Persia, a?nd?? it's pretty easy to tell what makes it special.

Notably, Evil Empire and Ubisoft have launched the first Steam Early Access build of the Rogue Prince of Persia, and though it is still early to say whether it's a slam dunk, it sure is a whole lot of fun. There are some really interesting tidbits about this game, mind: firstly, even though it is being published by Ubisoft, Rogue Prince does not necessitate a Ubisoft Connect login. Secondly, the game both is, and is not, reminiscent of the classic Dead Cells, which results in a fresh and exci??ting gameplay loop, even this early in its development.

Evil Empire's Rogue Prince of Persia is off to a good start

With just under 200 reviews written at the time of writing, and a "Mostly Positive" review rating, Rogue Prince of Persia already enjoys some amount of acclaim. The game itself is a relatively straightforward acrobatic platformer that doesn't even try to hide its Dead Cells pedigree.

On top of delightfully rotoscoped animations and character models, albeit delivered in a slightly different style than what we saw with Dead Cells, Rogue Prince's core gameplay loop consists of basically the same elements. A few tweaks here and there, granted, but anyone who's spent any amount of time with Dead Cells will feel right at home here.

Once again, players need to collect resources dropped by enemies to research new gear and gadgets. The Prince does so by repeatedly attempting to wall-run his way through hordes of magic-infused Huns, wit??h the familiar choice of levels coming up every so often. The current build of the game has two boss encounters in tow and about half a dozen unique levels, which all comes together into a lovely proof-of-concept for what's to come in the future.

"We plan to be in Early Access for around a year, probably a little bit longer," says Evil Empire on the game's St??eam page. "We plan to add all the good stuff �more levels, weapons, features, enemies, bosses, story acts and meta progression. Along the way we want to find out if?? there's anything we can add to the core gameplay too. In fact, our plan is to double the amount of content from Early Access launch to 1.0."

A solid plan, then. Given Evil Twin's track record and what's already on show with the The Rogue Prince of Persia, I can say I'm very much looking forward to what comes next. And don't forget: if you're not a fan of Early Access, there's that other, equally delightful version of Prince of Persia that launched earlier this year.

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The Steam Early Access program has played host to a whole slew of big wins as of late. There was the sudden release of Hades 2, obviously, but Gloomwood, too, is getting a big new update. Then we have two new 1.0 releases: Dread Delusion and Songs of Conquest!

It's the latter I'm most interested in right now, of course. A spiritual successor to one of the best turn-based strategy games of all time, Heroes of Might & Magic 3, Songs of Conquest has spent the last couple of years in an Early Access stint. During that time, the developer Lavapotion has been hard at work polishing things up for the big event. Inevitably, that event has now arrived, and Lavapotion appears to be positively thrilled at what it's accomplished over the course of Songs of Conquest's Early Access.

Songs of Conquest 1.0 is now available on Steam

Indeed, anyone interested in playing something along the lines of a modern Heroes of Might & Magic 3 re-envisioning should take a gander at Songs of Conquest. The game's base price is now $34.99 / 33,99â‚?or your regional equivalent, but the biggest fans of HOMM3, specifically, will want to check out the official Songs of Conquest artbook as well. Notably, its foreword has been written by the lead designer of Heroes of Might & Magic 3, Gregory Fulton, which is a delightful way to tie the two pro?jects together.

At the time of writing, Songs of Conquest enjoys a 'Very Positive' review rating?? on Steam, with 87% of over 6,500 user reviews being happy with Lavapotion's work on the project.

If this all sounds grand but you're stuck playing games on a console of some breed, fret not: "[Console support] has been an ongoing request over the course of our Early Access period. We are proud to finally reveal that we are working on console versions. In fact, the game is already up and running, performing beautifully on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S," says Lavapotion on Steam. The current estimated release window for Songs of Conquest on PlayStation and Xbox consoles is this Fall.

On that note, Songs of Conquest works great on the Steam Deck. All thanks to Bitwave, who are also helping Lavapotio?n with ??the game's console ports. Excellent news all around, then!

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Having launched in Steam Early Access late last month, Manor Lords quickly began to domineer the experimental city-building niche thanks to its uniquely realistic and engaging gameplay mechanics, though it's an obviously unfinished experience. Now, t?he game's first major ??update has entered the experimental testing pipeline, fixing ridiculous ale consumption.

Naturally, ale consumption isn't the only purview of the new update, but it definitely is particularly entertaining to read about. Update version 0.7.960 also comes with improvements to Manor Lords' trading mechanics, a more in-depth taxation system, and a slew of fairly comprehensive gameplay balancing tweaks that are bound to spice things up on continued playthroughs. Accessing the update isn't necessarily straightforward just yet, but not everyone will want to install the e?xperimental branch of the game ??in the first place, it goes without saying.

