If you owned a PS1 you might remember Fear Effect, a stylish horror shooter that became something of a cult classic. French developer Sushee are trying to tap into that nostalgia with a complete remake of the game called Fear Effect Reinvented as well as a real-time tactics spin-off called Fear Effect Sedna.

The remake is coming next year, and now Sushee have announced that Fear Effect Sedna is too: "early" in 2018, in fact, although there's no release date yet. It marks a slight delay for the title, which was supposed to be out by the end of this year.

So, what do we know about the game so far? It's an isometric tactics game where you'll be able to switch between characters on the fly and plan moves in advance while slowing down time. You'll be dual wielding weapons, stunning enemies and solving tough puzzles.

In terms of the story, it's an international romp packed with assassinations and shady organisations that reunites the team from the original game—Hana, Rain, Deke and Glas.

Sushee has finished its final build of the game but it's working with the indie team at Square Enix to get it over the line, testing it and ironing out any kinks.  

You can see some early prototype footage released during development below. It's not the finished product, but I think it still looks decent. There's a free demo available on Steam.

More than nine years after it was announced, Overgrowth's surreal mix of wild animals, fast-paced martial arts, stealth, and gore is nearly upon us. The last beta version before a proper release arrived this week, bringing with it the game's full story mode.

Those who have purchased the game early will be able to play through the full campaign now, which sees our rabbit hero Turner fight to protect the island of Lugaru from slavers. Expect hand-to-hand combat that relies upon timing and counters, segments where you sneak through shrubbery, and lots of blood.

The amount of gore in the game is emphasised by another tweak in this beta: you can now be impaled by spikes. That means some pretty gory clips of Turner's limp body sliding down a wooden spear, blood spurting.

Other changes will make the game's different animals more distinct. Cat enemies, for example, can now throw smaller weapons such as daggers, while rats can attach bits of the environment to their head as camouflage.

Developer Wolfire Games has fixed lots of bugs, too, and added new settings options including a brightness slider. The full change log is here.

Overgrowth is currently £22.99/$29.99 on Steam and the Humble Store. There's no word on a final release date, but it shouldn't be too long. I, for one, am looking forward to it.

If you're interested, click here to read James's interview with the game's creator earlier this year.

The next Humble Monthly Bundle is now ready for purchase: pay $12 (just over £9) now and you'll immediately unlock MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited and the early access version of Quake Champions, Bethesda's arena shooter. 

You'll also net some card packs and in-game currency for The Elder Scrolls: Legends, the free-to-play card game, and then a bunch more titles when the bundle fully unlocks next month.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited is the clunky name that was given to ESO when it went subscription free, and is currently $19.99/£14.99 on Steam. Along with the base game, the Humble bundle will give you 15 days of ESO Plus membership, which grants you access to the game's DLC packs (but, notably, not the Morrowind expansion) and 750 crowns to spend at the in-game store. Oh, and a Bristlegut Pig vanity pet. Cute.

Quake Champions will be free-to-play when it releases, but until now the only way to play it early has been to buy the $29.99/£19.99 Champions Pack, which unlocks every character in the game. This bundle version gives you something different: instant access to the shooter and two champions, Ranger and B.J. Blazkowicz. You'll also get some in-game currency, but not enough to unlock more heroes.

Lastly, for The Elder Scrolls: Legends you'll get two Skyrim card packs, one event ticket, 100 gold and 100 soul gems.

If you fancy picking it up, click here.

Rocket League is serving up its second dose of Fast & Furious DLC on Wednesday, when two classic cars from the films will join the game's roster.

You can get behind the wheel of both the '99 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, from the 2003 film 2 Fast 2 Furious, and the '70 Dodge Charger R/T, which appeared in the series' first flick, 2001's The Fast and the Furious. 

Each one will set you back $1.99. They'll boast unique booming engine sounds and flashy wheels as well as their own array of decals (six apiece).

Remember, they're purely cosmetic items, so players who buy them won't gain any advantage.

