Rock, Paper, Shotgun

On the cold floor, a summoning circle has been drawn and, around it, several Paradox employees sway, their forms disguised by wizard’s robes. A susurration builds to a roar, like the scratching of the pebbles at Dover Beach, the air trembles, twisting into new intangible forms, and then a demo version of Warlock: Master of the Arcane appears. Unnatural, I know, but it’s just the way things are done in that neck of the woods. Bet you didn’t know that Crusader Kings II was actually built by a blacksmith, hammering away in his forge? Fact. The Warlock demo can be found on Steam and it includes the tutorial, a preset map, two enemy mages and one to play as. The full game allows customisation of both mages and maps. My thoughts on the beta are here and we’ll have more on the game as the May 8th launch approaches.

We mentioned just yesterday that Arcen’s open-world side-scroller had appeared on the digital distributions, but since then they’ve also put out a hefty demo. It’s a big old chunk of the game for you to try, with these limitations: “You cannot craft spells higher than tier 2, and you cannot leave the first continent.” I’d definitely recommend trying this – from my time with the beta I’d say that this is both an acquired taste, and also impossible to judge by appearances. Or even, perhaps, from people writing about it. But then I should not be saying that, should I? Send your eyes south of here for the launch trailer.
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Every so often – let’s say twice a day – somebody calmly reminds me that I wrote about a game at some point in the past and have failed to revisit in order to see how things have changed. Guilty as charged. Oddly that hasn’t happened in regards to Running With Rifles, the rather excellent indie squad shooter. It has more in common with Cannon Fodder than Call of Duty, but with a two-way battle that sways back and forth, the factions attempting to defend their own bases and launch attacks against their opponents’. It looks more pleasant now, with colours other than brown so that the fields of conflict don’t resemble the forlorn stains that indecorously decorate a broken man’s bedsit. Oh yeah, and there’s multiplayer too.

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Do you remember those book fairs that used to happen every now and then at school when you were a kid? Hoards of children, clutching pocket money in grubby hands, unleashed on tables and tables of books of every description. I always gravitated towards the science and technology section and bought dozens of books depicting fascinating cutaways of engines, hydrofoils and hovercraft. Well, Camshaft Software’s forthcoming car manufacturing tycoon Automation places you at the head of a car company from 1946 to 2020. It looks set to recapture that perfect itch of intricately drawn diagrams of complicated mechanisms with the demo of the Engine Designer, one of the systems that will be in the final game.

The demo will arrive on April 22 (or is already available to anyone who’s pre-ordered), but a trailer and a developer narrated playthrough of said demo are idling below.

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The fine smell of a cold sea breeze is in the air as the Paradox published, Turbo Tape Games developed Naval War: Arctic Circle demo docks at port. A sea-faring RTS featuring modern-day fleets and aircraft, the demo includes the first two NATO-led story missions, a skirmish map and multiplayer to battle other freeloaders on the high seas. You can download the demo on Steam, while the full game released earlier in the week and is available on Steam and elsewhere.

The release trailer, made with Paradox’s usual carefree glee, is bunking below deck.

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This is my first encounter with the longish-running DROD series of puzzle-dungeon crawlers, and a quick check of our much-abused tag system suggests that same is true of the other nodes of the RPS Hivemind too. Thus, for a few precious moments, I can enjoy the lofty status of Hivemind Prime, until the Independent Action Guards activate and laser away the deadly fungal strands of personality that have infected my corner of the monstrous Brain Jar.

So it’s with the new, free demo of fifth DROD game Gunthro and the Epic Blunder that I join the party, and am immediately mildly confused because it’s a prequel to the events of the first four games. This didn’t prove too serious an impediment to a rank newcomer, fortunately, as DROD seems to have a fairly Princess Bride take on fantasy kingdom rather than a depresssing downpour of Important Lore.
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Kyle Pulver, superior veteran of a thousand gamejams, has expanded a riff on the theme of motherhood that emerged from his brain last year, making it into a full release for PC and Mac. It’s a platform game, with puzzles made up of switches, blocks and infant forest animals deflecting around the levels. The clue as to your maternal ability is in the title: Offspring Fling. As the mother of a sizable brood of cuddly critters, your method of transporting them to safety is to balance them on your head and then lob them out of harm’s way. Of course, as you progress through the 100+ levels throwing your kids around the place becomes increasingly hazardous, as they begin to act more like soft, organ-filled pinballs than living, dying creatures. Watch.

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