Manor Lords update 0.7.960 is now available (in experimental branch)

As per the developer Slavic Magic's recent Steam blog post, Manor Lords' first major experimental content update - 0.7.960 - can now be downloaded, if you are so inclined. Slavic Magic recommends that anyone jumping into this build of the game back up their save games just in case something breaks along the way, and I'd recommend doing the same, myself. If that doesn't put you off, you can access Manor Lords' experimental branch by doing the following:

• Right-click on Manor Lords in your Steam Library UI
• Select the 'Properties' option, then the 'Betas' tab
• In the appropriate box, type in 'veryNiceBasket'
• Choose the pre_release option from the 'Beta Participation drop-down menu
• Wait for the game to update and re-verify installation files

And that'll do it! Slavic Magic added the caveat that "the new strings are not localized yet and stability hasn't yet been thoroughly tested," which translates to the idea of this being an early access to an early access game's work-in-progress content update. With all of that out of the way, here are just some of the highlights of what's coming to Manor Lords with update 0.7.960:

• King's Tax/Annual Tax feature enabled
• Various Trading Post improvements (global/local trading switches, etc.)
• Ale consumption reduced by 75%
• Hitching Post is now free
• Harvested crops are now automatically added to the field's inventory, rather than the villagers'
• Oxen prioritize plowing over resource transport
• New unit Patron: St. Maurice
• Post-death mourning period enabled (timed growth blocker)
• Various armor variations for upgraded retinue armor
• Large Granary building rework
• New Unreal Engine 5-friendly debris system, currently in use only for the firewood chopping animations
• Various crashes fixed
• Various bugs resolved

While the list featured above is fairly impressive in its own right, it is not comprehensive by any means, and if you're interested in reading up on Manor Lords' full list of experimental fixes,?? you'll want to check out Slavic Magic's post on Steam. If you're up for it, check out the experimental build of the game, just be prepared for bugs and various other unforeseen issues: that's what Early Access is for, after all.

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Supergiant Games had a titan of a task ahead of itself in making a sequel to Hades. 2020's rogue-lite adventure was arguably their largest game yet, and with Hades 2, Su?pergiant would be doing somethi?ng they'd never done before: make a sequel.

After a promising Technical Test, I got some hands-on time with the Early Access build that's out now. Not only is it bigger and better than I could've expected, but it's the rare Early Access I'd actually encourage people to get in on the ground floor of, whether you're already a Hades fan or not. Even at this early stage, it's one of ?the best things I've played this year.

Death to Chronos

Let's start from the top. In Hades 2, you play Melinoë, the Princess of the Underworld. If the attire, garb, and attitude weren't dead giveaways, she's brother to Hades 1 prota?gonist Zagreus, and daughter to Hades and Persephone. Her grandfather, the Titan Chronos, has returned and wrought revenge upon the House of Hades. Taken under the care of Hecate, Melinoë has been training, and your story starts with her setting out on the path of revenge; to dive back to where this all started, save your family, and kill time itself.

Her path is fraught ??with peril. You will hack and slash, defeating enemies and boss Guardians alike but you will, inevitably, die. Death's not the end, though. Each setback sees Melinoë return to shadow and reappear at the Crossroads, where she c?an recuperate, chat with her companions and comrades, then improve her equipment and abilities for the next run.

This rogue-lite loop has become a fairly standard framework these days, but again, Supergiant shows its talent for weaving themes and stories throughout the experience. Some runs might last half-an-hour, others die out in ten minutes, but each one feels like a step forward. You can collect reagents and resources to unlock more weapons or concoct new Incantations at your bubbling cauldron. (Hades 2 leans into its witchy vibes, and does so quite? well.) Speaking to the Olympians who provide you aid through their boons can advance the plot, as can finding new locales wi??th regions you might not have seen in prior runs.

Weaving a tale

Hades already laid the blueprint. What's impressed me with Hades 2 is the ways in which Supergiant expands and builds upon its foundations. Th??ere's still plenty of time spent talking to unusually attractive gods and legends, and many of them are new faces that didn't appear in the previous game. You can still pass out Nectar to win them over and acquire valuable Keepsakes to influence your run's rewards and stats.

Yet side areas of the Crossroads, like the Hot Springs, which can be built through the cauldron and used to have a nice soak with your pals, add additional opportunities for both character development and a surprising degree of character vulnerability. Some of the heaviest moments in the first Hades were when characters opened up about their circumstances or past. Hades 2 smartly adds even more opportunities for that, wh?ile also devel??oping a steady, compelling roster of gods for your home base.

