The recent Activision Weekender isn’t the only part of Steam worthy of attention right now. Away from those older games, there are three recent new releases that warrant a look and have held regular praise from many players and particularly with our second choice for this week, division in others.
Outlast:
If you like some horror with your survival, Red Barrels’ Outlast plays its psychological act in the darkness of the Mount Massive Asylum, only naturally in an isolated mountain region of Colorado.
Merely ‘armed’ with a video camera and its night-vision mode that needs an all-too regular supply of fresh batteries, you’re a curious journalist acting on a tip-off who has broken into the building in an effort to discover just what the highly secretive Murkoff Corporation have been up to in those mountains. Receiver of Time’s ‘Most Likely to Make You Faint’ Award and commended by other game sites after this year’s E3, Outlast is £14.99 on Steam.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Next up, we have Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. This sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent takes the player into the Victorian London of 1899 and the life of a wealthy industrialist, Oswald Mandus. Apparently free of the fevered dreams experienced during months of illness, he regains consciousness yet finds himself devoid of memories from that time and now hearing the cries of his twin sons, Edwin and Enoch. Certain elements of the original Amnesia have been removed to streamline and improve the experience, and this includes the inventory and ‘sanity’ effects. Without giving anything away, it’s much more subtle this time. The hallucinations and arrival of the monsters borne of prolonged time in darkness with The Dark Descent remain a memorable quality of the experience for many, so it’ll be interesting to see how much opinion divides in the sequel with the decisions made by Dear Esther developer, The Chinese Room.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is out now for a mere £12.99 on Steam and what should be a slightly cheaper $19.99 from GOG.com. It is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux systems.
ARMA III
Dominated by the first-person horrors of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs and Outlast, Bohemia Interactive also saw the light late last week with the full release of its multi-disciplinary military and tactical shooter, ARMA III.
Set in a world of two Mediterranean islands in its current form, ARMA III already reputedly provides over 290 km² of varied terrain. Engage the enemy on foot or travel over land, through the air and on or in the sea using one of over 20 vehicles that include submersibles (periscopes, floodlights and all!). The main game part at the moment comes with 9 multi-player scenarios. The single-player portion will be expanded at no cost to the player with the eventual release of 3 episodes known right now only as Survive, Adapt and Win.
ARMA III is built for modding from the start, thanks to an accompanying scenario editor and an immediate community that can cooperate, discuss and share their creations through a Steam Workshop. Content is already being adapted and created too. Bohemia’s own forums are a good place for this and there’s an ARMA III-specific ‘ADDONS & MODS: COMPLETE’ section for extras that are in Alpha, Beta or finished states.
This new title will be an ongoing project, with updates, optimisations and new features to come. As we outlined above, single-player campaigns and content will follow as freely downloadable content and paid DLC is a possibility.
Common to games nowadays, two versions of ARMA III are available – the ‘Yes, you’ve guessed it!’ game-only Standard Edition and a Digital Deluxe Edition. As described by Bohemia Interactive, that includes the following bonus binary bits:
- Digital Soundtrack – Enjoy the compelling ARMA 3 soundtrack wherever you are and wherever you go in high quality digital format.
- Digital Maps – Plan your combat operations with the highly detailed maps of Altis and Stratis.
- Digital Tactical Guide – Find tips on how to survive in combat and accomplish your mission with a comprehensive tactical guide.
- Arma: Cold War Assault – Go back to where it all began and relive Bohemia Interactive’s award-winning début game once more. (Already own it on Steam? Gift it to a friend!)
Do note that the island maps and tactical guide are English language-only.
The 6-tune soundtrack, maps and 300-page guide are included in the ARMA III installation and will be found in the ‘Bonus’ sub-folder of the game’s main directory – typically at: \Steam\steamapps\common\Arma.
ARMA III Standard costs £39.99, with the Deluxe Edition following at £42.99 and a boxed Deluxe Edition is in stock and selling for a comparatively reasonable £34.99 at the moment from Game’s Web store.
ARMA III: Limited Deluxe Edition boxed contents:
- Full Game
- Plastic Key Card
- Printed Manual
- Printed Map
- Printed Keyboard Layout
- Digital Maps
- Digital Tactical Guide
- Digital Soundtrack
- ArmA Cold War Assault Full Game
Sainsburys Entertainment is listing an even lower £29.99 – with a condition of a ‘Usually despatched within 6 days’ delivery. Or The Hut has it for £27.98.
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