Toxikk is the 90 s-inspired arena shooter that plays as if today's military shooters never existed, so says its Steam page blurb. It launched last week after slight delay with free-to-play and paid versions and its developer, Reakktor Studios, has now released a making of-style video that explores the intricacies of the game s modes of transport.

To us, no arena FPS is really complete without the fun they add to the mix, explains game director Martin Schwiezer in the video short below. While the small to mid-sized maps in Toxikk feature classic on-foot gameplay, most larger environments sport our fully-fledged arsenal of vehicles.

From formidable Demon Battle Mechs used to flatten enemies; to spawnable hover bikes that help cover long distances, each vehicle serves a specific purpose.

Besides drawing from Reakktor s own ideas, Schwiezer quotes Quake Wars and Unreal Tournament 2004 as sources of inspiration in crafting said vehicles partly down to their well-executed designs, but also as a result of fond memories shared by the team. Vehicular warfare isn t necessarily a requirement of the arena shooter genre, however the above outlines how much thought and planning has went into building Toxikk s lineup.

We probably spent around a year designing, building and balancing the vehicles and it will surely make us proud if you have as much fun playing around with them as we had creating these badass machines, adds Schwiezer.

Toxikk is out now on Steam and costs 10.99/$14.99. It also has a free version that does not have any competitive disadvantages versus the full game and is not some micro-transaction fueled F2P crap, but simply a classic shareware version/demo of the full game.

My favorite thing about the Toxikk release trailer that turned up on YouTube today is the pullquote from our news post last month announcing the game's forthcoming release and demo version. An arena FPS just like mama, it says. And that's it. The full quote, as you may have guessed, is an arena FPS just like mama, or indeed mama's parent company Epic, used to make. But maybe that was a little too long.

Whatever the reason for the premature cut (and the potential for your mom jokes), Toxikk is now live on Steam, a bit later than expected, and entirely free, with no microtransactions but a few limitations. Reakktor Studios broke those conditions down in this Steam post, but highlights include a limit on the available maps and vehicles (and the campaign modes and achievements attached to unavailable maps), the lack of a server browser and character customization options, and no access to custom content or the Steam Workshop.

It basically boils down to this: The Free Edition of Toxikk features the full core experience of the game and has no competitive disadvantages versus the full game. It let's you play Toxikk for free, for as long and as often as you like. So, in many aspects it is like a shareware version of the game or a demo, Reakktor wrote. We, Reakktor Studios, have worked over 3 years on this project and would hate to see our game sink in insignificance. Toxikk is competing against companies that have millions of shiny dollars to sink in marketing. We had only a fraction of that... and wanted to put it into the game's development only, to fulfill our dream of creating a classic Arena FPS.

The studio also warned that its servers are currently having a little trouble dealing with the number of people playing, so those with the free version that is, without the server browser may have a rough time connecting. Servers are still being tweaked, and an update that will be ready to go live either tomorrow or Thursday should further improve the situation. More information about Toxikk (but not how it relates to your mama, sorry) can be found at toxikk.com.

Toxikk, or TOXIKK, or We Had a Spare K Lying Around, and I'll Be Damned If I'm Going to Waste It, is an old-fashioned FPS that wants you to "frag like it's 1999". Appealing to folks turned off by cinematic shooters, more realistic character physics, and RPG-style levelling systems, it's instead an arena FPS just like mama, or indeed mama's parent company Epic, used to make.

And it's out very soon indeed. It's just been announced that Toxikk will release next month, on September 9. The multiplayer-focused FPS is already out in early access, of course, but you've gotta hit version 1.0 sometime.

The release will coincide with a free version of the game, a version that at one time might have been called a demo. It's not being called a demo here because Valve has specific restrictions for those: "people who play a demo on Steam cannot play online against people who own the full game", according to developer Reakktor.

Demo or not, it will let you play the game for free, with no microtransactions (which Reakktor has a "deep antipathy" against) to worry about. It's not clear what the demo restrictions will be, or what content it will lack, but Reakktor say that the free version "comes with the full core experience, has no competitive disadvantages versus the FULL GAME and lets you play TOXIKK for free for as long and often as you like".

You can find Toxikk here.

Ta, Blue's News.

The humble arena shooter appeared to be at the cusp of a huge resurgence earlier this year, but at the moment it feels like we're waiting for a huge title to usher it in properly. Whether that will be DOOM or the forthcoming version of Unreal Tournament is yet to be seen. Toxikk is among the brighter of the indie arena shooters in development, and Reakktor Studios is still plugging away at it. Just yesterday they rolled out V.09, which introduces a new map, Dekk, among other things.

Dekk can be seen in the video above, and it's the first one in Toxikk with an explicitly sci-fi inspired theme. "The map is based on an over a decade old layout introduced by UT, now reincarnated with clean, yet highly refined/accentuated 3D assets, keeping visual clarity and simplicity in mind," a spokesperson for the studio writes.

