Extry, Extry!
Each and every week we scour the dev blogs, press releases, and ourselves to bring you the need-to-know news for indie games. And with a week that saw Kickstarter targets getting wrecked, release dates being announced, as well as a few other bits and pieces, we’ve got you covered for your indie intake this week.
The Aliens are almost here: EarthFall Release Date Confirmed
Off the back of hugely successful showings at PAX East and Rezzed this year, Holospark have finally set a date for the Left 4 Dead inspired co-op shooter; EarthFall, with July 13 seeing the game arrive on PC and consoles.
Offering up a much needed return to a dedicated co-op shooter, EarthFall will see you taking charge of overthrowing a pesky alien invasion with the help of three other players – or three AI companions, who actually do stuff that’s helpful!
As for the release date, it looks to be a fairly quiet summer from what we’ve heard so far, so a mid-summer release should see EarthFall getting a bit more attention before an insanely busy autumn period.
No Joy Here: Australia Rejects We Happy Few for Certification
Remember We Happy Few? The Orwellian meets Bioshock styled survival game that quickly became the golden game of E3 2016? Well in the two years since that gameplay trailer, the game’s been ticking along nicely, even being picked up by Deep Silver for its release on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. And as its release creeps out from obscurity, the game began the formalities of certification before the game releases.
But this formality hit a rather nasty snag in Australia, where their legislation bans any games that show drug use. Initially, it seemed as though Compulsion Games may have been able to get around this, but Australia’s Certification Board has denied the game classification so far.
The problem Compulsion Games now have is that, being a Kickstarter title, there may have been backers from Australia that now face missing out on the game they’ve put money into already. The studio has been quick to address these concerns, explaining that:
“We will work with the ACB on the classification. If the government maintains its stance, we will make sure that you can get a refund, and we will work directly with affected Kickstarter backers to figure something out.  We would appreciate if you give us a little bit of time to appeal the decision before making a call.”
Whether or not a compromise between the Certification board and Compulsion Games can be made remains to be see, but the possibility of a heavily censored version of the game would surely be a… hard pill to swallow? Too soon? Sorry.
One to Watch: Stoneshard Smashes Its Kickstarter Target
From one Kickstarter to another now, and whilst the whole Australia… thing may have soured you a tad, the news that upcoming upcoming medieval RPG Stoneshard has smashed past its £22,442 target with more than three weeks to go is hopefully something that’ll sweeten those feelings.
Stoneshard’s main focus will have you building a caravan, why? I don’t know. But the game has sold itself on having a similar realistic difficulty to Kingdom Come, with injuries needing to be cured using splints.
With the initial target already met, developers Ink Stains Games have moved on to working on bous content including environmental stuff. So… hooray for Kickstarter!…?
And Finally… Curve Digital expands its Team
You may have heard murmurs of an upcoming game based on Netflix’s superb crime-drama, narcos. And, with developers Curve Digital taking point on the project, three new appointments have joined as they get the gears going for what’s sure to be a game in a harsh spotlight.
Bringing in a new lead designer Gav Skinner having worked on projects for Rockstar, Matt Startin as art director after spells with Ubisoft and more, and former SCEE developer Si Donbavand arrives as senior producer. It looks like the team are setting the foundations on how the game will be built. As for new news on the game itself, sorry, no luck there, but at least we now know the game is being worked on.
