First gameplay livestreams, developer Q&A and playable demo all going live from today

Bangkok, Thailand, 16th June, 2021. Erik Rempen, solo game designer of the exciting new roguelite village-builder Kainga: Seeds of Civilization will be hosting livestreams with unseen content and developer Q&A sessions at the Steam Next Festival starting today. That’s not all; you will also be able to download a brand new playable demo of the game directly from the Steam page and take your first steps into the beautiful, procedurally generated game environment as the village’s Thinker. 

Kainga: Seeds of Civilization is currently heading towards the end of a successful Kickstarter campaign where the initial target was funded in the first 16 days and the first stretch goal has already been passed. 

Two developer livestream and Q+A sessions are planned for Kainga: Seeds of Civilization during the Steam Next Festival where Erik will demo a brand new build of his game and introduce the key gameplay mechanics and unveil brand new locations. Head over to the Steam page at 7pm BST/8pm CEST/2pm EDT/11am PDT on 16th and 21st June to watch the livestream event and join in the chat.

Finally, an exciting playable demo will also be available to download from the Steam page on the 16th and will give you your first taste of life as a Thinker, the leader of the village. Your people will look to you to make the important decisions needed to grow your humble campfire into a flourishing village. 

Check out the Kickstarter video with an introduction of the game by Erik here

Kainga: Seeds of Civilization is a roguelite village-builder set in a world full of mystery and surprise. Taking on the role of the Thinker, the leader of the village, you will need to adapt to the procedurally generated environment and surroundings and make the right choices to allow your people and village to flourish. The Thinker is responsible for passing the players’ decisions and commands on to the people. Although the citizens are somewhat expendable, if the Thinker falls, you lose. Much like the king in chess, they’re weak and vulnerable and must be protected at all costs. 

Instead of following the long-winded city builder formula, Kainga: Seeds of Civilization is focused on short, 30 minute to 1 hour challenges. Each challenge is a fresh and diverse experience in a new location which still allows the player to make progression between runs.

Features of Kainga: Seeds of Civilization. 

• Create A Unique Culture. Using the unique thinker skill tree, select research from a diverse branching technology tree inspired by civilizations around the world, make your mark on the world, with your choice of buildings, festivals, resource production and more! 
• Adapt to Your Surroundings. Use the terrain and resources to your advantage, keep an eye on the resources you have available and carefully plan and adapt to an ever changing environment, as you battle against the elements, disasters, other villages and even the beasts that roam the lands. 
• Train Units and Tame Beasts. Keep your village safe by researching technologies to equip your villagers with weapons to repeal attacks, or even use the beasts to your advantage by taming them and turning them on your rivals. 
• Acquire New Knowledge for Future Runs. Every end carries the seed of a new beginning, unlock new technology, biomes and challenges to add further complexity to each run.. Earn Karma to purchase advanced structure types and rescue thinkers to play with their leadership style and unique quirks.
• Live Amongst or Upon Giant Beasts. The wildlife of these lands wander and interact with the environment, and often destroy those in their way. Can you learn to live with these animals? Or better yet, manage to tame them and build upon them. 
• Build Legendary Structures. From towering stone menhirs, to great halls and more. Construct and protect massive buildings using materials sourced from around the map.
• Customize Your Playstyle. Choose a look and starting layout personalized to how you play best before diving into the procedurally generated world and putting your skills to the test.

Kainga: Seeds of Civilization is live on Kickstarter now. Fans can also wishlist the game on Steam here. 

For more information please visit the official website here, follow Kainga: Seeds of Civilization’s journey on social media via Twitter and don’t forget to join the conversation on the official Discord channel.

WARSAW, POLAND – June 16, 2021 – Klabater is pleased to confirm that Heliborne – a military helicopters-based modern combat simulator – is now available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.

Heliborne is now available in the Microsoft store

The special edition of Heliborne for Microsoft consoles will include all previously published add-ons with special military camos. The game offers realistic visual quality and introduces significant improvements: various helicopter models night versions of maps, a modernized network engine. The object physics in the game has also been updated and the interface has been refreshed. All these improvements will be included in the Xbox edition.