The themes of Hades 2 are also a bit di??????????????????????????fferent this time around. For Zagreus, his escape runs were attempts to cope with a broken home and familial trauma. In Melinoë's case, though, she's had to find a family at the Crossroads. An early flashback scene shows how she was raised by this assembled band of rebels, learning to fight from a young age. Themes of inheriting a legacy, coping with loss, and fighting an uncertain future - the unstoppable ravages of time - abound. While this is a tale of revenge, it's also about how one copes with the inevitable progress of time, and the changes time brings.

I promise, though, it's not all heavy. Many characters have made me laugh and smile. The Olympian gods are their usual selves, enhanced by the addition of newer faces like Hephaestus, Apollo, and Hestia. Dora, the little shade that hangs out in Melinoë's tent, is already a favorite character, aptly filling the role Dusa played in Hades. It's surprising that, even on story alone, Hades 2 feels massive.

In the air tonight

The scope extends to the rest of Hades 2, as well. The first Hades launched into Early Access with just Tartarus and Asphodel. Hades 2, meanwhile, doesn't j??ust have a full "run" locked in, but a second one to unlock. Without going too far into details, Melinoë both gets to dive down, and venture into new territory for the denizens of the underworld, all in pursuit of the power to stop Chronos.

Once you start fighting through those areas, it might feel daunting to see how much there is to do in Hades 2 already. Five weapons are in the game right now, alongside many of the features you might expect if you had played the 1.0 launch of Hades. Aspects, helpers, plenty of boss fights, and more wait to be found. I learned about a gameplay feature the other day from another one of our writers who's be?en playing, and I've put tons of time in.

The weapons themselves, as I outlined in my Technical Test write-up, are pretty solid. I'm still figuring my way around some of them, but the Sister Blades and Argent Skull are already favorites. Each one also interacts with Melinoë's unique magic system, letting her charge up for Omega casts to add effec?ts and power at a cost. It's made each run with each weapon feel unique, even before aspects start to get introduced.

Elemental options add a little extra reason to try new boons, offering benefits through Infusions. A reward may offer you a hefty chunk of health if you acquire at least four Water-aspect boons, for example, and different gods offer different variety of elements. There are a lot of reasons to break out of your comfort zone, and as someone who got very comfortable with specific builds and playstyles in Hades 1, I've enjoyed the newfound challenge in Hades 2.

The witching hour

There are some places where the Early Access nature of Hades 2 is still obvi??ous. Certain characters don't have their portraits implemented yet, or only exist as a concept art sketch. (This was changing as recently as days before the EA launch though, so I wouldn't be surprised if that gets taken care of fairly fast.)

In a few cases, ??I felt like I was getting a story scene well after, and in one case before, I'd flagged it. And a few times, I had some odd funkiness with how Melinoë would hitch on some terrain, or how a hitbox appeared to me.

Despite all that, I can wholeheartedly recommend picking up Hades 2, and doing so now, rather than waiting for a 1.0. A lot of people, myself included, waited for the "full launch" of Hades to play it. I was concerned abou??t getting invested in a story that wasn't finished??, and wanting to get the full experience.

Hades 2 already feels like a hearty experience, even in the moments where I can tell it's not complete yet. Already, this is a stellar follow-up to Supergiant's tale of gods and families, and if the road only goes up from here, this feels like another hit in the making. That's without even getting into Darren Korb's work on the Hades 2 soundtrack, which is phenomenal; the use of familiar motifs and ideas from the first game, while incorporating eerie, spritely, ethereal concepts like synths and wailing saxophones works so well, building up the wit?chy vibes even fu?rther.

Every looped night, every sleek new combination and build I put together, every narrow victory over a tough boss, even every tree slammed into a wailer for a terrain kill, feels fantastic. And sure, you could wait it out just to get the whole package. But what's here now in the Early Access of Hades 2 is one of the best games I've played so far this year, and so far, it seems like it will only get better as the months go on. Killing Time has rarely been quite so enjoyable as it is in Hades 2.

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After a roughly two-week technical test, the rogue-like action RPG sequel Hades 2 has entered its Early Access period and is available now on Steam. While the technical test only encompassed a small portion of the sequel, the Early Access release features a massive amount of content including more levels, environments, enemies, weapons, and fully-voiced characters than the original Hades.

A meaty Early Access launch

While many games tend to be released into Early Access in a rather bare-bones state, that's far from the case with Hades 2. Developer Supergiant Games opted to follow in the footsteps of the original Hades and go with an Early Access releas?e because it worked so well with the first game. The plan is to use player feedback to continue fleshing out the game and integrati??ng it into production plans throughout the Early Access period.

