Launched at Steam Tower Defense Fest, the demo is now available to download via Steam
[Porto Alegre, Brazil, July 29th 2024]: Calling all Wardens for deployment! Today Brazilian-American studio Big Moxi Games releases a new playable demo for genre-blending game Wardens Rising via Steam. Combining Action RPG hero shooter elements with tower defense and MOBA-style base defense gameplay, Wardens Rising will release on PC and consoles in early 2025. .
As a Warden, players are humanity’s last line of defense against a relentless inter-dimensional threat. Before each invasion, they’ll strategically build and manage defenses, placing towers, traps, portals and more to outsmart the enemy hordes, seamlessly blending fast-paced hero shooter action with base defense strategy.
View the gameplay reveal trailer below:
Launched today at Steam Tower Defense Fest, the demo allows players to experience the game’s unique blend of PvE action RPG shooting and MOBA-style base defense strategy in the single-player Campaign mode on PC.
Wardens Rising Demo features:
Choose from three Wardens, each with their own unique abilities
The tutorial and six maps across the first biome
Build and fight your way to victory against massive invasions
Face the first mighty boss in one-on-one combat
Experience a taste of character progression and hero loadout customization options
Lay waste to enemy hordes invading on multiple paths leading to your core
“We’re excited to give players a taste of the exhilarating gameplay that awaits them in Wardens Rising,” said Damon Alberts, Head of Studio at Big Moxi Games. “The demo offers a glimpse into the game’s deep character customization, intense combat, and strategic base defense.”
Wardens Rising will release on PC and console in early 2025, the playable demo is available to download via Steam now.
Founded by Damon Alberts and Eduardo Gottschald in 2019, Big Moxi is a Brazilian-American game development studio focused on creating unforgettable experiences for the global action game market while growing and empowering game development talent in the LATAM region. Located in Porto Alegre, Brazil with offices also in Chile and New York, Big Moxi partners global publishers and IP holders to provide world-class AAA game co-development services in addition to focusing on their own games. Their debut title Wardens Rising is a unique blend of action RPG, base defense and hero shooter for 1 to 4 players and will be released in 2025..
Grab your catnip and get ready to fight against the forces of evil in ESDgitial Games’ cat-tastic new tower defense strategy game
Limassol, Cyprus – 29th July 2024. Fall in line feline fighters and prepare for battle! Publisher ESDigital Games is excited to announce the PC launch of Cats on Duty, the purr-fectly hilarious and action-packed blend of real-time strategy, tower defense, and match-3 mechanics from developer Prikol Team. Cats on Duty will launch today for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store with a paw-some 20% launch discount for a limited time. PlayStation and Xbox consoles and Nintendo Switch will release later in 2024.
As well as the standard release, furry fans can also get their paws on the Cats on Duty – Deluxe Upgrade Pack (includes New Game +, Challenges Mode and digital soundtrack – base game required) and Cats on Duty – Deluxe Edition (includes Cats on Duty base game and Deluxe Upgrade Pack). All these paw-some editions are available to purchase on Steam now!
In other great news, Cats on Duty will be participating in the Steam Tower Defense Event from 29 July – 5 August, during which the dev team will showcase a brand new Steam Broadcast with new gameplay from the launch version for fans to check out!
Hordes of fiendish creatures threaten your peaceful homeland and you, and your army of battle-hardened cat soldiers are the only line of defense against these forces of great evil. It’s time to pack away your yarn, clean out your litter tray and drive those zombies to the depths of the underworld!
Feast your eyes on the brand new release trailer for Cats on Duty below
Features of Cats on Duty
Tactical Tower Defense: Defend your territory with a brutal arsenal of weaponry. From powerful rifles that reach the enemy at a distance to death-defying assassins with blades sharper than any groomer’s scissors, strategically place your feline soldiers to ensure victory on the battlefield.
Unleash the Cattitude: Prepare for epic cat fights, playful antics, and adorable meows as your feline warriors show off their unique personalities and unleash their special abilities. Brace yourself for a blend of sass and strategy that will keep you entertained throughout the battles.
