Punch people until their heads explode in Spartan Fist
THIS IS SPARTA (sort of)
There aren't enough first-person games about simply punching people in the face, if you ask me (Zeno Clash is probably my favourite off the top of my head). Glass Bottom Games are trying to correct that with Spartan First [official site], a game that's all about – wait for it – "punching dudes in the face so hard they explode". Glorious.
It's a first-person voxel-based brawler with plenty of cartoon blood. Judging by the trailer below you'll be able to jab, hook, uppercut, and forward dash through a variety of enemies in a modern day Colosseum.
It was announced back in May but this is the first gameplay the devs have released. Here, take a look:
There's a story, too: you're a detective who has lost her job and has taken up brawling to earn some money.
"Fight your way to fame, fortune and glory in this first-person puncher as you work to retrieve the fabled Spartan Fist. Playing as Emma Jones, a down-and-out detective working to earn her keep, you’ll tap your inner badass as you punch dudes so hard they explode. Navigate through an arena that’s different each time you play and delve into a whimsically gritty and colorfully punk pixilated world while fighting your way to the top."
And if the name Emma Jones sound familiar, then that's because she was the protagonist of Hot Tin Roof, the crime-noir-jazz-cat mashup. This takes place in the same universe, somehow, and the developers say it will all get a bit "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" in an interview with cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer earlier this year. That clears it up.
I'm not too interested in the narrative, to be honest, but if they can really make whacking guys feel meaty then I'm all for it. It's due to come out in 2018, and the Steam page is here.