“Heliborne was one of our most succesful brands on PC. With all the PC improvements now being a part of Xbox edition, I hope that console fans interested in helicopters-based combat will appreciate Heliborne. ” – says Michał Gembicki, Joint-CEO at Klabater.

PC EDITION FREE PLAY WEEKEND WITH ALIENWARE 

Fans of the PC edition of Heliborne also have something to celebrate! You can play the PC edition of Heliborne free of charge this weekend, with Klabater joining forces with Alienware. The game will be available from today until 21 June here.

ABOUT HELIBORNE

Take on your opponents in faithfully recreated historical missions or compete in multiplayer mode against players from around the world. In Heliborne you’ll be able to fight alongside your friends in an exciting co-op mode. The game introduces the players to the thrilling world of propeller military aviation and allows them to experience sky-high battles, providing the players with machines from different eras (from the 1950s to the present day) and a wide range of maps and missions. Heliborne also offers a dynamic battlefield where the air forces support ground troops responsible for fortifying positions and creating supply lines. Xbox One and Series X version of Heliborne:

• Take control of the most famous Soviet and American combat helicopters!
• Over 40 legendary helicopters from 1955-2003!
• Over 100 weapon variants available!
• Historical co-op missions!
• 6 open maps including Gulf of Tonkin (Vietnam), Operation Nguyen Hue (Vietnam), Badakhshan Province (Afghanistan)!
• 3 game modes: single-player, co-op, and competitive online up to 10 players!
• Open sandbox maps!

• Get a collection of all CD PROJEKT RED games with the highest discount ever
• Cyberpunk 2077 is 33% off during the Summer Sale

June 16th, 2021 – The Summer Sale on GOG.COM keeps burning brighter and brighter, along with over 3,400 gaming deals and awesome game collections, yet today we have two surprises that will surely make your heart beat faster.

First, take a look at the Ultimate RED Collection that returns to GOG.COM once again with an even better deal than ever. This pack enables you to buy all 6 games created by CD PROJEKT RED at once for $55.99 while saving 66% (over $113) when compared to buying the same titles at regular prices!

That’s not all! If you still haven’t booked a ticket to Night City, a huge megalopolis of the future, now is the perfect occasion. Until the end of the Summer Sale, Cyberpunk 2077 receives the highest discount on GOG.COM – 33% off. So, hurry up and dive into the fast-paced, open-world RPG starring Keanu Reeves himself and make a name for yourself as the most notorious urban mercenary of all time!

All 6 titles from CD PROJEKT RED are of course available on GOG.COM separately, also with Summer Sale discounts:

• Cyberpunk 2077 (-33%)
• Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (-70%)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Game of the Year Edition (-80%)
• The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition (-85%)
• The Witcher: Enhanced Edition (-85%)
• The Witcher Adventure Game (-85%)

Both the Ultimate RED Collection and the 33% off discount on Cyberpunk 2077 will be available on GOG.COM until the end of the Summer Sale on June 28th, 2021, at 1 PM UTC.

With Steam Next Fest starting today and running through June 22nd, PC gamers are invited to get a hands-on preview with several of Headup’s upcoming titles. This will be the first time most of these games have been playable to both the press and public!

Headup’s Steam Next lineup will include demos for the monochromatic dark fantasy puzzle platformer White Shadows; the alternate history FPS INDUSTRIA; the surreal explorative first-person mystery Lost at Sea; the Kaijū-based action game Gigapocalypse; and the first-person platformer Escape from Naraka.

For more information, here’s a breakdown of each title:

White Shadows

White Shadows is an impressionistic, monochromatic puzzle platformer set in a dark, strange, and violent world. Play as the young Ravengirl trying to escape the shadowy metropolis in search of the legendary Tin Town, where the last free people live.