Match-3 Mayhem: It’s not just tower defense: it’s tower defense with a twist of addictive match-3 gameplay! Connect gems on the resource field to receive currency and purchase cat towers. Swap and combine cats on the battlefield to create upgraded towers and unleash devastating attacks. Inspired by Plants vs Zombies and Tower Swap, Cats on Duty takes the best of the genre and enhances it with captivating match-3 mechanics.
Customize and Improve your Squad: Unlock and collect a variety of quirky cat characters, each with their own strengths and abilities. From snipers and assassins to shotgun-toting Rambo-like felines and even a battle version of Puss in Boots, tailor your team to your playstyle and create the ultimate squad of kitty heroes. Gather three kittens in a row and witness the birth of a SUPER BATTLE CAT!
Epic Enemies: Face off against formidable foes that will make your whiskers tremble. Zombies, skeletons, spiders, Baba Yaga, and EPIC bosses await your tactical prowess. Sharpen your claws, load your shotguns, and show them who’s the real top cat on the battlefield!
Unique Environments: Explore diverse and meticulously crafted levels, from deceptively cozy suburban backyards to mysterious desert. Each environment presents unique challenges that require cunning strategy to emerge victorious.
Charming Pixel-Cat Graphics: Immerse yourself in a vibrant and whimsical world filled with colorful environments and adorable cat animations. It’s a visual feast that will make you feel like you’re right in the midst of a kitty adventure!
Cats on Duty launches today for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store with a 20% launch discount for a limited time. PlayStation and Xbox consoles and Nintendo Switch will follow later in 2024.
About ESDigital Games
ESDigital Games is a global video games publishing company specializing in premium indie and mid-core games for both PC as well as consoles. ESDigital Games portfolio includes the 80s-themed point-and-click adventure Unusual Findings and the Early Access releases of roguelike action RPG Scholar of the Arcane Arts, the twin-stick shooter REMEDIUM, RTS tower defense and match-3 mechanics title Cats on Duty and the complex alchemy RPG Battlejuice Alchemist. Other exciting titles in development include the side-scrolling Metroidvania inspired Awaken – Astral Blade, the story-driven sci-fi adventure Sky of Tides, the sci-fi stealth action game Steel Seed and the awe-inspiring action-adventure title Island of Winds as well as new unannounced titles in development.
Celebrate the seven seas and the different biomes in the pixel art festival by Brave At Night
Tønsberg, Norway, July 29th, 2024 – Solo developer Jardar Solli is proud to announce today that his pirate adventure game Seablip is participating in Brave At Night’s PixElated Adventures Festival on Steam. Currently in early access, Seablip is featured as part of the showcase event celebrating all things pixel art from July 29th to August 5th; with a 20% discount throughout!
Collating all the best pixel art games all in one place, Brave By Night’s PixElated Adventures Festival will run through the week, exhibiting the collection on Steam. As part of the selected games, Seablip and Jardar Solli will also participate in live streams throughout the festival, and will be part of the Reddit AMA where you can ask the festival’s participants questions about their game’s development, on 29th July, at 8pm GMT. Aspiring pixel artists can also join in with the PixElated Art Contest and have a chance to exhibit their inspired artwork on the event page, with the submission deadline on the 31st July.
To celebrate the inclusion of Seablip as part of the PixElated Adventures Festival, new Steam trading cards will be added to the early access version of the game. A set of six trading cards, each featuring unique pixelated artwork will be available for players to collect as they play Seablip, alongside five new emoticons and three Seablip profile backgrounds to add to your Steam profile.
Roam the high seas in a vibrant open world containing a series of islands to discover and enemies to defeat. Drawing inspiration from titles such as Faster Than Light and Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Seablip offers the freedom to explore, build and even fish! Upgrade your ship with extra cannons and inventory space, hire a new crew to aid you in your adventures and gather resources from a range of sources – chopping trees, mining minerals and watering crops as you make use of the tools at your disposal.
Engage in a plethora of minigames and activities as you progress, building bases and making use of your trusty fishing rod. Find gold from treasure or earn it by selling your wares, or even take bounties found around the world and enhance your pirate reputation as you get paid.
