APE OUT

Very promising Hotline-Miami-meets-Jazz-and-apes game Ape Out has been delayed, but only slightly. Devolver will now release it 28th February rather than 7th February, and that's on PC and Switch.

Ape Out is a real head-turner. It's a top-down game in which you control an ape trying to escape a cage. You have to navigate your way through a level without being shot and stopped.

Being an ape, you're incredibly strong, and it shows. You can pulverize guards in a blink of an eye, with a feral energy which really comes across. You can even use enemies temporarily as shields to take enemy fire, and to shoot back at their own.

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Metro Exodus - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (RPS)

New year, old friends. The boys and girls of the RPS podcast have not been reborn, they have no resolutions, no ambitious goal to learn German or eat more spinach. They just want to play more videogames. Unbelievable. So let s listen to them chat about the shooters and RPGs that have them most excited. That s what they do on these podcasts, you know, they just talk nonsense. And they get PAID for it. It s outrageous, if you ask me, a nameless publication byline.

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APE OUT

Joe described Ape Out last year as "a loud, psychedelic gorilla-starring Hotline Miami-a-like," and that pretty well nails it. It's a game about an ape who busts out and busts heads: Simple, fast, furious, and violent, and backed by a frenetic jazz-percussion soundtrack of "drums, cymbals, and decapitations" that reacts to what's happening on screen. 

Sadly, the demo released last year by developer Gabe Cuzzillo doesn't appear to be available anymore, but it was very short—a few minutes playtime, tops—and based on the trailer the game has come a long way since then, with enhanced graphics, levels, and violence. 

"We swear to the Almighty Primate God it's the most intense fucking thing you've ever played," publisher Devolver Digital said. 

More importantly, it also now has a release date: February 7, 2019. It's a day I've been looking forward to for a long time: I have no idea how Ape Out will hold up over extended sessions, but the action in the demo is beyond furious, especially with that frantic beat crashing away in the background. 

Ape Out is scheduled for release on February 7, 2019. Pricing hasn't been set, but it's available for wishlisting on Steam.   

Rise of the Tomb Raiderâ„¢ - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Brendan Caldwell)

It s time for Gamescom, the yearly show in Germany. There are lots of games here. Too many for a lone operator. We re going to have to send a whole unit. That s where you come in, members of the elite RPS podcast. Four of you are going to Cologne. We ve heard reports of Cyberpunk 2077, Metro Exodus, Biomutant, Dying Light 2, Ape Out, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot and many more colourful adversaries. You re going to have to bring your hottest takes. Your objective: a special Gamescom episode of the Electronic Wireless Show. Gear up. (more…)

APE OUT - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice Bell)

Graham said that, generally, RPS staffers at Gamescom write up the most important game they saw each day, at the end of that day. Welp, it s almost midnight and I m writing about Ape Out. I played Ape Out on day one and I’m screaming at everybody about it being game of show, game of show, game of show. Here is the elevator pitch for Ape Out:

Ape Out is a top-down arcade-ish game with a stripped back, bare essentials look that communicates everything on screen effectively. The only controls are to move, smash and grab. The four different level scenarios are presented on the start menu as if they were albums you select, and as you play, your violence is scored by a kind of improvisational jazz drumming that punctuates every successful kill with a crash of cymbals (provided by games music expert Matt Boch). It s so stylish that for the next 18 to 24 months other developers will be trying to pitch their games as being like Ape Out, as in the sentence It s like Ape Out, but with more of a steampunk vibe.

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APE OUT - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

Close your eyes and imagine the sort of game about an escaped gorilla that Devolver Digital would publish. Simple yet challenging combat? Buckets of blood and smashed limbs? Distinctive art style and music? Open your eyes and — gasp! — it wasn’t all a dream, you’ve imagined Ape Out [official site], which Devolver today announced they’ll release this summer. It sees an escaped gorilla smashing humans to pieces, whacking them, grabbing them, and hurling them. “It’s Hotline Miami with Harambe” I’d say if I were trying to get Devolver to quote me in a trailer, but it’s not and I’m not and that meme is awful.

Here, you can see in this trailer then play it yourself in a wee demo. … [visit site to read more]

APE OUT

Outlandish publisher Devolver Digital is known to lend its name to unorthodox videogames, but its latest is one of its most unusual yet. 

Lone developer Gabe Cuzzillo's Ape Out plays sort of like Hotline Miami in that it's brutally violent and is shot from a top-down perspective. But instead of guiding a trigger-happy mercenary around '80s-style video nasty locales, you steer an enraged gorilla around a psychedelic paint-splashed zoo-like world—where your pursuers are your captors as opposed to volatile hitmen. 

Instead of Hotline's hypnotic electro soundtrack, Ape Out blends "rhythmic violence, and frenetic jazz", all of which sort of resembles Kasabian's Shoot the Runner video. Struggling to picture that in practice? I don't blame you. Have a look at its reveal trailer for a better idea of what it's about: 

Ape Out's full release is due this summer, however a playable demo which, um, apes the above trailer can be downloaded free-of-charge from Steam

I suggest you do because, although short, it's pretty darn sweet. Unhinging a steel doors and using them as shields is fun, and there's a sense of poetic justice felt when one of your captor's comes at you with a flamethrower but accidentally sets his pal alight instead of you. Sucker. 

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