INDUSTRIA

Set in an alternate history East Berlin shortly before the end of the Cold War, INDUSTRIA is a surreal first-person shooter. On the evening of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a young woman plunges headlong into a parallel dimension to find her missing colleague who has disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Escape from Naraka

Featuring actual Balinese artifacts recreated with 3D scan technology, Escape from Naraka is a first-person survival platformer inspired by Balinese mythology, and a parkour-based platformer unlike any other. Just by playing you’ll automatically participate for a competition with valuable Chroma peripheral prizes from Razer being offered to the top player!

Lost At Sea

Lost At Sea is a surreal first-person adventure about reclaiming your memories on the open water. Explore an island, where every biome represents a phase of your life. Face your primeval fears and take stock of your life through imaginative puzzles and fantastical scenery.

Gigapocalypse

Become a customizable giant monster in Gigapocalypse. Inspired by classical Kaijū affairs like Godzilla, King Kong, and Rampage, Gigapocalypse lets you control a giant Kaijū-inspired monster and destroy EVERYTHING in your way, all while listening to fist-pumping heavy metal music!

Enjoy these demos – and don’t forget to wishlist them if you’re interested in seeing more! Also, feel free to share your experience with us on Twitter and discuss the games on our Discord channel!

Paris, june 16th 2021 – Microids is pleased to announce The Sisters – Party of the Year is now available. Wendy & Marine would do anything to have the greatest party of the year! Discover the game’s launch trailer!

In single player adventure mode, play as Wendy or Marine and discover an open world with numerous challenges to take on. You can also play up to 4 players in local multiplayer mode and choose from a selection of 16 characters from the comics. The Sisters – Party of the Year is ideal to play with friends and family!

About The Sisters – Party of the Year :
Wendy, the grumpy teenager, wants to throw a memorable end-of-the-year house party but before she can ask her parents for their approval, her impich little sister steals her idea and runs with it. Problem: the parents will only allow one party to happen! To decide who’s going to organize the fiesta, the sisters will throw themselves into a series of crazy challenges!

Games modes:

• Adventure mode (single player)
  • Experience a magnificent adventure in a colorful open world that will see you conquer with Marine or Wendy the 24 challenges, 35 quests and find all the collectibles.

• Multiplayer modes (1 to 4 players)
  • Challenges: play the mini-games you want with your friends!
  • Tournament: try to win the tournament by being the best at each round!
  • All or Nothing: play all the mini-games in a raw!
  • Around the world: take turns choosing your favorite mini-game!

The Sisters: Party of the year is now available on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Available soon on Xbox One. The game will be backward compatible on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Game information:

• Title: The Sisters: Party of the year
• Genre: Adventure/Party-Game
• Platforms: PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Available soon on Xbox One. Backward compatible on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S
• Release date: June 16^th 2021
• Developer: Balio Studio
• Publisher: Microids
• Language (audio): English and French
• Language (text): English, French, Italian, German and Spanish

Find Microids on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin 

Or at: http://www.microids.com/

Watch all our videos on Youtube

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AK-xolotl: Wars, the 4 player multiplayer spin-off of AK-xolotl will have a demo available during Steam Next Fest. Play with your friends and hunt down your meal together!

The Netherlands – [June 16th 2021] –  2Awesome Studio (2AS) announces their presence at Steam Next Fest event with the AK-xolotl: Wars, the 4 player top-down arcade battle arena shooter set in the AK-xolotl universe.

The event will take place from June 16th to June 22nd and will be feature hundreds of demos for upcoming games. Gather some friends and enjoy the free AK-xolotl: Wars demo, available to play through Steam’s Remote Play Together.

What happens when you combine a hungry axolotl with an AK? You get a ‘lotl of killing!

AK-xolotl: Wars is a 4 player top-down arcade battle arena shooter set in the AK-xolotl universe. You’re an axolotl with an AK (duh!) that goes on a rampage, shooting down their next meal! Play with your friends and hunt down your meal together!

Team up with up to 3 friends and work together in order to dominate the leaderboards!

Fun fact: Did you know Axolotls can regenerate their limbs?