Following successful funding of the game through Kickstarter and a well received demo released during the Steam Next Fest, solo developer Jardar Solli released Seablip into early access earlier this year, while he perfects the many mechanics present in the title and adds new features to what is already a highly ambitious RPG. Play Seablipon Steam today and conquer the seven seas!
About Jardar Solli
Following 5 years (more than 10,000 hours) of development on Seablip, including a successful Kickstarter campaign that launched in 2020, self taught coder and solo developer Jardar Solli is edging closer to living his dream in releasing his first title. Seablip will launch on Early Access in 2024, aiming for a full launch in 2025.
Since Capsule Computers has previously covered Mini Motorways, I thought you’d be interested to know that Dinosaur Polo Club, the award-winning studio behind best-selling traffic management sims Mini Motorways and Mini Metro with nearly 12 million combined players, today spotlights the development and previous work on a now-canceled project code-named Magic School.
The team sees this as an opportunity to transparently discuss learnings from the recently canceled Magic School project.
Though Magic School will never be released, Dinosaur Polo Club wants to champion the hard work team members poured into it, celebrate their contributions, and encourage them to share their work with the broader gaming world and provide some insight into the game development process.
The studio is grateful to be in a position to retain the varied talent of the Magic School team and plan to redirect their skills to the new projects within their celebrated Mini series.
The goal of the Magic School project was to explore something new outside of the minimalist simulation games the studio is typically known for.
Designer Zala Habib comments on her experience working on the project. “The Magic School team was an absolutely incredible group of people. Everybody was so inspiring and driven throughout the project’s life, and it was a joy to collaborate with such talented folks.” However, over the course of development, it became clear that the expanding vision for the game was leading the team towards a much bigger project, one that would require a far larger team size than the studio could sustainably support.
Although the team were excited by the breadth of visual exploration and specific game systems, the prototypes felt overly complex, which is very much at odds with the intuitive, quick-to-learn gameplay that our community has come to expect from a Dinosaur Polo Club title.
“Ultimately, we simply did not see a path forward for Magic School. However, we still wanted to share the amazing work the team had produced over the course of prototyping,” said Amie Wolken, newly appointed CEO of Dinosaur Polo Club. “So much great game development never sees the light of day because studios are often shy about sharing when things don’t go as planned. Instead, we are choosing to celebrate what we learned along the way and the incredible work from our team.”
Dinosaur Polo Club is an independent game development studio based in beautiful Wellington, New Zealand. Founded in 2013 by brothers Peter and Robert Curry, the studio first made waves with their award-winning and BAFTA-nominated debut Mini Metro. Created in collaboration with Disasterpeace and Jamie Churchman, Mini Metro explores relaxed and minimalist subway design. The second game developed by Dinosaur Polo Club introduces a brand new type of city management with colorful road-building and resource management found in Mini Motorways. Combined, Mini Metro and Mini Motorways make up two parts of an expanding Mini Collection. With an inclusive and supportive culture that believes in giving back to its creative community, the studio has grown and is now home to nearly 30 dinos as it works on new titles with relatable simplicity.
Use positioning to your advantage and plan your assault to defeat your enemies in the first demo, available on Steam today!
NICOSIA, Cyprus – July 29, 2024 – CRITICAL REFLEX and Luxorix Games are thrilled to debut Deadlock Station with an action-packed trailer showcasing the all-new roguelike autobattler tactical RPG. Command your squad, build your base, explore the world and fight aliens in this fully-featured demo experience available on Steam today!
Turn the battlefield to your advantage in this pixelated tactical roguelike with indirect controls. Assemble a unique squad of heroes to destroy the alien invaders with precise strategic planning. Use resources to upgrade your base between each tactical expedition as you seek to uncover the truth about the Event and the mysterious disappearance of humans.
Key Features:
Strategic Auto Battles: Carefully plan out the attack by positioning your units and queuing unique abilities before each fight.
Use the Environment to Your Advantage: Lead your heroes into a damage-boosting anomaly, lure enemies into traps, and erect barricades to halt your opposition’s advance!
