Are you, too, sick and tired of having to wait for all the good immersive sim? games to release from Early Access to play t?hem? Well, good news then, because the physics-driven Corpus Edax - following the Thief and Dark Messiah schools of game design - is coming out very soon.

Corpus Edax describes itself as a lo-fi sci-fi immersive first-person melee RPG that's "set in a distant retro-futuristic city on the brink of a revolution and on a planet that hides its own secrets." It's a bit of a mouthful, to be frank, but there's really no easy way to describe a true immersive sim without resorting to tongue-tying exercises, honestly. Those who enjoyed Dark Messiah of Might and Magic back in the day will find much to enjoy in Corpus Edax' new release date trailer, I feel.

Indie immersive sim Corpus Edax releases on August 28

As per the trailer featured above, Corpus Edax is due to hit the stores on August 28, and the really good news is that there's a playable demo available on Steam right now. It's an excellent demo, too, and I highly recommend giving it a shot. While it doesn't necessarily speak to the quality of the game's full roster of 12 unique levels, it does offer a solid vertical slice of Corpus Edax gameplay mechan?ics. Spoiler: they're pretty darn great.

The bit that sets Corpus Edax apart from most other modern immersive sims is that it fully embraces melee combat. Players that end up stacking points into physical skills will, therefore, find themselves ragdolling enemies left and right, while those who invest in stealth will play something more like a Thief than anything else. It's an exciting mashup of gameplay options, honestly, and as long as Corpus Edax lives up to what's on show in the demo, this is bound to become a must-play for fans?? of the ImSim niche.

Corpus Edax will - if it ends up delivering on its promises - be just the thing to play while we wait for Raphael Colantonio and Wolfeye Studios' next big ImSim?? project. We still don't have a title for the mysterious first-person game, but we do know it's going to be roughly set around the Wild West era, which is neat. There really aren't many of these games coming out at the best of times, so the presence of smaller-scale titles such as Corpus Edax is worth celebrating. With the game coming out in just a few days' t?ime, we won't have to wait long to see how good or bad it ends up being.

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Yippe ki yay, monster trucker

Licensed video games have always been like the interior of an abandoned barn. Sometimes you might find a long-abandoned car that is in dire need of restoration, but more likely, it’s just full of spiders. Die Hard on NES is neither of those things. It’s more like finding a long-abandoned lunar lander i??n an old barn. You wonder how it got there and if it’s a good idea to try it out.

It’s an absolutely bizarre game that transcends the discussion of whether it’s good or crap. It’s fascinating?. The design is something that isn’t exactly without comparison, but the way it functions ??is out of this world.

Haaaaans!

I’d recommend watching Die Hard before playing this game. While knowing the movie is rarely needed for playing the licensed game, it’s practically required for Die Hard. There is some setup �terrorists have taken over Nakatomi Plaza and are breaking through locks to get at money �bu??t it doesn’t really go into depth as to what your goals are or how to accomplish them. It doesn’t explain the existence of a “foot�meter, only viewable in the pause menu. Likewise, you won’t be prepared when the game intentionally tricks you at the? end.

It will also help if you read the manual. It goes over all the rules that aren’t otherwise explained. Like, if you go into the vents, you’ll drop your machine gun. There’s nothin??g within the game that indicates that you will. You aren’t asked? if you want to drop your weapon. You’ll just emerge from the vents and realize that you’ve been stripped to your pistol.

It’s a strangely literal interpretation of the movie. There is a set number of “crooks�dwelling within Nakatomi Plaza, and pretty much the only solid objective in Die Hard is to take them all out. In order to take on Hans Gruber, you need to kill all ??the enemies before he’ll unlock the door. However, there are various ways to make it easy on yourself, such as taking out the computer on the 4th floor to delay the terrorists. Everything aside from removing the terrorists is optional.

The monkey in the wrench

Die Hard plays in real-time. Upon beginning, the terrorists start wo??rking their way through the locks in the vault, and you’re fighting the clock to take as many out before then. Once the vault is broken, everyone moves onto the 30th floor, meaning the more that are left, the more you’re going to have to fight there and then before you’ll be able to take on Hans. There’s a counter on the pause menu, letting you know how many are left. D?on’t take too long, or Hans will escape.

In a lot of ways, Die Hard on NES is an extremely early example of an immersive sim. You’re dropped into a world with a bunch of rules and little scripting beyond those rules, and it’s up to you to figure it all out. The only thing linear about Die Hard is the march of time and the ??related placement of? events.