About 2Awesome Studio

2Awesome Studio is an independent game development studio and indie publisher whose mission is to add awesomeness to reality by developing video games with new and addictive mechanics and finding games that are equally awesome to publish

Help the world show its true colors in this creature-collecting adventure platformer, playable demo free on June 16 as part of Steam Next Fest

LOS ANGELES — June 16, 2021 — Skybound Games has announced it will publish independent developer ManaVoid Entertainment’s upcoming title, Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan. This 2.5D adventure platformer, featuring RPG, creature collecting, and puzzle elements, will launch this fall on PlayStation®4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. But you don’t have to wait that long to try it — the game will have a free English PC demo beginning today, June 16, as part of Steam Next Fest.

Rainbow Billy was highlighted by GameSpot and The MIX as part of their E3 programming yesterday, debuting a new trailer.

The game was also featured this past weekend at Wholesome Direct, a feel-good showcase of ”cute and cozy” indie games.

Rainbow Billy is all about exploration, whether through the world, your own self identity, or the dozens of good-hearted creatures you’ll meet along the way. When the evil Leviathan curses the World of Imagination with monochrome misery, its residents are left joyless, anxiety-ridden husks of their former selves. Armed with kindness, a talking fishing rod, and countless friends, the shy, cheerful Billy must travel the land and inspire others to find the courage to be themselves and show their true colors once more. Use compassion and conversation to befriend a variety of creatures in non-violent, turn-based encounters, then invite them to your team, adding to your collection of helpful creatures.

Features:

• Explore a World of Imagination: From dark caverns on remote islands to hidden coves on the stormy seas, discover a rich, wholesome world filled with treasure, friendship… and danger!

• Befriend & Collect Cute Creatures: Meet over 60 strange, lovable creatures and help them with their problems in non-violent encounters! Create your own unique team to save the day!
• Solve Intricate Color Puzzles: Each world is filled with clever challenges and secrets that unlock new areas to explore!
• Vibrant 2.5D Visual Style: Rainbow Billy’s art style blends the personality of 2D modern cartoon characters into an imaginative world filled with 3D art,  with an energetic original soundtrack to match!
• Fantastic Adventure with Relatable Themes: Restore color to a monochrome world and help your friends find the courage to be their true selves in a story about empathy and growth.
• Fish for Resources: Because every great game has a fishing mini-game!

Quote from Ian Howe, co-CEO of Skybound Games: “Rainbow Billy is a universal coming-of-age story about dealing with changes in the world, as well as accepting and caring for ourselves and the people around us. It highlights very relatable questions of identity, self-discovery, and mental health with a lot of good-hearted fun and adventure, and we’re excited for fans to experience it for themselves soon.”

Quote from Chris Chancey, CEO & President of Manavoid Entertainment: “Games often only showcase violent solutions for solving problems. Amid all that doom and gloom, we wanted to create something that shines through with a wholesome, positive attitude that demonstrates the beauty of being unique. Rainbow Billy is colorful, approachable,and puts a spotlight on important themes close to our hearts like representation, diversity and inclusion within our communities.”

Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan is available to wishlist now on Steam. For more information, visit www.RainbowBilly.com.

About Skybound Games

Skybound Games is a division of Skybound Entertainment with the capabilities to produce, develop, and license video games. The team works closely with creators to expand their unique and exceptional IP to new platforms. The Skybound Games slate houses everything from indie projects to high-budget franchise titles, with recent games including Telltale’s The Walking Dead, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Before Your Eyes and The Big Con. The studio can be found on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and www.skybound.com.

About ManaVoid Entertainment

Founded in 2014, ManaVoid Entertainment prides itself on producing video games that mix and match known genres, themes and mechanics to create new and innovative experiences with a twinge of nostalgia. Our latest game, Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan, was funded on Kickstarter early in development. Since then, we’ve won the Ubisoft Indie Series Grand Prize in 2019, received additional funding from the Canada Media Fund, and were selected in the Indie MegaBooth and nominated for Best of PAX East in 2020.