Build Your Base: Between expeditions, develop your base to unlock new items, characters, and factions to interact with, from the ruthless Order to the all-knowing Past and Future Society.
Upgrade Your Squad: Combine weapons, armor, items and mutations to create truly unique fighters, and use resources collected in battle to unlock all-new abilities!
Mysterious Artifacts: Utilize strange alien artifacts in the heat of combat to gain an advantage and help you win even the most difficult battles.
Download the demo and wishlist Deadlock Station on Steam today. Follow Luxorix on Twitter/X for the latest news and updates from the game.
About Luxorix Games
Luxorix Games is an indie game team who came together by happenstance, and so they continue to work together. They’re currently working on Deadlock Station, a game made in GameMakerStudio2. Learn more at luxorixgames.com or by following Luxorix on Twitter/X. Gamedev unites!
About CRITICAL REFLEX
CRITICAL REFLEX is an indie game publishing label on a mission: find kick-ass games, make sure they’re at their best upon release, and put them in front of as many gaming fans as possible. Members of our team have worked with a lot of successful indie projects, launched a dozen crowdfunding companies, and now we’ve come together to publish games that we love! www.criticalreflex.com
Check out the new update for ‘Scholar of the Arcane Arts’ and grab a discount for ‘Unusual Findings’
Limassol, Cyprus – 29th July 2024. Indie publisher ESDigital Games is thrilled to announce its participation in the Pixelated Event from 29 July to 5 August with the roguelike action RPG Scholar of the Arcane Arts and the 80s inspired 2-D pixel art point-and-click adventure Unusual Findings.
As a bonus for fans looking to pick up a copy of Scholar of the Arcane Arts during the event will be pleased to know that the new Sunobius Edition update will be going live during the event! If that’s not enough excitement, then there will be a limited-time event discount for both games when the Pixelated Event starts!
Unusual Findings
Unusual Findings transports you back to the 80s and pays tribute to classic movies such as The Goonies, The Explorers, Monster Squad, The Lost Boys, They Live, Terminator, and Aliens and adds gameplay that combines mechanics of Point and Click masterpieces like Full Throttle with its own unique twist.
Fans will soon be able to dig deeper into this quintessential adventure when the free Vinny’s Diary update launches very soon! In this update Vinny, one of the three main characters from Unusual Findings, will share hints on how to complete and solve puzzles via his thoughts in his diary and provide a little extra lore from the game. Players can also use the ‘give more hints’ button until the help and advice are replaced by direct instructions for those needing extra help. Also included in the update are various fixes and QOL improvements, as well as improved PC mouse controls and traditional Chinese localisation. That’s not all, as console fans can now enjoy a PS5 and Xbox Series update which not only adds the Vinny’s Diary update but also improves performance on these current-gen systems. Nintendo Switch players will also have access to all the Vinny’s Diary update content!
There will also be a huge 50% discount for Unusual Findings on Steam during the event!
Check out the recently release Vinny’s Diary update announcement trailer below
Scholar of the Arcane Arts
As a passion project for solo developer Courtesy of Endo, Scholar of the Arcane Arts launched into Steam Early Access in December 2022. Since then Courtesy of Endo has been busy working on new gameplay content and updates as part of the EA development journey. Today the team is thrilled to release a new update packed with new content, fixes and of course, magic
Scholar of the Arcane Arts is a Roguelike Action RPG where every spell you cast interacts with one another. Learn new spells, solve puzzles, unlock secret dungeons, and defeat monstrous beings to save the world invaded by five Planes of magic!
The new Sunobius Edition update adds some truly magical gameplay content including a wealth of new spells to master, tons of enemies to defeat and a brand new Demigod to take down. But don’t worry, you can now add the ability to wield lightning to your arsenal of spells!
With nine new spells, new equipable items and the ability to combine all spells with Aeromany for new shocking effects, Scholar of the Arcane Arts allows budding wizards to test their spell casting while exploring 2D procedurally generated magical worlds to defeat dark monsters lurking within!
Scholar of the Arcane Arts will have a magical 25% discount during the event!