It also uses systems such as “fog of war�which obscures areas that your character cannot see at that moment. Terrorists hidden behind corners are obscured in darkness. The aiming system takes some getting used to, as it isn’t simply four or eight-directional but works a bit like a dial. If you can’t get a handle on it,? spraying and praying is a reasonable strategy. There are also multiple ways to get around the floors, including stairs, an elevator, and the vents. The terrorists will re??spond to your disruptions, with Hans telling them to check floors where you’ve created a ruckus. This allows you to avoid or ambush as you see fit.

Welcome to the party, pal

What is going to frustrate many players is the fact that Die Hard is obviously designed to take multiple attempts to complete. It’s not a very long game, but it is an unforgiving one. It’s entirely possible for you to make a minor miscalculation at the very end of the game and have to start over completely. This wasn’t too uncommon at the time �Contra was similarly bru??tal about making you start over �but it’s something that hasn’t aged well.

What makes the repetition a little harder to swallow is that Die Hard is a rather small game in general. Consisting of the small handful of floors in Nakatomi Plaza and the few dozen thugs that live there, it sort of feels like it needs two more movies worth of content to call it a complete package. That’s a bit understandable when you consider there’s only one person in the credits listed under a creative role: Tony Van. Almost certainly, he wasn’t the only developer working on Die Hard. He’s not listed as a programmer anywhere else. However, if we choose to? believe this was a so??lo dev effort, that’s damned impressive!

With no disrespect to Tony Van (he did have a hand in my beloved Shadowrun for Genesis), it’s most likely more of a case that Activision didn’t credit people, or they simply didn’t want to be associated. Junichi Saito has, at the very least, been identified as the composer. Oh, hey! He did the music to Predator on the NES! The only decent part of that game!

Now I have a machine gun, Ho-Ho-Ho

As I said so long ago, I don’t really care to wonder if Die Hard is truly kusoge. Its design is just out of this world. It feels like something we wouldn’t truly get until years later. It may be short, perhaps it relies too much on outside sources to actually understand it, and it might have been better suited to a more advanced console, but that’s not the point. Die Hard pushes 8-bit design. It’s art? born from its constrain??ts.

Unfortunately, being a licensed game, it’s not likely to be ported. An NES cartridge with Die Hard living on it will run you well north of a hundo. That’s possibly due to it being a late release for the console in 1991. This year, give the gift of Die Hard on the?? NES. Watch the light in?? the eyes of people who discover this non-linear proto-immersive sim for the first time. After all, that’s what Christmas is all about.

For previous Weekly Kusoge, check this link!

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New Blood announces two dates at once

While the date for one game is moving back a few weeks, another is sliding in to take its place. Publisher New Blood confirms that Gloomwood will have its Early Access launch pushed back, with Ultrakill Act 2 taking its spot.

While the immersive sim Gloomwood was set to hit Early Access on August 16, the game will need some extra time to come together. A few issues have cropped up over the last few months, according to a statement, as well as some developers coming down with COVID-19. The team made the decision to push its release?? date back by three weeks, to September 6.

//twitter.com/NewBlood/status/1554532639259783168

It's a little extra time for those who have been patiently waiting, but from the ash arrives a new launch to take its place. New Blood confirms that the second act of Ultrakill, a retro-inspired FPS ??inspired by the heydays of the '90s, arrives on Au??gust 16.

Ultrakill, which is in Early Access right now, has an overwhelmingly positive reception so far on Steam's user reviews. And while it's only $20 at the moment, the price will be going up on August 16 with the launch of Act 2.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXiCFvaoVik

Hot swap launches

While Gloomwood fans may be waiting a bit longer for their particular brand of immersive sim, there is at least more Ultrakill on the way to tide them over. And really, both seem to scratch an itch of retro-inspired first-person PC gaming. Just each in their own little way; Gloomwood in sneaking and surviving, and Ultrakill in over-the-top shooter fashion.

It's a fun swap that New Blood has done, and I'm down with it. Plus, Gloomwood also has a pre-alpha demo available on its Steam page right now, if you're quite eager to try it out. Ultrakill also has a demo, an???d Act 1 is currently in Early Access.

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Fistful of relics

Weird West eases players into the weird. It starts out with familiar western tales, of bounty hunters and lawless desperados. Shootouts will have bull??ets whizzing overhead and slow-??motion dives, with revolvers and rifles sending rounds blazing across the screen.