Even though it's in Early Access, Hades 2 is also Steam Deck verified. I know a lot of people enjoyed playing the original on their Switch, so?? this is a nice alternative in the meantime if you really want to play the ARPG on a handh??eld.

Hades 2 is available now in Early Access on both Steam and the Epic Games Store at the price point of $29.99.

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Manor Lords is another one of those games that seemed to come out of nowhere to steal a piece of the limelight on Steam. Perhaps one of its most notable selling points is that the med??ieval-themed RTS is said to have been created b?y a solo dev. Except, there's some contention about that.

On places like the official website for the game, the developer of Manor Lords - a small outfit called Slavic Magic - has received criticism for its claim that it was made by a "solo developer." Specifically, it was Farthest Frontier studio Crate Entertainment's CEO Arthur Bruno, speaking to PC Gamer, who seem??ed to? strike out, arguing that Slavic's team size "is maybe even larger than ours."

Indeed, credits for Manor Lords does list other people who were involved in the game's making, including additional program?mers, artists, animators, writers, and more. As such, it's easy to see why it's quite baffling that it's been considered a solo project.

It's "fair criticism"

In response to this, Slavic Magic's own Greg Styczeń has responded. A recent post on X says the developer agrees about the criticism, though they do add "kind of" as a caveat. While Styczeń acknowledges the extra help gone into Manor Lords, they do argue that they?? "earned the solo thing."

An additional post says what Farthest Frontier (presumably that's what "FF" is referring to) says is "a fair criticism." However, a rebuttal is offered, in which Styczeń says: "if I quit, ??it's game over, no more ML. If [Bruno] quits his studio, nothing changes." Whether this will result in further comment from the likes of Bruno or the community remains to be seen at this stage.

Manor Lords sold over 1 million copies in one day, and is sitting on a pretty comfortable "Very Positive" on Steam at the time of writing.

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Things seem so to be going well for the tactical FPS Gray Zone Warfare. As well as managing to push the Steam Deck off its number one spot on the Steam Top Seller's list, the game is also registering tens of thousands of players who are seemingly eager for that Escape From Tarkov-esque realism.

Currently, the shooter is out in Early Access and is only on PC. However, there's bound to be more than one or tw?o people who will be wondering whether it'll eventually make its way to current-gen consoles. Sadly, things are not looking too great on that front.

According to the FAQ section on the Gray Zone Warfare website, there don't appear to be any plans to release the game on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or even Nintendo Switch for the time being, at least. The quote? says the team is keeping it on PC for now, with an aim to make it "as smooth and polished as possible." As such, don't hold your breath for a console version just yet. It's early days, after all.

What about playing it on Steam Deck?

It's a PC game, so the next obvious port of call is checking whether it runs on the Steam Deck. If you have a copy of Gray Zone Warfare, as well as the handheld gaming PC at your disposal, there's no harm in seeing how well (i??f at all) it will run on the mobile device.

However, if you take a quick look at the game's official Steam page, there doesn't appear to be any indication of whether it's compatible with the Deck o??r not. The lack of information suggests it probably isn't. Without a clear sign of whethe?r it's "verified," "playable," or "unsupported," there's no real way to check aside from people just trying it out for themselves.

As for the game itself, some will likely have noticed issues with lagging. As mentioned above, it's still very much in development, so you can expect to come across one or two errors. Fortunately, developer Madfinger Games has offered some advice on how to rectify lagging problems in Gary Zone Warfare. A hotfix has also been sent out recently, and the stu?dio will no doubt be working on regular updates to iron out any major issues.

For those who aren't aware of what it's about, the description pins it down as "an intense tactical FPS featuring a realistic ballistic simulation," that also incorporates "real-world values and authentic ballistics models." Ballistic realism very much the key theme here,? then.

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Yesterday, Moon Studios released No Rest for the Wicked, the developer's new action RPG game, to Early Access. The team behind Ori and the Blind Forest �and its sequel Ori and the Will of the Wisps �has been thanking fans for ?quick feedback, but many will be wondering whether it's coming to other platforms.

While it's only available on Steam at the moment, there are plans to release No Rest for the Wicked on current-gen systems, including the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. There's no release date for these versions yet, but the stores for both PlayStation and Xbox do have pages for the game, w??ith? options to wishlist it.

Sadly, for anyone?? hoping for a PS4 or Xbox One port, it doesn't appear as though the studio is looking to release the?? game on these platforms.

What about No Rest for the Wicked on other platforms?

