Arcen, purveyors of sundry indie oddities, sent a message by pigeon post in the early hours of this morning to inform us of their new game, The Last Federation. It has one of the finest single line pitches I’ve ever encountered – “The Last Federation is a Grand Strategy + RTS Tactics game” – and in honour of the good news that she delivered, the pigeon has now been promoted to Flight Lieutenant and provided with a suitable cap. TLF places players in the role of a mercenary leader in a procedurally generated galaxy, which contains eight alien races to menace and manipulate. The closest point of comparison may well be Soldak’s Drox Operative. Arcen’s pigeon also told us that the spiffing AI War is on sale this weekend, with the complete collection (five DLCs) available for $4.25 and the little blighter didn’t stop there. More news – and a couple of videos – below.

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The Arclight Bundle over on Indie Royale is a single-studio special from Arcen. That means it includes: AI War, Tidalis, A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 and Shattered Haven – basically everything other than their latest, Skyward Collapse. They’re even throwing in the new AI War expansion, Vengeance of the Machine, which has just gone into beta. The $8 buy-in unlocks soundtracks for all, too. Not bad at all.

Some more details below.
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I saw the screenshots for Arcen’s newly-released horror game Shattered Haven and immediately cleared a gap in my schedule to play it. Previously, I was going to spend the time making broth or forcing people to listen to Aphex Twin’s early ambient works, but a spot of top-down terror takes precedence over all things. Slight disappointment crept in when I watched the trailer and realised that my imagination had run away with me somewhat, assuming the game to be turn-based and tactical. Silly imagination. It’s actually a lo-fi, environmental puzzler, with killing, traps and optional co-op. I’ll still try it but I’ll be making broth and siphoning Green Calx into peoples’ ears before I sit down to play.

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