There are some other changes too but they're minor: the game now supports multiscreen, albeit temporarily, and there's a new Max Damage Boost collectible which, as you can probably guess, raises your maximum damage output. The full update notes can be perused here.

Toxikk is still in Early Access and appears to have built quite a strong community. Omri Petitte enjoyed what he played back in January. "I wouldn t say it s deserving of a pedestal next to UT or Quake just yet, but I wouldn t discount its potential either," he wrote.

For arena shooter adepts, Toxikk embodies the form, brazenly seating its appeal right beside hallowed greats such as Unreal Tournament and Quake. For everyone else, it looks like a bunch of trigger-happy space marines jumping around and caroming off everything like a martial arts film. However it s perceived, the result is gunplay in its most primal form and—among other hopefuls—a promising continuation of decades-old FPS fundamentals of smart shooting and savvy strafing.

$19/ 13 on Early Access currently gets you a pretty meat-and-potatoes selection of free-for-all and team deathmatch modes hosted on a single map named Foundation. Rounds support up to 16 players, but I d say a good sweet spot hovers around eight—just enough chaotic firepower to balance moments of downtime to recover and strategize.

Toxikk seems threadbare, but I wager this was a deliberate decision by developer Reakktor Studios to entice vets and beginners alike with refined classic gameplay before unveiling further modes and additional battlegrounds in the future. That s a development pattern both recognizable for Early Access games and something I ve seen not work out well for full launches such as NS2: Combat. Still, Reakktor pleasingly swung into gear after launch, pushing out small patches (such as a recent weapons tweak) and sticking to a release roadmap.

But for now, one map is all that makes up Toxikk s name. Foundation boasts wonderfully visible design as a collection of seedy interlocking alleyways twisting throughout a Hong Kong slum. It s a recognizable cyberpunk theme of urban grime, towering skyscrapers, and neon signs blaring Chinese slogans. The Unreal Engine thrives on densely packed environments like this; on my 3.5GHz i7, 8GB RAM, 2GB GTX 670 home PC, I easily clocked frames in the 40-60 range with max settings during heavy combat and when just gawking around. I m anxious to see what the larger, vehicle-based arenas will look like—the sample map, Twin Peaks, previewed on the official website already looks impressive.

Foundation s layout also acts as an important proving ground for picking up basic movement and jumping skills necessary for topping scoreboards. Vantage points and crucial armor vests tucked into lofty corners are accessible by boringly running to them, but mastering moves such as double jumping and strafe dodging shortcuts a quicker path around. The latter serves particularly important use as a snap juke for avoiding fire, but it might take time to get used to the keyboard trickery: jump against a wall, then double jump away at the exact moment for the dodge. Pull it off, and you get to look really cool while nailing a multi-kill streak with your ninja reflexes. Bonus!

Most battles concentrate around glowing weapon spawns, as the starting Raven pistol works in a pinch but feels paltry compared to the punchier Violator assault rifle or Dragoneer flamethrower. Toxikk s armory holds fast to the arena shooter mixture of ballistic, energy, explosive, and a single BFG-esque mega-gun. They re all deadly enough, but I found frags came easiest when concentrating on a few weapons with mid-range power and good mobility. I greatly enjoyed using the Bullcraft shotgun and coupling its super-shot secondary fire with key strafe jumps to get into someone s face. I liked swapping to the accurate Stingray plasma rifle for flick headshots against skilled opponents.

Yes, Toxikk also has a rocket launcher. The Cerberus will probably be the most fought-over spawn in small maps, as the splash is devastating in close quarters and slugging a rocket directly into a poor foe while dodging like a maniac always feels godly. Such easily accessible power is unquestionably attractive, so I spotted frequent camping behavior in the alcove where the Cerberus appears—antithetical for a high-movement FPS but a glorious scenario for flanking practice.

Equally fun to the mayhem was the breadth of keyboard and mouse control options available for fine-tuning. Tweaking dodge key tap delay (a nifty setting for reducing or increasing how fast you need to double tap a key to dodge) and mouse acceleration or sensitivity brought extra competitive edge where needed. There s even the choice to dampen acceleration with an offset slider so the crosshairs won t fly everywhere if used. The FOV can go up to 120, which should cover most visual preferences and monitor setups. Sadly, options are inaccessible during a match, an annoying inconvenience if I wanted to rapidly adjust something. It s definitely a downside having to back out completely to the main menu to get to the preferences again, but hopefully a later patch will remedy this.

At this point, Toxikk stands as a strong but basic FPS. I wouldn t say it s deserving of a pedestal next to UT or Quake just yet, but I wouldn t discount its potential either. When more modes and maps eventually appear, it ll start standing out more strongly. Its reverence for old-school shooters makes for one of the best-looking deathmatch primers of today, so I and my smoking shotgun barrels are eager for more.