Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is here with the scoop.
Multiple Games Claiming to Be Spiritual Successor to Disco Elysium Announced on Same Day
Last week, not one, not two, but three different games at different studios formed by former ZA/UM employees were announced, each claiming to be the spiritual successor to the massively popular roleplaying game Disco Elysium.
The first, an unnamed RPG by studio Longview, aims to explore “the delicate interplay between the conscious and subconscious, the seen and unseen. Set in a world where choices ripple between the character’s psyche and environment, players will navigate a constantly shifting landscape, shaped by both internal and external forces.”
The second game, called XXX Nightshift and developed by Dark Math Games, is the only one of the three games announced that features a trailer. In XXX Nightshift, players take on the role of a vacationing detective in a luxury Antarctic hotel. Judging from the trailer, it seems like the gameplay follows the dialogue driven design set by Disco Elysium, but, uh, much hornier.
The final game, in development by Summer Eternal, has the most names from ZA/UM attached to it, like writers Argo Tuulik and Olga Moskvina. It’s also the most political of the bunch, with the announcement for the studio on it’s (very hard to read) website clearly laying out its socialist beliefs. Summer Eternal describes itself as a worker owned video game development cooperative, and goes to great length on the website to lay clear its organizational structure and revenue plans for the co-op. The studio is not ready to share details about its Disco-inspired project, but assures readers that it is hard at work on the game.
None of the three companies developing these successors include the two biggest names from the Disco Elysium development team, those being lead writer Robert Kurvitz and art director Aleksander Rostov. It is unknown at time of writing what these men are currently working on.
Second Edition of Alien TTRPG Kickstarter Delayed to Incorporate New Features
The crowdfunding campaign for the second edition of the TTRPG adaptation of the Alien movie franchise is delayed into next spring, but will feature locations and items from Alien: Romulus as well as community feedback from the current edition.
Developed by Free League and announced at this year’s Gen Con, the new edition of their 2019 Alien RPG will feature “more new content, new artwork, and expanded tools for players and Game Mothers alike, all fully compatible with all released materials thus far.” Some of these new items and art will come directly from the recently released Alien: Romulus, including the pulse rifle seen in the movie and background information on exploring the Jackson Star Mining Colony where the film is set.
The game will also include several changes based on player feedback from the first edition of the game, which has been coming to Free League in buckets from excited fans since the announcement. This outpouring of suggestions from the community has necessitated pushing back the release of the Kickstarter, moving back to a Spring 2025 launch date on Kickstarter. The game itself is set to release in the following Fall season, and will include the core rulebook, starter set, a cinematic scenario, and miniatures.
Pokemon Developers Hit by a Massive Data Breach
Pokemon developer Game Freak was the target of a Data Breach attack last week, with thousands of personal employee details and source code for older games being released online.
According to a statement from Game Freak, the company says that the leak occurred in August of this year when the company servers were illegally accessed by a third party. Game Freak explained that this leak stole not only code and internal communications about previous Pokemon games, but far more troublingly also stole over 2,600 items of personal data from employees at Game Freak.
Game Freak has been contacting those affected by the leaks individually as it learns more about the scope of the attack. At the time of this writing, the perpetrator of the breach is unknown.
Games Workshop Breaks into World of MDF with New Kill Team Starter Set
Following the release Kill Team’s second edition with Hivestorm, Games Workshop revealed a new starter box for Kill Team aimed at introducing the game to new players.
According to the Warhammer Community post, where Hivestorm was a big box filled with goodies that longtime Kill Team fans could sink their teeth into, the starter box is aimed to provide newcomers to the game an on-ramp into Kill Team proper. It features a 64 page starter handbook with beginner friendly scenarios to help players learn the basics of gameplay, with a handful of scenarios also designed to give a taste of the full experience of Kill Team.
The box itself pits Space Marines from the current Angels of Death kill team against a Plague Marine Kill Team, who’s rules are currently unknown. Notably, the models included in the set are from the blind box Space Marine heroes sets, featuring a full collection for both the Astartes and the Plague Marine run of these boxes.
The box also features pre-painted and easily assembled wooden MDF terrain alongside the cardboard playing board. This terrain is the first time any Games Workshop product has featured MDF terrain, which has become commonplace in the larger Warhammer scene as a more affordable alternative to plastic terrain sets.
The release date for the new set is unknown, with the website only claiming it will happen “very soon.”
Extra Life Partners with Magic: The Gathering for Pixel Art Secret Lair Drop
Wizards of the Coast has partnered with the charity fundraiser Extra Life this year for a pixel art themed Secret Lair drop.
Founded in 2008, Extra Life is a fundraising wing of the Children’s Miracle Network of pediatric hospitals. Extra Life focuses on using games of all kinds as a way to raise funds for charity, and hosts an annual Extra Life gaming marathon event in November. Participants of this event are able to select a hospital of their choosing to send funds to within the Children’s Miracle Network.
Wizards, who has partnered with Extra Life since 2013, is releasing several products to support the charity. The flagship product is a special Secret Lair drop with pixel art by Mike Burns. This set of four cards features the lovable Fblthp on a side scrolling adventure, and battling against Nicol Bolas with the help of Ajani Goldmane. This drop can be ordered on the Secret Lair website until November 17th, and unlike current Secret Lair runs this drop will be print on demand. 50% of the profits from this run will go towards the Wizards of the Coast Autism Center Development Fund at Seattle Children’s Hospitals.
Other products and promotions for Extra life include pixel art avatars in MtG: Arena, an Extra Life booth at this year’s MagicCon Las Vegas, and an Extra Life charity live stream held on November 2nd.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
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