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Take your protein pill and put your headphones on for the free demo of Asterism, an “interactive music album” exploring a solar system one song at a time. Each visit to a planet lasts as long as the song, whisking us through scenes reflecting the lyrics and mood, rendered with a mix of 3D computer art and a range of handmade physical mediums. I was delighted from the first twang. And impressively, it’s mostly the work of one developer, Claire Morwood. Do have a look!
In an upsetting confirmation that February is in fact winter (and that the year doesn’t just start with summer like my brain thinks it should) publisher Whitethorn Games held a 2024 Winter Showcase, where they revealed the existance of a game that answers the question “what if the slimes in Slime Rancher were in mortal peril, and had swords?”. The answer is apparently “be ruddy heroes in a cute Soulslike”. I think this game, too, looks very cute, although Slime Heroes doesn’t have a release window yet.
You know what does have a launch date now? Botany Manor, a lovely 3D puzzle game about growing plants, which I first learned about via the Steam Next Fest demo, and with which I immediately fell in love. I am heartened to know it is coming out really quite soon – April 9th. A mere two months from now!
First spotted when James and Liam (RPS in peace) covered the PC Gaming Show 2023, Mullet Mad Jack is a roguelike FPS with a Steam Next Fest demo out right now. And my goodness me, it rules. The retro anime aesthetic is cool, sure, but I particularly love its setup, which forces you to blast through corridors as fast as you possibly can. Yeah, this is extremely a bit of Edders, and it’s gone straight on the wishlist.
Against The Storm is a peach; a fantasy citybuilder that was excellent in Early Access, a Bestest Best when it hit 1.0, and which has been tweaked and improved through post-release patches.
The patches won’t stop, either. In a 2024 roadmap, its developers have outlined two further free updates still to come, as well as confirming that paid DLC is in the works.
A financial report from Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton said the underwater survival sequel would adopt a “game-as-a-service model”. Cue much gnashing of teeth and rending of shirts, so much so that developers Unknown Worlds have clarified what that means. “No season passes. No battle passes. No subscription.”
Calling dusty post-apocalyptic city builders a trend is probably a stretch, but not by much. I suppose it’s a natural extension of the post-2000s explosion of the survival sim from “literally about 3 ever made” to “does your tetris remake really need the hunger meter”. Games like Against The Storm porting over the roguelike element as well certainly suggest it. In my head, that’s probably why New Cycle hangs out more with Endzone Dash A World Apart, and Surviving The Aftermath. It’s more a traditional building game than a punishing test to be retaken, or the intense “survive the ordeal” narrative of Frostpunk, despite the superficial similarity that your town expects to be ravaged by scorching solar flares.
But it might also be because after playing it more than I really wanted to, New Cycle matches those two peers by leaving me with a vague feeling of disappointment. I’m just not sure what it really has to say.
Elias Toufexis, voice actor for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided‘s cyborg protagonist Adam Jensen, has bid a formal “goodbye, but hopefully not farewell” to the character, expressing hopes that somebody with a lot of money will buy the license and restore poor moody Adam to our screens. Toufexis also shared a few parting speculations about the unannounced Deus Ex sequel from Eidos Montreal that was reported cancelled last week. Toufexis wasn’t involved with this one, and according to him, it likely wasn’t a continuation of Jensen’s story from Mankind Divided.
Not to denigrate either the efforts of either the comms or dev teams, but when a game has been knocking around my consciousness for a while, eventually I just move it it from a mental box marked “in development” to “probably out now, innit” without any input from anyone else. Inkulinati, a turn-based strategy game where you play a medieval artist duking it out with another artist on the pages of an illuminated manuscript, is one such. It’s been kicking about on Steam since at least 2019, and in fairness to me it did launch in January last year – it just went into early access. These factors contributed to me being sort of surprised at the reveal of the actual release date for 1.0, which is February 22nd.
Disney are taking out a $1.5 billion equity stake in Fortnite publisher Epic Games, and have announced “an all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences”. According to Disney CEO Robert A. Iger, it’s “Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games”. Friends, we are witnessing the birth of a franchising megamoeba of titanic proportions – a new, Unreal Engine-driven “persistent universe” of playing, watching, shopping and other content-tickling opportunities, featuring characters and stories created by Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar “and more”. Where are your puny gods now?
