September 17th, 2008, nearly a full decade ago. That’s when Wolfire Games first announced anthropomorphic animal brawler Overgrowth, and now it’s due to receive its final update – version 1.3. While Wolfire would go on to be better known for their Humble Bundles (eventually selling the Humble brand to IGN), I feel that Overgrowth and its decade of development is an important part of independent games history, and following its creation from the beginning taught me much of what I know about the realities of game development today.

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The most satisfying moments in Overgrowth [official site] take place in mid-air. Rabbits are typically good at jumping, but they ve got nothing on their anthropomorphic cousin, Turner, the martial arts master and hero of this critter-bashing romp. His leaping ability borders on the power of flight. During those seconds, suspended in the skies above the game s largely empty battlefields, it feels like anything s possible. Invariably the landing disappoints. Sometimes fatally. That s Overgrowth: lots of potential, rarely reached.

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I already told you this, but you weren t listening. Rabbit kung fu game Overgrowth [official site] is out now for all your animal-punching pleasure. It features the following:

• Rats who stab
• A drop-kicking rabbit
• Wolves with no sense of clemency or grace

Come and see what it looks like below, in smashing GIF form. (more…)

The rabbit roughhousing of Overgrowth [official site] is finally complete, say developers Wolfire, and a release date is set for Monday next week. The physics-heavy martial arts adventure has been playable for years and years and year, of course, but by giving it a solid date of October 16, Wolfire are saying: right, that s your lot. Almost a decade of development is quite enough.

So, if you want to kick rats, or punch large cats in the belly, or throw a sword at a wolf s head while he s not looking only to see him catch it with a supernatural grace and come barrelling towards you in a carnivorous rage, then this is probably the game for you. (more…)

It’s hard to write about Overgrowth [official site] without feeling a little old – this is early access before that was even a thing>. According to my email archives, I was first informed of Wolfire Games’ ninja rabbit simulator entering development in 2008, and I put down a preorder on it back in 2009. It feels very strange to say this, but as of October 4th, 2017, Overgrowth is now feature-complete and the latest version – Beta 6 – will be the last step before launching in a few weeks, with only minor tweaks, tuning and bug-fixing planned before version 1.0.

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The kung fu rabbits of Overgrowth [official site] have been around in a playable form since I was a small and ancient protozoa, so I won t accept the game s sudden switch from alpha to beta as news. But I will take notice when told that the story campaign of its predecessor, Lugaru, has been adapted into the fisticuffs framework of the sequel, meaning there should now be something to do in the game besides biffing anthropomorphic wolves in the skull until they fly across the map in ragdoll pain. … [visit site to read more]