Not every> RPG has to be a roguelite now, y’know. Sometimes it’s nice to kill and kill and kill without having to overly worry about getting killed. The hyper-violent Bloodsports.TV is the toon-styled sequel to post-apocalyptic Diablolike Krater, whose setting made it catnip to Jim back in 2012, but he came away feeling let down. The unpleasantly-named (at least, if like me, you grew up in an area mostly populated by wealthy farmers who positively revelled in vulpine slaughter) Bloodsports.TV is an amped-up sequel/spin-off which appears to borrow liberally from Borderlands’ aesthetic. The manic tone too, it seems. Will this a more characterful ARPG make? … [visit site to read more]

Bundle bundle bundlenews! Indie Royale have launched their latest, hoping to soak up the cash for another collection of out-turned pocketed developers. This time it’s the Evolved Bundle, because, um, they’ve called it that. And it’s a good-un. In there you’ve got the utterly splendid puzzler Unmechanical from Talawa Games (check out our review), Tale Of Tales’ super-creepy The Path, Fatshark’s latest, Krater, Turtle Cream’s Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory, and physics puzzler OIO from Uncanny Games. Which I’d say is the best pack they’ve had in a while.

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Krater, the mildly disappointing post-apocalyptic dungeon-crawler, is getting a great big free update, including the much-needed addition of co-op play. Fatshark had this to say: “The update is not only adding coop to the game – we have also used this time to polish and add new content such as new characters, items and bosses. Its safe to say that the experience you get from playing the game in coop today compared to the single player game released June 12 is both different and better.”

You can read my comments on the original, pre-polish release version of the game here.

Krater, Fatshark’s colourful take on dungeon crawling, is a feature-laden, post-apocalyptic taste of party-driven RPGing tactics. It’s got a sense of humour and a sense of taste, but does it make any sense? Here’s wot I think>. (more…)

Update: The achievement system has officially been patched in, and it sounds as though many glitches are largely confined to specific hardware configurations. We’ll have our thoughts on the game itself up soon, but in the meantime, the coast appears to be largely clear.

Original article: So Krater sounds> really great to me. It’s the silver-tongued sales shark of action-RPGs. “Tired of graybrown, grimdark post-apocalypses?” it asks. “Well, ours has color!” Then it adds “Planning to take another 11 years off from ARPGs after that one> with the guy and stuff? Well, we have three guys and stuff. And also permadeath in a mode you don’t have to unlock.” “Sold!” I’d immediately reply, if I didn’t briefly gaze into Krater’s wavering eyes and detect a hint of fear. “What about bugginess and missing features?” I inquire, head cocked to one side. Beads of sweat pooling on its forehead, it stammers out an “Er, um, well, about that… hey, a trailer!”

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