Then there's ghouls, ghosts, and ravenous hordes. Hints of something greater begin to emerge, as characters talk to your avatar with an alarming familiarity. Witches meet you at the crossroads, offering moral quandaries and games in exchange for power. Weird West is an immersive sim, and it aims to immerse players deep into its wonderfully weird worl?d.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3sqhIczLcQ

Weird West (PC [reviewed], PS4, Xbox, via Game Pass)
Developer: Wolfeye Studios
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Released: March 31, 2022
MSRP: $39.99

Weird West is an immersive sim from Wolfeye Studios, and the debut project from a studio founded by former Arkane developers. Rather than a 3D first-person approach, Weird West looks further back. Its isometric viewpoint and overworld travel map reminded me right away of the first two Fallout games.

The setting of Weird West is g??oing to be the main draw because it is, simply, the weird west. Cowboys and bounty hunters clash with sirens and pigmen. Long-forgotten specters roam the land, haunting homesteads. A Spanish mission is occupied by werewolves.

Overlapping oddities with familiar western paraphernalia is a major appeal, and thankfully, it's not just skin deep. The biza??rre world of the west manages to not feel like it's strange for strangeness' sake, but it's telling a story about average people trying to make their way through an uncaring, even hostile world—the ugliness, and also the importance of our own empathy and care, even when the world doesn't naturally reciprocate it.

These tales are framed through five journeys, as the player is led through five different people getting by in the West. The first, about a retired bounty hunter seeking vengeance, is odd but straightforward. Yes, man-eating monsters are involved, but the bounty hunter relies on conventional tools of the trade. Her quests led me through the basics of living in the Weird West: the saloon, the gun store, the stabl?es, a??nd the bounty board, to name a few.

I made a living, hunted down a few criminals, and eventually ??managed to finish my quest. A post-conclusion screen showed me all the choices I made, with bullet points that indicated I coul??d've taken it a few different ways. I even reloaded later, just to shake things up and see what changed; more on that in a moment.

Because when I started the second journey, I was a pigman. A monster I had only heard about in missives and loading screen legends. With no memory of? who I was before, I was now a monster made of man and pig flesh.

Stores didn't want me darkening their doorstep. Sheriffs warned me that I'd be ran out of town if they saw me walking around in daylight. My closest companion was a fellow monster. My means of getting resources and surviving had to shift, and fast. My method for making it in the Weird West was completely up-ended, and I loved it.

Weird West has many strengths, but it excels in those moments where narrative and gameplay overlap. Often I would feel like I was getting away with something, only to later feel like it was just another option laid out by Wolfeye for me to progress. Helping someone out might get me some key information, or I could just as easily steal it, or learn it through a note somewhere, or find it organically. Yes, those crack?ed rocks can be broken open with dynamite, or TNT barrels. And I could absolutely overcome terrible odds by summoning a tornado and lighting it on fire. At one point, I spent a long time trying to stack barrels and jump over a gate, only to realize I could've just shot the switch to open it from the other side.

Each of the journeys feels rewarding, because they each encourage their own approach. While some perks persist across characters, each new face has their own abilities to master using ancient ??relics. The pigman could use his power bar to make bullets bounce off his skin or execute a powerful charge through enemy ranks. The warrior of the Lost Fire nation, meanwhile, could summon the help of a ghost-bear. There is even a werewolf character, who felt like two characters combined into one.

The story is compelling too, even though it sometimes gets a bit messy. I really enjoyed the overall arc and the greater questions Weird West poses to the player, even though the last chapter felt weaker than the others. Individual story arcs like the pigman's were the most compelling, as were the sections that let me explore a world firsthand. Seeing? how different characters approached this world, comparing factions like the future-protecting Oneirists with the pious wolves, was engaging, and kept me locking into everything happening around me.

At times, I was impressed by how Weird West remembered my choices and carried their consequences through stories. Letting one outlaw escape led to headlines of rampant pillaging. But other times, it felt like they didn't translate one-to-one. A character who I left alive, for example, was later described as dead by another in dialogue. It was a minor hiccup, but a few times I noticed points wh??ere my decisions hadn't lined up perfectly with descriptions of the game world.

The main frustration with Weird West is in the glitches. Some are being addressed in a day-one pat?ch, but there were enough that I made a habit of quick-saving very, very often. Sometimes dialogues wouldn't trigger. And in general, stealth was finicky. Enemies would sometimes spot bodies I had left in bushes, where it seemed like th??ey should've been fully hidden.

Weird West's isometric camera will also be a point of contention for some. As much as I appreci??ated the nostalgic feel and some of the clever use of foreground-background layouts, it was also difficult to make distant objects out or line up l??ong-range shots. Contextual abilities, like the slow-motion dodge roll, also take a little while to get used to.