It's the second tie-up between developer Psyonix and film company Universal—you might remember that in April series hero Dom Toretto's "Ice Charger" drove onto the turf to mark the release of The Fate of the Furious, the eighth Fast & Furious film.

You can see the new cars in action in the video at the top of this post, and here's shots of both vehicles, first the Dodge, then the Nissan:

If you missed last month's release of Ruiner, a stylish top-down shooter, then it's worth reading Omri's review. It's a gorgeous game, and developer Reikon has been working to make it even better by fixing the issues most commonly raised by fans, culminating in an update that tweaks the difficulty and speeds up bullet travel time to make ranged weapons more viable. 

The game has three difficulty modes: Easy, Normal and Hard. The update, launched this week, tones them all down to make the game "smoother and more accurate". Reikon says Easy mode will now allow players to explore the game's back alleys without having to worry about dying horribly. On Normal, enemies deal less damage and on both Normal and Hard they're less bullet sponge-y. 

Bullets from ranged weapons now travel faster, too, "making it easier to hit enemies" and some guns fire in a tighter spread.

If you're worried that Ruiner has lost its rock-hard appeal (as I'm sure some people will be upon reading about the changes), Reikon says you shouldn't be. "The game’s still hard, of course, especially for you, the die-hard fans! But we want to make all types of weapons, especially firearms, more viable." Fair enough.

In a smaller change (but one that Omri flagged up as a problem), stun grenades now consume 50% more energy. Previously, you could just spam them and 'stunlock' groups of enemies, including bosses. 

There's your standard bug fixes, too, all of which you can read about in the full patch notes. 

Ruiner is £14.99/$19.99 on Steam and GOG.

Developer Hello Games has overhauled No Man's Sky's save system to try and make it easier to manage saves between game modes. 

The new system has five save slots. If you select an empty slot you'll be taken to the game mode select screen before you start a new game, and there's no limit to how many saves you can have for a particular game mode: you could have five saves from the same mode if you like. Any existing saves will map to the five slots.

Also, each save has two sub slots, one for auto saves (when exiting your ship, dying, purchasing a Freighter or claiming a base), and one for manual saving at save points or beacons.

Hello Games has twice patched issues with save games in the past couple of months, so here's hoping the new system is bug-free.

The new patch makes a number of other changes, the most interesting of which is to the player's Analysis Visor. The visor can now scan farm plants and see their remaining growth time, scan ships at a distance and see their class, type and value, and judge the approximate distance of resources discovered with the Scanner, another player tool. 

An army of bugs are squashed, too, including errors in the mission system that would make it impossible to complete delivery missions or randomly change mission requirements when you spoke to NPCs.

Read the full patch notes here.

EVE Online's free-to-play program, which gives non-subscribing players access to a limited set of skills and ships, is about to get a lot more generous. In December, Alpha Clones (free-to-play players) will have access to a greatly expanded set of ships and weapons. 

"We want to bring Alphas a little closer to their Omega [subscribed players] counterparts in terms of strength," said Steven 'CCP Rise' Clark at Eve Vegas 2017 today.

First of all, Alpha Clones will have access to power Tech 2 variants of small and medium weapons. These Tech 2 variants are a necessity for many fleets as they dish out substantially more damage and can fire special ammo that gives players more options on the battlefield.

But those new guns are eclipsed by the fact that Alpha Clones will soon be able to pilot battlecruisers and battleships—the backbone of just about any EVE Online fleet. Battlecruisers and battleships are significantly beefier vessels than the smaller cruisers and frigates that Alpha Clones currently have access to.

In addition, Alpha Clones can now choose to train skills related to any empire, where previously they were locked into flying ships from just one. This also means that Alpha Clones will have access to powerful hybrid ships, like deadly Machariel battleships, that require a mix of two empires' related skills in order to fly.

In the current iteration of Alpha Clones, players can train up to just shy of 5 million skill points. The expansion of the program will increase that total to just over 20 million—effectively quadrupling the size of EVE's free-to-play experience. That's still a drop in the bucket for subscribing EVE players (many of whom will have hundreds of thousands of skill points). While Alpha Clones can access battleships, for example, they still can't fly the specialized tech 2 versions of each class of ship which offer dramatically different experiences like stealth bombers, covert ops, or heavy-assault cruisers. 