As for other PC clients, there also doesn't seem to be a version of the game on GOG or Epic Games Store. However, if you have access to Nvidia's ??GeForce Now cloud service, you can play it there.

No Rest for the Wicked is so far getting some mixed reviews on Steam. It's worth remembering that it's still in Early Access, so th?ere are almost certainly going to be teething troubles. However, Moon Studio is acknowledging some of these issues, and is looking to address some of the more egregious ones.

If you're not familiar with the game, here's a quick overview of the?? story:

The year is ??841 �King Harol is dead. As word of his death echoes throughout the kingdom, the crown passes to his arrogant, yet untested son Magnus.

Even worse, the Pestilence, an ?unholy plague not seen for a thousand years, has returned. It sweeps across the land, corrupting everything and everyone it? touches. Madrigal Seline, a ruthlessly ambitious figure in the church, sees the Pestilence as a chance to prove herself in the eyes of her god.

At the time of writing, it's sitting at the number two spot on Steam's Top Sellers list. But then again, this isn't anything too spectacular for anticipated releases, especially from an award-winning developer, so it's almost certainly going to drop. Still, gives us something different to look at than all the Fallout games that are currently in the charts.

So, just to recap: No Rest for the Wicked is currently a PC exclusive title for now (Steam and GeForce Now, specifically). PS5 and Xbox ports are being planned, but we don't know when they're likel??y to drop.

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As part of the Triple-i Initiative stream, Hooded Horse has announced that Long Jaunt’s medieval colony sim Norland, will be hitting Steam Early Access on May ??16?, 2024.

Norland bills itself as a story generator and compares itself to Rimworld and Crusader Kings. You manage an “up-and-coming�noble family as they manage their domain. You have to help them nav?igate various?? intrigue including feuds, power struggles, and other such treachery driven by human folly. Meanwhile, you must also manage a medieval kingdom and keep the unwashed masses complacent while you leech off their hard work.

The press release also says, “Absorb knowledge and technology from books, rewrite them, or create entirely new works,�which sounds amazing. Spreading misi??nformation is al??l the rage these days with the cool kids.

This mostly makes me upset that I never got into Rimworld and Crusader Kings if this is how they are. I like games where story just kind of organically develops. I play The Sims for the stories that I both create and help my hapless victims navigate. I can certainly see the influence here, as even the art-style is somewhat evocative of Rimworld.

Norland r??eleases on PC via Steam Early Access on May 16, 2024.

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A new Terminator game has been in development for some time, and you'll be able to play it later this year. Well, in Early Access at least, as Terminator: Survivor wi??ll ??be hitting Steam on October 24. Check out the "Aftermath" trailer below.

If you haven't heard of this �and I must admit I was a bit ignorant of it �Survivors is an open-world game that's set after Judgment Day in James Cameron's sci-?fi universe.

The above trailer doesn't give a huge amount away. We see two scavengers, nervously seeking out supplies. With the world in such turmoil, the threat of a Te?rminator is ever-present. We then get to see the reflection of one of the skeletal robots as it scans the two fuel-seeking humans.

100% rustproof

Terminator: Survivors is being developed by Nacon, and is pretty hot off the heels of the publisher's previous game based on a popular sci-fi franchise: RoboCop: Rogue City. Much like the latter, Rogue City offers a new lease on life for the ??iconic film series.

Whether Survivors will be as well received remains to be seen at this stage. An open-world game wher??e you're fighting and surviving against killer robots? Sign me the heck up.

Nacon describes the upcoming game �which is also getting a re?le??ase on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 �thus:

It’s been four years since the day humanity nearly perished. The truth of the event is still muddied in half-truths as you emerge from a shelter to attempt [to] reestablish some semblance of society in a world that seems hell-bent on eliminating you and the last vestiges of mankind. You are tasked with scouring the surrounding land for materials, information, other survivors and key resources in order to establish a base of op??erations for your fledgling group.

Fun!

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Games Operators and Jutsu Games have announced that their zombie apocalypse survival management game, Infection Free Zone, will enter early access on April 11, 2024.

I’m still burnt out from the zombie boom of the late aughts and early �0s. However, Infection Free Zone still caught my eye despite my exhaustion. Part of this is because it uses real map data to allow you to play on any city. This is similar to Jutsu’s previous games, 911 Operator and 112 Operator. However, while those were just overhead maps, Infection Free Zone generates 3D environments. I wonder how well it will handle rural?? Ontario.

Obviously, the buildings aren’t really going to be accurate. However, you mostly just use them to send your survivors to scavenge and build defenses around them for protection. The goal seems to be to crea??te the eponymous zones free from infection to help humanity rebuild.

