Islands of Nyne royally battles into early access in July
Sequel to Archipelago of Eyght
The battle royales are breeding out of control, but I can at least admit the latest to be spawned is a fetching-looking beast. Islands of Nyne, due out this July from the interestingly named Define Human Studios is yet another last-man-standing FPS, but this time with a bit of a future-war edge, packed with fighters looking like they've just wandered in from Crysis. Judging by the trailer within, however, its sci-fi aspirations may only run skin deep.
So, it's Plunkbat with a slight sci-fi twist, and no third-person view. I say 'slight' because as great as it sounds on paper (advanced future suits, an arena built by aliens, etc), the weapons still seem to be immediately familiar modern-day designs given a futuristic lick of paint. You've got bog-standard SMGs, your assault rifles with red dot sights, your snipey snipeguns, pistols of various sizes and shapes and shotguns that make satisfying boom noises. At least there are bounce pads, as you can see in the trailer below.
In all honestly, it doesn't look bad - a little more slick and readable than many battle royale shooters, but I am genuinely disappointed to see such a familiar arsenal of weapons, albeit with some glowy red LEDs stuck on. I know folks like their tacticool red dot sights, but I'd love to see a battle royale with an entirely more esoteric arsenal. Give me highly-telegraphed X-ray beams, ricocheting plasma spread guns and maybe even the occasional spider-mine that latches onto a victim while flashing brightly and luring in opponents with a klaxon.
Once Islands of Nyne arrives, Define Human reckon that it'll take them a year to polish it up far enough to be worth sticking a v1.0 label on it. The final cut of the game promises three large maps, 100 player servers, the usual slew of character customisation (here's hoping for fancy space-hats) and the usual tweaks, tunings and refinements, although the core design (as shown in the trailer) seems pretty locked down at this point.
Islands of Nyne will be arriving on Steam early access this July 12th.