Latest news with #TotallyAccurateBattleSimulator
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Viral co-op game of the moment hits a new all-time high on Steam after Peak update finally adds second biome to the "stupid jam game"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The developers of Peak have updated the indie climbing game, adding in a new biome, filled with new items to contend with and potentially ruin your runs with. Another Crab's Treasure developer Aggro Crab and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator developer Landfall teamed up earlier this year for what they have described as a "stupid jam game." However, that "stupid jam game" just so happened to pop off like mad, becoming one of the most popular games of the year in the form of indie co-op climbing game Peak. The developers didn't plan on updating the game after release, but after it sold 2 million copies in 9 days the devs decided it was time to start "looking into possible updates." And now, a couple of months removed from its wildly successful launch, the first big update is finally here (unless you count the cannibalism update as big, mind you). As announced on Steam, the Mesa update brings a brand new biome to the game alongside some new badges, cosmetics and items. The Mesa is a sandy desert under the blistering sun, which adds an extra layer of strategy to the affair as you try to avoid succumbing to the sweltering heat. Thankfully, there's plenty of shaded areas and a host of new items to help. You have the essentials like sunscreen, aloe vera (after-sun skincare is important), and a parasol to block some of those nasty UV rays. And there's also some other essentials like a cannon to shoot your fellow scouts out of, and dynamite for the worst person in your group to pick up and destroy your runs with (it's me, I'm the one doing that). Best of all, the Mesa update is out now. Every run you go on for the next week will take place on the Mesa, but after that, the maps will randomly rotate between it and the pre-existing Alpine level. And it's proved to be a popular update already, as according to SteamDB, Peak hit a new all-time high player count of 135,536 shortly after the update was released. REPO devs blown away by world record level 10 speedrun ponder adding "official speedrun seeds" – "I know that Lethal Company did."
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Steam Next Fest's best roguelike is a thing of flow-state beauty, and after a 3-year wait I'm completely obsessed with it
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. I'm not 100% sure why I'm running, but I know it feels good. A few NPCs have mentioned something about the end of the world, sure. And I know I'm traversing floating islands while dodging what looks like overzealous mining equipment and running from an all-consuming corruption, but Haste: Broken Worlds feels so good to play that I don't really care about any of that. All I really know is that this is a better Steam Next Fest demo than I'd hoped for, and everything else will have to be extremely impressive to beat it. I first got wind of Haste: Broken Worlds thanks to a very different game. The extremely silly ragdoll strategy game Totally Accurate Battle Simulator introduced me to developer Landfall, which has been teasing clips of its speedy new project for a few years now. Early prototype clips of a character moving at incredible speed through shattered landscapes caught my eye and ensured that Haste was one of my first Steam Next Fest downloads. As Zoe, you're escaping the end of the world. As you sprint through each procedural level, you're doing your best to outrun the corruption that's scarily close on your tail. Zoe's speed means that she can pick up some serious air off the gently undulating ridges of the remaining shards of the universe she's running through, but the catch is that while she's quick on her feet, she's not so fast in the air. As a result, Haste becomes a game about perfectly cresting those ridges, adjusting your trajectory ever-so-slightly to make sure you stick a perfect landing and keep sprinting ahead. The result is an incredible flow-state, reminiscent of the best of 3D Sonic and freerunning games like Mirror's Edge. A genuinely smooth run feels so good that you almost don't notice the obstacles scattered around the map like the world's most chaotic minigolf course. Add in the collectible sparks that function as both this world's currency and a subtle guide as to the optimal route, and you feel like you're almost floating through each level. Haste: Broken Worlds earns its roguelike stripes through a Slay the Spire-style map, allowing you to pick your route between normal runs, random encounters, shops and rest stops, and tricky boss levels - complex and unforgiving maps that reward you with strategy-altering bonuses if you can make it to the end. You'll enter each attempt with a handful of lives that persist between levels, enforcing speed and precision - collisions will harm Zoe and slow her down, and if you go off the map or get caught by the corruption, you'll lose a life and have to start the level over. Lose all three lives and you're starting from scratch, meaning a single tricky map can stop an entire attempt in its tracks, adding real stakes to every single crash or wrong turn. There's still a lot to come to Haste: Broken Worlds. The Steam Next Fest offering only includes the tutorial and one 'shard', culminating in a single boss fight, as well as a relatively small number of NPC encounters. But the procedural maps and the quality of the freerunning means that I've replayed it dozens of times already, and I'm still having an excellent time. We're only a matter of hours into the latest Next Fest, but I genuinely think this demo is going to be a tough one to beat. Our list of the best roguelikes could soon have a new challenger.