There have been plenty of games where I’ve looted while avoiding the undead, so I’m interested in a game where you just send people to do it for you. There are pharmacies, schools, a??nd other buildings that you can send survivors to plumb, and their contents are suppos??edly based on what type of building they are.

Early Access is estimated to last for one year. Jutsu Games is hoping to adapt to player feedback and add new buildings and other additions to the world. Currently, you can play a “prologue�demo that allows you to test out its gameplay on six preset cities. The demo has been we?ll received, so hopefully that carries over to the full version.

Infection Free Zone will be available on PC vi??a Early Access on April 11, 2024.

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After over five years in development, developer Inflexion Games is set to release its whimsical survival-crafting title Nightingale. Earlier this month I spoke with three Inflexion Games developers—CEO Aaryn Flynn, Director of Production Leah Summers, and Art Director and Head of Audio Neil Thompson—about the upcoming release, the road to get there, and ??the? road ahead.

The Game

DESTRUCTOID: Hello everyone! I had the opportunity to spend some time hands-on with Nightingale both solo and co-op, with each realm I experienced having a completely different overall layout. However, I was the overall size between realms seemed to be rather similar. Is it possible for ??realms to generate smaller or bigger than usual?

NEIL: So all ??realms are 2km in total space, in terms of playable area. The realms are procedurally generated, so some might have more POIs or actual used space, and that does change and get bigger and smaller. Vaults, however, do not conform to that size.

DESTRUCTOID: In regards to the building aspects of Nightingale...I love the ability to mix and match the styles. At Destructoid, we've recently noticed some players tend to build simple cube structures when given the opportunity to open-world build, while others are a bit more creative and really put us to shame. (I'm working on it, I promise.) But are there plans to add more styles to Nightingale as well as additional foundation and structure shape similar to that in say Conan Exiles?

NEIL: Yeah. We've got seven styles at launch, but we're adding to those all the time. We got a running reference deck of architectural tileset ideas that the whole team contributes to. The ones we like we take forward and start conceptualizing with the intent to put them in, and I think that can continue to run. I'm pretty sure we won't run out of ideas for building pieces. There are also plans to add more custom individual pieces to the existing sets. You can be pretty flexible w?ith foundation pieces already because there are no limits to where you can place them, so you can push them into rock formations for example. But, there are opportunities ?to bring in more things like curved foundations. The current foundation system is based around a grid, but you can still get pretty exotic with it. Go beyond the cube!

AARYN: Yep, guilty. I'm a cube guy, personally.

LEAH: We also allow you to clip into different POIs so you can kind of build your base around a giant tree, make a treehouse, that sort of thing using the landscape to avoid cube city????.

DESTRUCTOID: Having jumped into the co-op session with you all that was a bit further into the game. The Humbaba boss encounter was definitely more challenging than anything I had encountered solo. Is this encou??nter and ones like it able to be taken on solo or is there any sort of scaling based on your team and p??arty size?

AARYN: So I suspect that for quite a while that will certainly be a social encounter where you call some friends to do it. There is a tier of gear that you can get at The Watch that is Tier 4 and pretty powerful. So just like my own son does torch-only Dark Souls runs and stuff, I'm sure there will be players who figure that out and through building, crafting, and skill will be able to take on an encounter like Humbaba solo but that will take a while I bet. Well,?? famous last words right? Someone's gonna do it in week one now I'm sure.

The Vision

DESTRUCTOID: Let's switch a little bit to the less game-specific side of things. Survival games are suddenly getting super competitive with games like Palworld, Valheim, and Enshrouded, etc. With this suddenly crowded market, what sets Nightingale apart and makes it stand out compared?? to the recent survival-crafting games?

AARYN: We think about that a lot. Of course, we play all those games too. I think for us it's the worldbuilding, the universe we've created. I really hope players immerse themselves in it and I think Neil and the team have done an amazing job of bringing it to life. That's the big difference for Nightingale as a survival-crafting game compared?? to the others.

DESTRUCTOID: Following up on that question, all three of you were formerly part of BioWare. Is there anything from your time at BioWare that reverberates into Nightingale?

AARYN: I think definitely the worldbuilding. We got a chance to contribute to Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, those incredible universes. You learn a process for that, but you also learn what's got to be established early on. You learn what kind of IP or setting or premise you want to explore. We spent a lot of time in the early days not just emotionally choosing those features, but a little more operationally as well. Can we do this? Can we build this world? Do we have the expertise it takes to do this? What opportunities does survival-crafting offer that fits with our skillset at our studio? We were relatively methodical about that in the early stages before we committed to Nightingale being a gaslamp-fantasy alternate history game.