Watch the new Sunobious Edition update trailer below
Scholar of the Arcane Arts is now available for PC via Steam Early Access. Unusual Findings is now available for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation and Xbox consoles and Nintendo Switch.
About ESDigital Games
ESDigital Games is a global video games publishing company specializing in premium indie and mid-core games for both PC as well as consoles. ESDigital Games portfolio includes the 80s-themed point-and-click adventure Unusual Findings and the Early Access releases of roguelike action RPG Scholar of the Arcane Arts, the twin-stick shooter REMEDIUM, RTS tower defense and match-3 mechanics title Cats on Duty and the complex alchemy RPG Battlejuice Alchemist. Other exciting titles in development include the side-scrolling Metroidvania inspired Awaken – Astral Blade, the story-driven sci-fi adventure Sky of Tides, the sci-fi stealth action game Steel Seed and the awe-inspiring action-adventure title Island of Winds as well as new unannounced titles in development.
Highrise City, the ambitious PC Steam ‘blockbuster’ city builder from FourExo Entertainment and Deck13 Spotlight, has built up and captivated a dedicated community constantly playing the unique mix between classic city builders and complex economy simulation. This unique format blows away recent competition for those who have experienced Highrise City’s complexity.
Deck13 Spotlight is pleased to announce their ongoing support with the announcement of the second PC DLC, Vacation Season, releasing on 5th August on Steam and Good Old Games, price point $9.99.
A Vacation DLC which deserves its name!
The new Vacation Season DLC offers tons of new content, starting with a whole new economy branch to satisfy a new group of citizens: Demanding tourists who will visit your city to spend their hard earned money on products exclusively designed for them.
Build tourist spots and attractions, open up hotels and set up complex tourist lines with public transport to entertain your visitors. With seven new resources and 17 new buildings and all new mechanics this expansion indeed deserves the name DLC.
But that’s not all! With the release of the DLC, the Highrise City base game will receive a major free content update, introducing new resources and buildings as well. Players will be able to build massive exhibition halls to satisfy the needs of companies and they will also be able to create mowing tools as certain developments, such as parks, will need this new service.
Highrise City is available now onPC Steam and Good Old Games. The upcoming DLC Vacation Season will release on 5th August and introduce new mechanics and content.
About Deck 13 Spotlight
Deck13 Interactive is one of Germany’s leading developers. Based in Frankfurt, the passionate team develops award-winning, large-scale productions for consoles and PC. With Deck13 Spotlight the team has also established a publishing service that helps independent developers bring their projects to wider audiences.
FourExo is a small indie developer located in eastern Germany. Their debut title stands perfectly well for the teams ambitions: Working like maniacs on a vision – that’s the mission. More information on the website: http://highrisecitygame.com
Paramount+, the global streaming service from Paramount (NASDAQ: PARA, PARAA), has launched the Paramount+ app on PlayStation 5 consoles in Australia.
Available now, PlayStation 5 console users can download the Paramount+ app and subscribe to receive access to the service’s vast content portfolio, including the new six-episode Australian original series Fake, local original hit from the NCIS franchise – NCIS: Sydney, eight-episode original series A Gentleman In Moscow, fan-favourite and critically acclaimed original series Evil, and original film Little Wing, not to mention live sport including all A-Leagues, Matildas and Socceroos matches.
The service also boasts content from Paramount’s extensive library including CBS TV shows CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and NCIS, Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants and Comedy Central’s South Park.
Moreover, Paramount+ is gearing up to launch exciting new original series, including the political espionage thriller The Agency starring Michael Fassbender and Richard Gere. Also on the horizon is Dexter®: Original Sin, featuring Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey, and Patrick Gibson.
Adding to the lineup is Landman, a compelling drama co-created also by Taylor Sheridan, with a stellar cast including Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, Jon Hamm, and Michael Peña.
Lachlan Roach, Vice President, Partner Management & Business Development – Streaming, Paramount Australia, said: “At Paramount we have long believed in the power of collaborations to grow scale and help build our brands and franchises, while creating shared value with global and local players.
“This upcoming launch of Paramount+ on PlayStation 5 consoles is another testament of our commitment to make our popular content, characters and franchises available to an expanded audience.”