There's a catch, though. In order to access the full total of 20 million, Alpha players will have to either purchase skillpoints or a subscription (both of which can be purchased with real or in-game currency). The good news is that once these new skills are trained, they remain unlocked forever. So a new free-to-play player doesn't have to continue to subscribe once they reach 20 million skillpoints. Likewise, returning players who might have already trained these skills can access them without paying anything.

EVE's skill system is based on specializing into niches. So while Alpha players won't be able to train into every available ship without paying or grinding, they can still invest their skill points wisely and learn to fly some of the more powerful ships in the game.

The moment that summed up my time with OneShot—a gloomy, top-down adventure game from developers Eliza Velasquez and Casey Gu—was when the player-controlled anthropomorphic cat at the center of the story turned to the camera and asked me, by name, where I grew up. As it turns out, the moniker I punched in at the start of the demo wasn't the simple practice of naming a save file or christening the main character. No, I was simply telling OneShot who I was, and the game was happy to do with that information as it pleased.

"In the full version it's even better because we use your Windows profile name," says Velasquez. "You don't enter your name, it just tells you your name."

This is the essence of OneShot. Its quirks and wrinkles are all bent on fucking with the player as effectively as possible. Velasquez tells me one of her biggest influences was Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid. If you're unfamiliar with the character, Mantis was built to be a mind-reading psychopath and one of the true foils of the unflappable Solid Snake. He also had the power to scan your Playstation memory card. “You like Castlevania, don’t you?” It’s one of the most famous fourth-wall-breakings in video game history, and almost two decades later, it’s still a pretty good trick.

OneShot's version of this is more subtle and player-driven. Here's an early, and potent, example. I came in possession of a scrap of translucent film, the only hint being that I need to "expose it to the void" in order to unlock its true secrets. The OneShot universe is exceptionally dark—a subterranean limbo full of grim apartments and confused characters. I thought for sure that, eventually, I’d come across some sort of mythic nodule of darkness that would decode the puzzle point me forward. Nope. Not even close.

Instead, the secret to developing the film is to literally use your cursor to grab the window where the game is running on your desktop, tug it off your screen for a few seconds, and then bring it back to the surface. Voila, the film is developed, and you've learned that everything—literally everything—is in play.

OneShot promises to break those conventional design rules over and over again. They’re calling it a "metaphysical puzzle game,” something that truly encourages you to experiment with weird stuff. But it also thrills when it's not trying to blow your mind. OneShot’s characters are vivid and the writing is hilarious; it'll take you about 15 minutes to step into the living room of a man with a potted plant for a head, who will regale you with the botanical characteristics of the fauna you'll come across during your journey. The sprite work is also deliberate and evocative—enormous magenta cityscapes, melancholy alleyways, ghoulish suburban cells—which pairs nicely with the heavy, eerie, and groovy synthwave score.

Honestly, the vibe I was picking up most was Undertale, but Eliza told me, in a slightly aggrieved tone, that the first version of OneShot existed long before that quirky RPG took over the world. Thank god, because a Battle Royale controversy for weird, darkly comic indie Earthbound disciples isn’t what anyone wants. OneShot is available on Steam right now, and it’s at the top of my list when I get back from this weekend's Indiecade expo.

We're at Indiecade in LA this weekend, checking out everything the festival has to offer. Click here for more of our stories from the event.

The space combat roguelike Everspace didn't make an especially good impression when it debuted on Early Access in September 2016. But things seemed to turn around in the months that followed: "It’s a great example of a roguelike, and the persistence makes even a bad run feel like it wasn’t a complete waste of time," we wrote in a June re-look at the game, shortly after it left Early Access. "But even if you just want to fly around in space and shoot things, and don’t particularly care about the progression stuff, that’s fun too." 