The Future

DESTRUCTOID: I know you said you expect the Early Access to last about a year or maybe a little less. Where do you see Nightingale three years from now or maybe even longer? What's the long-term goal once Nightingale is out and has an established player base.

NEIL: That's a great question!

AARYN: Yeah, I w?as hoping you knew as a player yourself!

NEIL: What I would hope is the network of Realms that exists and the group of players have a vibrant social hub that will hopefully be Nightingale city by that point. Players would be getting together, forming up in parties, going on adventures in new networks of realms with new biomes, new creatures, new quests, new encounters, and all the rest of it. I think that ultimately is the vision. We say a lot that Nightingale is endless adventures, and I think it really can be. We have no end to the amount of biome ideas, realm ideas, and creature ideas we can put forward into Nightingale if players want it and gravitate towards it.

Nightingale enters Early Access tomorrow, February 20 at 8 AM EST on PC via Steam and the Epic Game Store.

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Paradox Interactive has announced that they’ll be handling publishing duties for XperimentalZ Games�Escape the Mad Empire under their Paradox Arc? (alternative game publishing) label. It’s set to launch into early access sometime this year.

Escape the Mad Empire has been quietly in development for quite a number of years now. However, with that sweet, sweet PR budget, there’s now a nice new trailer for us to watch and a demo to play. Both of these outline th??e unique action/strategy mix that is put to use.

I played a bit of the demo since I wasn’t able to fully grok the gameplay based on the trailer. While Escape the Mad Empire is a loot-h??eavy roguelite, you control a party of adventurers. However, this isn’t a turn-based affair. The action plays out in real time. However, to enable you to control multiple peeps, you can use tactical pause to stop time, and issue commands ??that instantly get carried out when you unpause.

It’s a neat little system that keeps things moving while also giving you the ability to pull off big attacks against hordes of enemies. There's also a cover system that encourages movement, so your spellcasters don't have to stand out in the open like dumbasses. I haven’t played past the tutorial in the demo, but it leaves a good first impressi??on.

Escape the Mad Empire is planned to launch into Early Access sometime in 2024. The demo???? is available now.

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According to the recently listed Steam store page, Digital Dreams Entertainment’s Mutant Football League 2 will launch into Early A??ccess in March 2??024.

Released in 2017, Mutant Football League serves as the spiritual revival of the 1993 Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game, Mutant League Football. But beyond just slyly changing around the word order to avoid retribution from EA, MFL is helmed by the creator of the original 16-bit titles, Michael Mendheim.

Mutant Football League 2 is the sequel to the only football game that I actually enjoy and continue to play. Other reception I’ve seen has been lukewarm, but I’m serious. I’ve tried multiple times to get into other football titles like NFL Blitz, but I felt doomed to forever hate the sport. I mean American football, not real football.?? I suppose the secret sauce to get me intereste?d is to just somehow make it more violent.

Mutant Football League has you choose a team made up of skeletons, werewolves, and robots and kick the pigskin or something. Beyond just being American football with furries, cheating is encouraged, and violence is an inevitability. The inclusion of dirty tricks just adds an extra layer of fun strategy. Murder is a legitimate strategy, allowing you to focus on elimina?ting your opponent's best players.

The Early Access release will start with just 12 teams and arenas out of the planned 48. It will be offline only at first,?? and the team is giving the heads up that it will initially be reusing the audio assets from the first game but will be updated with its own music ??and VO over time. They’re hoping that the full version will be ready in Fall 2024.

The team has had some difficulty in developing Mutant Football League 2, as many of the developer’s staff are located in Ukraine, which is current??ly under? invasion by Russia.

Mutant Football League 2 is set to releas?e on St??eam Early Access on PC in March

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It seems we're spoiled for choice at the moment when it comes to Early Access survival games inspired by other franchises. Palworld has been making more money than God, but Keen Games' recently released Enshrouded has been doing pretty well, too.

A recent Twitter/X post from the developer is proud to announce that its title has "reached over one million players." This is after just four days. While that may pale in comparison to Palworld's six million sold in a similar timeframe, it's still a massiv??e accomplishment.

In fact, Enshrouded is currently at the number three spot on Steam's Top Sellers list, just behind "Pokémon-with guns" �with Steam Deck still at number one, because of course it is. Whether either of these can be toppled by the n??ewcomer remains to be seen at this stage.

What is Enshrouded?

If you haven't played it yet, Enshrouded is a survival and crafting game that's taking cues from the likes of Valheim. It's "set within a sprawling voxel-bas????????????????????????????ed continent" and tasks you with a journey "across the mountains and deserts of an open world."