You can stream 20,000 hours of unique stories, iconic stars, live sport and a mountain of entertainment on Paramount+ with various plan options including: Basic Plan (with ads) for $6.99 per month for a monthly subscription or $61.99 for an annual subscription; Standard Plan for $9.99 per month for a monthly subscription or $89.99 for an annual subscription; Premium Plan for $13.99 per month for a monthly subscription or $124.99 for an annual subscription.
About Paramount+
Paramount+ is a global digital subscription video streaming service from Paramount that features a mountain of premium entertainment for audiences of all ages. Internationally, the streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including SHOWTIME®, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel™, in addition to a robust offering of premier local content. The service is currently live in Australia, Austria, Canada, the Caribbean, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latin America, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S.
Create some Mayhem at home or on the go with all six Borderlands adventures together in one package
Today, 2K and Gearbox Software released a new way to experience the Borderlands universe on Nintendo Switch™ with Borderlands: Pandora’s Box, an all-in-one collection, featuring all six acclaimed base games and all their add-on content* in one giant bundle.
The digital-only offering is now available at a special introductory price of $59.99 AUD / $62.49 NZD** on Nintendo Switch. The edition packages the iconic franchise together including: Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Tales from the Borderlands, Borderlands 3***, and New Tales from the Borderlands.
Fans will experience the franchise that defined the looter-shooter genre with its over-the-top firefights, absurdly varied arsenals, and thrilling interplanetary adventures, great for solo and co-op play. It is the perfect opportunity for lovers of the franchise and newcomers to experience this legendary series in one place on the Switch.
If you already digitally own any Borderlands game within the Borderlands Collection: Pandora’s Box on Nintendo Switch and want to complete your collection, the Nintendo eShop entitles you to a special price on this bundle****.
Gearbox Software is a 2K studio. 2K is a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO)
**Special Introductory Offer available on Nintendo Switch until August 15th, 2024. Pricing and availability may vary by region and retailer and are subject to retailers’ own terms. See retailers’ site for specific details and terms.
***Add-ons available as a separate download through the Nintendo eShop at no additional cost. Requires download and installation of base game to access.
****Digital Nintendo Switch versions of Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, Borderlands Legendary Collection, Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition, Tales from the Borderlands, or New Tales from the Borderlands required. If you own a physical version of Borderlands Legendary Collection or New Tales from the Borderlands: Deluxe Edition, you can claim your digital version by redeeming your code-in-box for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, or Tales from the Borderlands respectively. If you own a physical version of Borderlands 3: Ultimate Edition, you can become eligible for the special price on Borderlands Collection: Pandora’s Box by downloading any of its free DLC content from the Nintendo eShop. DLC content includes Borderlands 3: Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, Borderlands 3: Guns, Love, and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock, Borderlands 3: Bounty of Blood, Borderlands 3: Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck, Borderlands 3: Designer’s Cut, Borderlands 3: Director’s Cut, or Borderlands 3: Additional Voiceover Languages. Nintendo
There is a saying that “War is Hell” that harkens back all the way to the American Civil War and has been used repeatedly throughout history since then as the nature of war has remained truly horrific for the soldiers and civilians caught within it. Now, when one thinks of a game based around survival horror, one usually thinks about fighting against the undead, monsters, or even psychological manifestations all while trying to manage their limited resources to stay alive. Conscript from Team17 and Catchweight Studio looks to create a different type of horror experience from these games, but are they successful?
Story
Set during one of the worst battles of World War I, often dubbed “The Great War,” players will find themselves taking on the role of André during the Battle of Verdun as a French soldier who has been conscripted into serving in the military in this already drawn out war. Not only is André forced into service, but his brother Pierre is also brought to the front lines and both of them have been stationed within the same fort after surviving countless encounters with the German military and surviving so far. With resources running low and nearly every form of reinforcement cut off, hope is dwindling for the French forces and when the next German raid pushes the French defenders to the limit.
