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 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…)

Every Monday we send Brendan into the early access fighting pits to face all types of terrifying wildlife. This week, the rabbit kickboxers and ultra strong wolves of Overgrowth [official site].>

Overgrowth is a game that has been eight years in the making and still isn t anywhere near finished. An anthropomorphic fighting game of swift kicks and raw punches to the side of the head, it is beautifully animated, pleasingly ragdoll, and Bruce Lee fast. There also isn t very much to do. There s a lot of pleasure to be got from executing the perfect series of kicks and punches against its tough, intelligent opponents, especially when they re armed with heavy one-hit-kill swords. But unless you reeeeeally> like that, the joy of it soon dries up. … [visit site to read more]

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]