Developer Rockfish Games aims to build on that success with a major new expansion called Encounters, announced this week and expected to be ready by the end of October. It will add a new medium fighter-class ship to the game called the Colonial Sentinel, which comes equipped with "sophisticated electronic warfare capabilities" and a double-capacity shield, plus new weapons, devices and consumables.   

The expansion will also add new story characters with unique quests, new enemies, factory space stations offering "on-the-fly services," and you'll be able to visit the Okkar homeworld. In total, Encounters will add an estimated ten hours of new content to the game.

"Thanks to the roguelike core game loop in Everspace, all pilots will bump into them sooner or later, without having to finish the main story first," Rockfish said. "Those who already beat the game entirely will find a fresh motivation to get back into the game and find out about what these characters are up to and unveil further secrets in the galaxy." 

Rocksaid said that more information about the expansion, including pricing, will be released soon.  

There’s an intuitive rhythm to cooldowns in real-time strategy games. It’s that niggling apprehension you feel moments before your opponent launches missiles, an impatient sense that your cannon is almost constructed and ready to use. Your conscious attention is occupied elsewhere, so it becomes like breathing. Inhale, anticipate damage, plan a response. Exhale, firm up your resolve in those last few moments before you can act.

In Forts a single shot can turn the tables on an adversary. They can't paint a target for their missile if you've correctly identified, and hit, their sniper. You have to get the trajectory and power exactly right, but in a way that becomes more reliable with practice. It's an exciting game to watch because the underdog really can win, and it feels fair when it happens.

Despite the odds being stacked against it—it was Earthwork Games’ first release and didn't receive much coverage in the press—Forts has sold around 120,000 copies since its April release. Designer/programmer Tim Auld (who created Forts alongside artist/designer Nick Smith, and composer/sound designer Jeff van Dyck) was hopeful that success wouldn’t be a long shot, based on deliberate decisions and supportive structures made during development, but sales still exceeded his expectations.

Base building

I was captivated by an early iteration of Forts at PAX Australia in 2015, mostly because of the many childhood hours I misspent playing Wendell Hicken’s Scorched Earth, a turn-based game of exchanged artillery fire from 1991. Unlike Scorched Earth, or Worms (which it also superficially resembles), Forts is real-time. Players compete to construct bases, stock them with troops and weapons, and then demolish each other. It was a blast. But just because I enjoy a game doesn't mean I know how it's going to sell. I’m not sure anyone does.

Of course, most experienced developers will say that marketing is incredibly important, and EarthWork Games began working with a company called Stride PR early, realizing this was an area of expertise the team of three lacked. They found that dedicated PR was still hit and miss, however. Their initial press release accidentally coincided with the release of Pokemon Go, and when it came to reviews Forts was consistently overlooked.

They focused on streamers instead, sending out a preview build that was picked up by several popular YouTubers and Twitch streamers. "Big influencers streamed it, getting hundreds of thousands of views," Auld says. "This approach was suggested by Stride and it worked because the game is so watchable and intuitive. You can see weapons being installed and damage being taken, especially when the forts start swaying around. Unlike in most RTS games, where a bird’s eye view doesn’t give you much context, you can see exactly what’s happening."

So, does Auld attribute the game’s success to its being widely viewed online? Not really. "It’s difficult to get sales from YouTube. The statistics are that for every thousand views, you’ll get one sale." Fans of the most popular streamers are there for the personalities, not the games. He believes word of mouth played a more significant role, saying, "Once people get on board, they talk to their friends and it grows organically from there."

Social sieges

Certainly, I’ve played Forts with friends. As fun as it is to smash structures, my favorite approach is delegating the building, offensive, and defensive tasks co-operatively within a shared fort. Auld believes there are around 2,000 multiplayer matches still occurring per day, many within a community-created tournament, with players mostly in France, Germany, and the United States. Players can also create and share maps or scenarios.