It's ?currently only out on Steam at the moment, but Keen Games is "keen" (ha!) to release it on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, hopefully later this year.

It definitely feels like this genre is getting quite full at the moment. There's just something about games that encapsulate survival released in alpha or beta states that's appealing to a lot of people. Last year it was Sons of the Forest, and now we've got Palworld and Enshrouded.

However, given that the latter has a current player peak of 160,405, according to SteamDB, it's probably not likely ??to take on the might of the former.

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If you feel recent roguelite games have been missing that platform fighter touch, Spiritfall is here to answer the call. Developer Gentle Giant's action game takes notes from Super Smash Bros., Brawlhalla, ?and similarly hectic platform fighter fare, and it's set to launch in full on February 28, 2024.

Spiritfall has been available in Early Access since April 3, 2023, and has garnered 'Very Positive' reviews from players in the months since. The release date news came along with a new animated trailer that shows off some slick cinematics and a sample of the fast-paced action at th??e heart of ??it all. 

When Spiritfall shared its Early Access update roadmap back in November, the devs detailed a few of the additions on the way to the full version. These include the final region and boss fight along with a new optional boss, fifth alternate weapon form, all challenge levels, and "more surprises." Gentle Giant has st??ayed pretty active in updating the game since it became available, knocking out 10 monthly content updates on top of the usual intermittent hotfixes. 

Even if you haven't played it for yourself yet, you can certainly see that platform brawler style at work in the trailer. Spiritfall combines that frantic fighting with roguelite features such as randomly generated maps and the ability to unlock new powers, upgrade skills, and gather a bunch of weapons to make the going a little less tough for each successive run. Brawlhalla by way of Dead Cells will no doubt be enough of a hook for most to at ??least dip their toes in what this one has to offer.  

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Pocketpair has announced the date for the Early Access release of Palworld �the legally distinct Pokémon?? game with guns. It will launch on January 19. Accompanying the announcement is a new trailer.

Palworld is an open-world crafting survival game that features monsters extremely reminiscent of Nintendo’s Pokémon series. The twist is that rather than tame them through friendship, you blast them with an array of firepower??. You’ll also need to do some base building to keep your Pals a place to eat and rest.

The trailer shows off some other�uh, trainers, who wield some legally distinct Pokeballs. Palworld a??llows for up to 32 players. PVP battles are planned but won’t be in the initial Early Access launch.

The derivative nature of Palworld’s concept so??rt of undermines the weirdness of it. However, I have to admit that recent looks into it have looked pretty fun. With something like this, I’d almost expect the devs to quickly spit something out to capitalize on the novelty of the concept, but that doesn’t look like what’s going on here. The developer seems to be taking their time in developing it.

On the other hand, Pocketpair doesn’t exactly have the best track record, but that’s not always the whole story. ??I’m at le??ast curious enough to try it.

Palworld lau?nches into Early Access on PC January 19, 2024.

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When I wasn’t looking, Cosplay Club, the new game by Behold Studios, the devs behind Knights of Pen and Paper and Chroma Squad, has entered Early Access.

I was wondering how I missed the announcement, but apparently, the heads-up was only given on December 11. Cosplay Club is a single-player, turn-based RPG where you get powers from the costumes you craft. In that sense, it reminds me of Costume Quest, but there seems to? be a lot mo??re customization here. You’re able to craft your own Magical Girl costume, and you gain new parts that expand the customization.

Cosplay Club takes place in the Chroma Squad universe, where the ep?onymous squad saved the world. Truly, the two games share a similar narrative foundation, as ?both are about costumes and imagination leading to real empowerment.

I was a backer of Chroma Squad’s Kickstarter back in the day. The end product didn’t really wind up impressing me, but I don’t regret supporting it. The developer showed a lot of tenacity, especially when Saban Brands threatened legal action against them. Chroma Squad is based on Japanese tokusatsu productions (specifically Super Sentai), which Saban Brands didn’t invent. They just repackaged it. However, because they owned the rights to Power Rangers here in North America, they had grounds for a lawsuit (probably, I’m not a lawyer). Whether it would succeed or not, Behold Studios just decided to play ball and got a licensing agreement. That’s probably why they’re not doing a direct sequel to Chroma Squad.

I have had the Cosplay Club demo sitting in my library for quite a while now, but never did get around to playing it. I’ll probably skip ahead and just buy the game. The developer says that the current state of the game is “playable and feature-rich�but also notes that it only includes “an initial portion of the story.�/p>

Cosplay Club is now available on PC via Steam Early Access. Behold Studios predi??cts it will remain there for 9-1??2 months before its full release.

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