Upon finding that his brother Pierre has gone missing after being wounded during the raid and is now somewhere else in the sprawling trenches of Verdun, either on the run or trying to complete a potentially disastrous mission, André sets out on a mission to escape with his family intact, one way or another, all while having to face off and wade through all of the horrors that come with war, especially one fought on such a brutal scale as this one that saw unmistakable cruelty and thoughtlessness for human life that made trench warfare feel like hell. Indeed, the only horror found in Conscript is manmade and it is the war itself raging around as players try to survive, the things they witness and discover, and how far they’ll go simply to stay alive.
Conscript tells a harrowing tale of two brothers forced into fighting a war that neither volunteered for and the writer here knew how to portray that perfectly. This is no glorious take on war, it is a dark and dismal journey that feels like it encapsulates the horrors of war, especially The Great War, at its worst. Players will find notes left behind from other soldiers on the front, talking about how they’ve seen others treated or vanish, find photos of loved ones on enemy soldiers they’ve just caved in the skull of, and propaganda posters depicting how France is winning despite the true reality all around the trenches. This all comes together to create a truly special type of horror that is unlike anything else simply because the tense feelings players have traversing the trenches, witnessing the horrors left behind as shelling, poisonous gas, disease carrying rats bloated on corpses that have been heaped into piles, and more tear apart the land in a way that happened historically, albeit one where Conscript plays a bit loose at times.
The story itself is mostly straightforward as players will, as mentioned, mostly find notes of other locations or hint at what they should do next while occasionally meeting with other actually friendly faces from time to time. That being said, there are some poignant moments that are portrayed through pixelated cutscenes as well as unique feeling flashbacks to life before the war and a glimpse at these brothers’ lives before Europe erupted into war. Players will also have a few decisions to make though these decisions may not be entirely clear or even obvious at first glance, especially in some circumstances, into how they will play into the endings. There are four different endings and each one has certain conditions that must be met and even then these endings can also have variations on them depending on what players have done while trying to survive in the trenches, including some that require a bit of thinking to properly obtain.
Gameplay
Conscript plays with an isometric perspective as players traverse through the maze-like trench system that makes up the map. Along the way they’ll encounter numerous enemies that need to either be avoided or taken down, puzzles that have to be solved, locked doors that are often more complex than they seem, and even a merchant willing to lend them some aid in exchange for cigarettes. Make no mistake, Conscript is a very dense game when it comes to exploration including some hidden areas with useful rewards and it makes heavy use of the fact that players will be needing to backtrack through locations multiple times, sometimes because they left something behind in a chest because of limited inventory space, or most of the time because they now have a key item needed to unlock a new pathway.
Thankfully players will always have a map with them that shows at least the locations they’ve been to and, if they’ve acquired a map for their current area, what the full layout might be. That being said, sometimes the directions about what players are meant to be doing next is left vague and there are more than a few objectives that are completely optional while some are required to advance. One key aspect that Conscript has taken from the survival horror genre is the limited inventory system. While players may seem like they can hold a lot of items at the start, every weapon, ammo, health item, and more takes up a space and this can fill up quite fast especially when entering a new location. As such players will need to manage their inventory to make sure they are capable of picking up the newest item needed to unlock the next door or risk having to leave valuable ammunition or healing items behind. One thing that is nice to note is that the game does automatically discard keys and other objects that no longer have any use, giving players a small reprieve when it comes to managing their inventory. It is also worth noting that through exploration and straight up buying upgrades from the merchant can also expand the player’s inventory space.
The merchant appears in every safe room, similar in many ways to a certain game that was given a remake last year and he works in similar fashion as well. Players will use the already mentioned cigarettes as currency to purchase various items including upgrades, melee weapons, ingredients such as gunpowder, and more. The merchant can even use “gun parts” that are rare to find in an effort to upgrade a chosen weapon’s damage, reload speed, ammo, and fire rate. It is also worth noting that the game does make use of item combination to not only combine quest items but also craft ammunition and enhance the effects of some healing items, once again in similar fashion to a certain survival horror title from last year.
