Orangepixel’s post-apocalyptic open-world action game Ashworld was officially announced in December of last year, but work on the title goes back even further than that. It’s quite a departure from the one man studio’s previous efforts in terms of scope, but it still retains the signature Orangepixel style and great moment-to-moment gameplay. Following its release on Steam back in September, work on the mobile version was completed last month and the game was sent off to Apple with the hope of an early December release. It looks like everything has gone according to plan as Orangepixel has officially announced next Wednesday, December 6th as the release date for Ashworld on iOS with an Android version coming roughly a month later. Here’s the launch trailer in case you missed it before.
As excited as I am to finally get my hands on Ashworld, I’m also very excited that Orangepixel has already announced their next project and that it’s a return to one of my favorite series from the developer. It’s titled Gunslugs 3: Rogue Tactics, and that catchy subtitle is actually quite an important descriptor. The original Gunslugs was a run and gun platformer blended with some procedural and roguelike elements, and Gunslugs 2 built upon the first with amped up running and gunning. Both games were beautiful, chaotic experiences. For Gunslugs 3, Orangepixel wants to tone down the run and gun elements and focus more on tactical elements. Don’t worry, you’ll still be running, jumping, and shooting everything in sight, but this third entry will be a more slower-paced and strategic affair, which I find quite interesting indeed. Here’s a lengthy first look at an early version of Gunslugs 3 so you can get an idea of the flow of the game.
As you can see, this is most definitely a Gunslugs game but the pace is quite different. According to Orangepixel’s blog post announcing the game, Gunslugs 3 will focus on a large variety of weapons, each character having unique abilities and effects on the environment, a slower and more tactical style but still elements of chaos, and both permanent and non-permanent unlockables. It’ll also take a couple of cues from Orangepixel’s previous Meganoid reboot with procedural levels built from pre-designed chunks and world mutations a la the green keycards. And of course things learned from previous releases in the top-down dungeon crawler Heroes of Loot series and the turn-based shooter Space Grunts will also trickle down into Gunslugs 3. Right now the game is playable, as evidenced by the above video, but there’s still a ways to go, and Orangepixel is shooting for an early 2018 release for Gunslugs 3. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one as it continues to shape up.