With over 20 people on the team, ManaVoid is composed of AAA veterans with past experience at Ubisoft, WB Games, Eidos-Square Enix and more, as well as talented developers hired straight out of Quebec’s many game development universities. We’re an equal opportunity employer and happy to have a diverse team working on a project driven by themes of inclusion! www.manavoid.com

Free content update, The Pen, introduces more ways to manage and monitor prisoner intake

STOCKHOLM — June 16, 2021 — Paradox Interactive and Double Eleven today released Prison Architect: Second Chances, the fifth expansion for their prison management simulator Prison Architect. Second Chances introduces programs to rehabilitate and reform prisoners, improving mental health and disposition, and lowering their reoffending rate. Prison Architect: Second Chances is available now on Paradox Plaza, Steam, GOG, Origin, PlayStation 4, Xbox One for $5.99 USD/ €5.99EUR/ £4.79 GBP. Until June 22, players can pick up the expansion for 10% off on all platforms. Second Chances will launch on Nintendo Switch on June 29.

Launching alongside Second Chances is The Pen, a free content update available to all Prison Architect players. This update introduces Custom Intake, allowing players more flexibility with scheduling and restricting prisoner intake. Players can also initiate Narcotics Search, which has K-9 units and their handlers search for drugs using existing Shakedown or Tunnel Search options. Other additions include the Reception Quick Room, Staff Keys Policy, construct outdoor rooms, allow prisoners to use recreational facilities during free time, and additional Objects.

Prison Architect: Second Chances Key Features:

• Return to Reform: Non-work programs, such as Animal Therapy, Meet & Greet, and Former Prisoner Classes can remove an inmate’s negative traits and see improved behaviors.
• Good Behavior: Inmates can have their sentences reduced or increased based on their actions and reoffenders can now be sent back to prison. Players will be fined for each reoffender.
• Room for Improvement: Inmates with existing or earned work credentials can become vendors to both prisoners and visitors in inmate-run rooms, including a Bakery, Restaurant and Therapy Room. 
• Back to Society: Inmates can earn work credentials through experience partaking in different work and training programs.

Until June 24, Steam users can get up to 75% off the Total Lockdown bundle, including the base game, Psych Ward: Warden’s Edition, Island Bound, Going Green and Second Chances.

For more information on Second Chances and Prison Architect, and Paradox Interactive, visit www.prisonarchitect.com.

Paradox Interactive is a leading global publisher of strategy games for PC and console. The company has developed and published a world-renowned catalog stretching back to 1999, with players hailing from all around the world.

The publisher’s steadily-growing portfolio includes firmly established franchises such as the critically acclaimed Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, and Stellaris series created by Paradox Development Studio, the Age of Wonders series created by Triumph Studios, as well as award-winning titles such as Cities: Skylines, Pillars of Eternity, and more from a network of partner studios. Paradox is the owner of the World of Darkness IPs and is publishing Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. Today, over four million people play a Paradox game each month, and the number of registered Paradox users is over twelve million.

Paradox’s head offices are located in Stockholm, Sweden. Our development studios are located in Stockholm, Malmö and Umeå, Sweden, in Delft, The Netherlands, in Seattle, Washington, and in Berkeley, California. We share a passion for gaming and gamers, and our goal is to provide deep and challenging games with hours of gameplay and endless variety to our ever-growing community.

For more information, please visit our forums and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Comet sighted!

AUK Studios is delighted to announce the the brand-new ‘modern magazine for nostalgia lovers: Popular Retro’. Please see the attached document to read the full press release and images for your reference.

Get the magazine via newsstand: https://www.newsstand.co.uk/popularretro

Whether you’re a 70s kid, an 80s C64 gamer or perhaps you’re from the modern era of tech, Popular Retro is for everyone. This print magazine is an observation into the past, looking at fashion, gaming, books, film, television and much more! Popular Retro is the 21st Century magazine that looks at life before the world of fast-living technology. And it’s an all-new look for Popular Retro which is finally meeting print, Popular Retro started life as a digital download publication only. One which predominately covered the recently re-released classic gaming computer THEC64 (one which you’re also in with a chance to win). As well as featuring food, toys, and games, but the readers seemed to keep wanting more, so in this magazine, you’ll be sure to find a heck of a lot more variety and content; film, television, art, and gaming, of course!