Unlike that game however Conscript takes a more classic approach to combat, with a mix of current movement abilities such as the ability to dodge roll and even sprint to avoid getting hit by a melee attack or shot all while managing a stamina bar and the classic “stop and pop” style of version of old school attacking. With firearms players must stop and aim, with the reticle growing more precise the longer they aim, to shoot at an enemy and every weapon has a different control style. Rifles need a new round chambered every time, making their higher damage cost more timewise while a pistol can fire multiple times for less, though all require the player to stand still and reload, leaving them vulnerable for enemy attacks. The melee combat is handled in a similar fashion though this time as the reticle shrinks the more damage is done to an enemy when they are struck.
This gives every encounter a feeling of risk and reward, with melee combat feeling risky and offering some meaty thwacks when caving in an enemy’s head with a combat shovel or taking a pot shot with a rifle from a distance but players will always need to be wary of gathering too many enemies on them at once as Conscript isn’t afraid to punish players for being overconfident as enemies hit like a truck and will pursue them until they leave the location. Playing stealthily is viable at times, as the game does have various locations that players can hide and sneak past enemy patrols and even hitting a foe while they are unaware will instantly kill them but more often than not this isn’t the best route thanks to enemy’s being able to see players quite easily and alert the entire location instantly.
This is especially true since players will need to get familiar with the game’s combat anyways as there are a number of times throughout Conscript that they are forced to fight off waves of enemies until they can finally proceed, meaning if they haven’t grown accustomed to the systems they’ll be in trouble here. These forced combat encounters give players a number of ways to ease the pain of the longer fights, be it mounted machine-guns, explosive barrels, or even the ability to flee, but feel a bit off when compared to the rest of the game’s pacing. As mentioned before, players will have to do quite a bit of backtracking at times to hunt down items, retrieve items, or use them in certain locations and occasionally enemies will respawn in these locations through broken trench defenses and players can use limited trench wiring to repair these. But as players backtrack or explore they will also see that some of these areas have rat holes in them.
Now, one thing that is certainly worth mentioning is the rat problem. Players can preemptively deal with the situation if they have a grenade to chuck down into the hole but otherwise they will turn into a problem later on as any enemies that players kill will eventually find themselves being gnawed away at by hungry rats that will chase down the player looking to turn them into their next meal (think of Crimson Heads). The rats themselves are easy to kill, a single shovel swing can dispatch one, but they come in swarms and gnaw at the player’s health all while potentially sickening them at the same time, lowering their permanent health total until a valuable first aid kit is used. These rats are incredibly annoying and while yes, players can also use limited fuel to burn bodies of slain German soldiers to prevent rats from eating them, they often feel far more punishing than even the soldiers themselves.
It is nice to note that Conscript encourages the player to play through the game multiple times. As mentioned before, not only are there multiple endings but there are also a variety of unlockables, New Game+ benefits, and even achievements for rewarding certain playstyles. This includes things such as only saving the game six times, never killing anyone, or even beating it in under three hours.
Audio & Visuals
Conscript makes use of a very gritty and dark style of pixel art that does wonders to give the game a heavy atmosphere and make sure players never quite know what is around the corner despite the isometric view. Sometimes this is thanks to moving through dark corridors without any extra light, other times it is due to poisonous gas filling the location but even when there is light the art design does a wonderfully horrific portrayal of the damage this battle has done and how little human life is valued in the trenches. While there may not be scary monsters, jumpscares, or horrific reveals, the art style and visual design do wonders to portray the horrors of war here.
The sound design is similarly handled quite well. It is worth noting that there is little in the way of actual voice work here outside of some character barks at times and the groaning death cries of those around you and enemy soldiers but it still works well to showcase that the battle is continuing despite the player not actively engaging in a fight. The background music is subtle, almost non-existent at times, but does play well when it does appear though this is usually only during dire story moments or specific scenes.
Overall
While the horror aspect of this survival horror game may not quite be what everyone is looking for, Conscript certainly does its best to not only keep the spirit of the genre alive but also portray that type of horror in its own unique way. Scavenging through destroyed corridors filled with the dead, surviving with limited resources and limited space all while German soldiers can be waiting in the next trench, and trying to solve puzzles to advance all keep Conscript a thrilling and tense game even if it it’s combat can be a bit rough around the edges and the rats are often more dangerous than anything else.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