Other indies notable for significant sales, like Nuclear Throne and RimWorld for example, have cultivated positive buzz among communities by inviting them to play early in development. Although eschewing Early Access "to prevent diffusing the news and hype value of the actual launch," as Auld explains, Forts ran a closed beta which firmed up a community of around 650 people. Although Auld says that most players’ interest faded quickly, "It was useful to get feedback on bug fixing, balancing and design flaws."

Despite this, he describes his confidence before launch modestly, as merely "an inkling" of success. "Nothing prepares you for having tens of thousands of people playing with different configurations and internet. It was a tough launch. We’re still supporting the game, fixing problems and adding new features. We spent so many years on it, it feels like the right thing to do."

Auld originally started devising Forts in 2003, influenced by the physics-based play of Bridge Builder by Chronic Logic, and later Poly Bridge. "I sat down, brainstormed and made some sketches," he says. "The second idea was to pop weapons into boxes. It was an epiphany because you can easily model structures and have them collapse under fire." I ask Auld if he remembered Scorched Earth, but he cites explosive banana-throwing game Gorillas as an influence instead.

Although the team only started working again in earnest in 2013, there’s often great strength to ideas that evolve over time. Auld has spent a lot of time thinking about what RTS games need and, in addition to the visual drama Forts provides, he mentions that "the length of the matches helps to focus attention, too. We aimed for 15 to 20 minutes, so the balancing of the weapons and strength of the materials reflects that. A quick turnover gives people a chance to get revenge."

Personally, I find it difficult not to rush building the actual structure of my fort. I tend to experience sudden collapse, like in World of Goo when I’ve foolishly stretched a little too far. This is especially true in the campaign, where terrain may be asymmetrical and balanced against you. Variety forces experimentation, keeping things interesting when you believe you’ve mastered optimal approaches to weapon use and build order.

"It’s always fun to see things exploding or falling down, and people pulling their fort back from the brink of collapse," Auld says. Despite Forts having an international setting, I see this kind of destructive, ramshackle humor as uniquely Australian. Earthwork Games are based in Queensland, a state that leant its name to a type of house perched on stilts to allow for greater airflow in hot weather. You could totally take one out with a laser strike down low.

Cultural influences are surely a welcome addition in indie games, yet some of the Australian developers I meet express the worry that their games will be ignored by international press, as appears to have been the case with Forts. I’m not convinced that there is a prevailing stigma, but it is true that larger publications usually aren’t represented at Australian conventions, possibly due to travel costs being prohibitive.

Forts did invest in traveling to PAX West, East, and EGX, before finally being featured on PAX Australia's indie showcase this year. I certainly hope that, as more Australian games demonstrate success, both with sales and innovative ideas, developers can collectively benefit from more attention. It seems a shame to see games fail to connect with the players who would love them.

Ultimately, what does 120,000 sales mean for EarthWork Games? "We’ve already hired a part-time programmer to help with my load and we're allocating funds to support our next title," Auld says, "as well as considering a DLC for Forts. We don't have to worry about expenses and living now, either. We were running out of money and had to borrow from our family just to get by. The pressure is off financially, but it’s on regarding supporting the community." 

Attracting significant numbers of players also attracts criticism. In Forts’ case this often boils down to people wanting more weapons and features to interact with, which EarthWork have been providing incrementally. 

Given the vast quantity of independent games releasing right now, successfully marketing your game can be tough. Auld’s explanation for Forts’ sales makes a compelling case for thoughtfully matching marketing strategies to a game's features, not just to online content creators but more generally to people interested in talking about games. In Forts' case, it was watchable and generated positive buzz based on innovative RTS mechanics and community structures. 

"You don’t know how well the game’s going to sell at the outset, but you have to do everything you can to maximize your chances for success," Auld says. "We had some luck, we had a good idea, we had all the technical skills and we persevered. I feel happy about the whole process."

While no one really knows which games will sell, the care you’ve taken with your infrastructure might be the difference between a near miss and an incredible victory, both in Forts and as an indie game developer. Just like when you innately feel your opponent’s cannon must be nearing completion out there in the fog of war, you can certainly hope the time is right to try for a desperate, fort-smashing, lucky shot. 

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