A note from the editor, Darren Randle,
“When I took over the Editorial role of PR, my mission was simple – to create the retro magazine that I would want to read!  My team and I will take you back down memory lane, to a time where arcades were packed, cinemas were filled with smoke, kids kicked balls, TV was four channels and smart phones were not even a concept.  It’s a celebration of the things we grew up loving and now sadly miss.  Whether you are young or old, you’ll find an eclectic mix of fun from the past in each glossy issue.

For the first-time, Popular Retro meets print, and with an all-new look! A journey to our love of the 80s and 70s as we look at the early days of home computing, starting of course with the ZX81. A machine which has now turned 40! The Philips CD-i gets a massive retrospective insight, looking at machines, games and unfortunately, where it all went wrong. Don’t think horror lovers are left out, sink your teeth into the classic low budget movie, Evil Spawn and read about the brilliant vampire comics from your childhood. The popular “Great Moments in Computing” cartoon (formally published in the now sadly missed ‘Computer Shopper’ magazine by Dennis Publishing) finds a new home within Popular Retro, and we talk to Pystronik software in an exclusive interview. Rounding-off with a chance to with a THEC64 computer from Retro Games Ltd, and a ‘go old-school’ pull-out poster.”

In Popular Retro’s Issue 1, Volume 2, you’ll be sure to find, ‘The Real Ghostbusters’, a feature surrounding the ZX81, “A computer for the masses” and of course, a review of the classic ZX Spectrum game, Valley of Rains. Popular Retro is for the lovers of anything classic, looking back to a time once missed, allowing you to re-live your childhood, or for some younger people, provide an insight into life away from mobile phones. A simpler time where you could enjoy Ghostbusters on your television, Brothers in Arms blasting through your radio and the world of wacky B-movies like the 1987 Evil Spawn horror movie. You can be sure to find some special edition content too, time to see if you’ve won the VIC20 and you could be in for the chance to win a C64!

Brainwash Gang’s fantasy fiction makes its playable debut as part of Steam Next Fest

16 June, 2021 – Indie publisher Digerati is delighted to announce that a demo for upcoming narrative experience Grotto is participating in Steam Next Fest and a demo is available to download now from the game’s store page: 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1538850/Grotto/

Launching Q3/Q4 2021 on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and iOS, Grotto is a fantasy narrative game that casts players in the role of the Soothsayer – a mysterious hermit who resides in the titular cave and is called upon to read the stars and provide counsel to a primitive tribe.

The Grotto demo gives players an opportunity to experience the confined world and mystical existence of the Soothsayer. Connect stars to draw constellations and use them to influence the lives and fates of those who seek your guidance, such as the hunter, the liar, the merchant, the teacher, and more. 

Created by the Madrid-based Brainwash Gang, Grotto is the latest outlandish project to emerge from the studio, which is also behind the recently released Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition, and The Longest Road on Earth. 

About The Game
Grotto is a mystical, narrative-focused experience. You are the Soothsayer. The one capable of talking with the stars and unveiling their messages. In a time of turmoil, the tribe of the valley turn to your powers of divination and come to you for guidance.

Their fate will change depending on your auguries. Overthink every constellation, or let the stars freely enter your mind. You are the Soothsayer and yours is the way to read the future.

Key Features

• Look to the sky from the sacred rock, draw the constellations, and read the stars
• Learn to read the bones and foretell the future or contact those who are gone
• Get to know your people and help them face their problems
• Choose wisely your answers as you’ll change the present and future of your tribe. They will thrive or die depending on your words
• A visual style that mixes 2D and 3D art brings the confined world of Grotto to life

About Digerati
As a publisher, Digerati is dedicated to helping independent developers bring their creations to market and into the hands of gamers. We take care of funding, distribution, marketing and production, leaving developers to focus on what they love – making incredible games and unique experiences.

About Brainwash Gang
Underground game makers trying to tickle your brain. Made NONGUNZ, currently working on Damnview: Built From Nothing and more. https://twitter.com/Brainwash_Gang