Getting used to both the combat and stealth takes a moment because of that, though it also makes battles feel frantic in a good way early on. Panicking as a bear bears down on you feels about right, and the way that certain environmental factors can overl??ap and cause chain reactions lets the combat feel chaotic and constantly evolving. Melee weapons always felt a little more awkward than the rest, but that's about the worst of it.

Though the world can feel opaque and daunting at first, Weird West does create ??an amazing frontier to explore. It's a brisk journey from character one to character five, and I saw the credits roll at a little under 20 hours, but there's a lot to do if you just want to spend time in the world. Side quests and bounties provide a lot of extra objectives to pursue, and there's a?lso the allure of seeing how some stories could pan out differently. I did kill some story-critical NPCs to see what happened, and yes, Wolfeye lets you do it and adjusts accordingly. Even the narrator, who is excellent and sets a perfect tone for the story, responds in shock to your actions. It's very good.

Weird West draws players in with its setting, and then builds a world that asks interesting questions about what they want from it. It's extremely nostalgic in ways, but also feels like it could kindle some fire for more exploration of these older styles of RPG. Ones where you need to comb over every inch of an?? area to scrounge supplies because your character made enemies with all the local towns, or gets caught up in an ambush because they were caught traveling alone without a posse to back them up.

Weird West presents a bizarre world to tell a story about real, human struggles. It might have some hitches and messiness, but it's a journey worth taking if you've ever been nostalgic about the good ol' days. Or you just like the idea of charging in?to a group of enemies as an unstoppable fantasy monstrosity, shotgun barrels blazing, with electric western riffs ringing out in the distance. Saddle up, pigman. That's your cue??.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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You've got 18 days to put it all together

Four Circle Interactive, the team behind 10 Second Ninja, just announced their next project. Abermore is a stealth RPG with plenty of twists, turns, and challenges, and it's also right around the ?corne??r.

Set in a world where future tech mixes with the Edwardian-era buildings and fashion, the ci??ty of Abermore will be the playground for many stealth escapades. Players take on the role of "The Unhanged Man," a folk hero who's planning out a daring heist.

Across 18 days, you can plan out new robberies, each with their own stories and potential. Whether getting ne??w spoils to sell for resources or making new friends for the ultimate score, it all leads ??up to the Fest of the Lucky Few.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LE4bocTH0Q

Get caught, and not only w??ill a lockdown go into effect, but robo-knight guar??ds will start to hunt the thief. There are thankfully some magic powers in play, that seem to help give players the upper-hand, or at least avoid detection.

The inspiration from games like the Thief series seems pretty clear, and we've been a bit starved for some of those. The run-based setup seems pretty intriguing too. Four Circle is saying "every campaign" will be unique, as new stories and opportunitie?s emerge for each attempt at? the big prize.

Thankfully, there also looks to be some goofiness that I'd be hoping for too. Yes, thieves should sneak around and play it safe. But why not also ?clobber a guard in the head with a plate, just to take him off a patrol route? Physical comedy is important too.

We won't be waiting long to see what's in store for Abermore. This stealth RPG will launch on March 29, 2022 for PC via Steam.

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GSC is pushing the game for another seven months of development time

GSC Game World's next foray into the post-apocalypse needs a little more time in development. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, or STALKER 2, has been delayed out to Dec. 8, 2022.

With seven additional months of time in development from its original April 2022 date, GSC says it plans to use this time to fulfill its vision and achieve the "desired state" of the game. STALKER 2 is the largest project GSC has worked on so far, and the studio says it needs thorough testing and?? polishing, and that development should take "as long as necessary."

//twitter.com/stalker_thegame/status/148127983746??98??72129

Even with STALKER 2 delayed out to the end of the year, GSC Game World says that more information and updates are still ahead. There are, of course, plenty of showcases and opportunities to detail more about STALKER 2 between now and December.

It's a pretty substantial delay, but since delays have become pretty common in the pandemic, it's fairly understandable. GSC Game World has also elected to take a pretty large chunk of time too, so hopefully this means a little more breathing room for the team to really dig in on STALKER 2 and be ready to hit the ground running.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjDMwsbaSd8

This is also some extra time to potentially extricate any remaining trace of NFTs from the game. After announcing, then subsequently un-announcing their inclusion in STALKER 2, a little extra time can give GSC some more breathing room between that incident and the actual launch of STALKER 2.

We'll see what the series has in store for us when STALKER 2 is out on Dec. 8, 2022.

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The wild, wild West will have to wait to get Weird

The immersive sim mixing Western and weirdness is taking a little extra time to polish its spurs. Developer WolfEye announced today that Weird West has been delayed to March 31, 2022.

In a video message from WolfEye creative director Raphaël Colantonio, the developer describes the internal response from its beta playtests. While they feel the game is really great, they also feel it's not quite ready yet. The studio is looking to iron out a few more of the wrinkles in Weird West before it's out.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhF8YlUhwmI

Originally set for Jan. 11, 2022, it's a push back of just a few months. But with that time, it sounds like WolfEye will try to polish and get its Western im??mersive RPG to a good, polished state. And hey, it also dodges the absolute flood of ?games arriving in the February 2022 window.

Announced a few years ago, Weird West is a top-down immersive sim-meets-action RPG. It comes from WolfEye Studios, a team founded by former Arkane developers, so they certainly? know what they're talking about in the immersive sim space.

Weird West plans to show a dark fantasy reimagining of the wild, wild West. So yes, gunslingers and outlaws running up alongside fa?ntasy creatures. On its Steam page, the developer says that you'll move through different character's journeys, with choices affecting the world around you. Do you form a group and set out with a plan? Or are you a lone gun-for-hire?

It's a set-up that is very intriguing, and I think it shouldn't be too hard to wait just a little bit longer for WolfEye to put the finishing touches on it. Weird West will gear up to deliver its own unique take on the Western genre to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, an??d PC on March 31, 2022.

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The studio is teaming with Koch's Prime Matter to make it happen

For those who love new refreshes of old games, the System Shock remake has likely been on your radar for some time. Today, developer Nightdive Studios co?nfirmed it's still happening, aiming for 2022, and they'v??e got a new partnership to help bring it all together.

Nightdive is partnering with Prime Matter, Koch Media's new publishing label, for the release of the System Shock remake. In a Kickstarter update, Nightdive explained that the partnership will allow a simultaneous release of System Shock o?n PC and consoles. That includes PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

Backers are still on track to receive their rewards and get access to a beta in early 2022. Nightdive also says that System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition is coming along, and the goal is still to launch it in the same window as the System Shock remake.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZWaCLBUCeA

System Shock has been through several demos and dates up to now, so some extra help from Prime Matter to get it across the finish line sounds like a good thing. Even looking back a few years, the re??make was looking impressive. Now, looking ahead to 2022, it'll be interesting to see how Nightdive's version of the 1994 classic ??holds up.

System Shock and its sequel remain major entries in the immersive sim genre to this day, so hopefu?lly efforts to bring it forward? pan out. We'll see what Nightdive and Prime Matter are up to sometime next year.

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The partygoers of Blackreef should be a little more aware of their surroundings now

Deathloop received its second major game update since launch today, and a major focus of it is on the NPCs. Game Update 2 for Deathloop addresses a litany of NPC reactions, pathing, and other odds and en??ds pertaining to the non-playable denizens of Blackreef.

With the update live, NPCs should n?ow react to bullets whizzing by them, like when you miss a headshot. They should also react when nearby NPCs are assassinated, hear better and react faster to falls, and they can deduce the direction from which a grenade was thrown now. Also, a weird interaction with NPCs no longer trying to kill Colt if Julianna has used Nexus to link them is now fixed. That one didn't turn out so great for the NPCs.

Here's the full list of NPC behavior updates:

NPC Behavior

• NPCs now react to bullets passing close by, such as headshots that miss
• NPCs now react when another is assassinated close by
• NPCs now hear better and react faster to nearby footfalls
• NPCs under fire no longer move to take cover if the player is too close
• NPCs can now deduce the direction from which a grenade was thrown
• NPCs no longer stop trying to kill Colt if Julianna uses Nexus to link him to them
• Interrupted aerial assassinations will no longer cause NPCs to become mostly invulnerable
• Numerous other small fixes and improvements to NPC behavior, reactions, pathing, and placement
• Charlie Montague no longer gets stuck in the floor or ground if he’s kicked while using Shift

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxgwIP4Cqpc

The rest of the patch notes can be found here, and they address a lot. From accessibility and quality-of-life to some updates to Invasion gameplay, it's a pretty hefty update for Deathloop.

Deathloop launched a few months ago and made a pretty strong impression. The updates since have worked to address various technical fixes, as shown by the NPC changes too, but the core gameplay of looping, sneaking, and shooting sti?ll seems to be humming along.

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