Endless devs Amplitude Studios have announced a closed beta for their long-in-the-works, not-quite-a-sequel to Dungeon of the Endless, the not-at-all confusingly titled Endless Dungeon, and it’s happening next month.
]]>Sega and Humankind developers Amplitude have begun their annual seasonal celebration Endless Summer to celebrate everything related to their loosely-connected Endless universe. From now until July 27th, there will be streams and news drops about their forthcoming tactical roguelite Endless Dungeon, and as a bonus, its excellent sort-of-predecessor Dungeon Of The Endless is free to keep on Steam for a limited time.
]]>It's Amplitude Studios' 10th anniversary, and they're celebrating by making a bunch of their games free for the weekend. That includes fantasy 4X Endless Legend, space 4X Endless Space 2, and dungeon crawler Dungeon Of The Endless. All of their games are also deeply discounted on Steam.
]]>Amplitude's endless and often-changing Endless series will return with Endless Dungeon, the developers announced today. This is one from the sci-fi strand, and they describe it as a "rogue-lite tactical action game". So... does the confusing name mean Endless Dungeon is a sequel to 2014's Dungeon Of The Endless? It's complicated, Amplitude say. For now, watch the announcement trailer.
]]>Humankind, the latest and most ambitious 4X strategy game from Endless Legend creators Amplitude Studios, looks to revitalise the historical 4X genre and nab the crown from the titanic and venerable Civilization series. And look damn pretty while it does so, too.
But it's not just looks that Amplitude are hoping to win out on with Humankind. We'll go over everything we know about Humankind below, from release date information to our first glimpses of gameplay in trailers and screenshots, and what we can glean about how everything will work when it's released.
]]>A calamitous crossing of worlds has occurred in Two Point Hospital, the spiritual successor to Bullfrog's Theme Hospital, with Half-Life headcrabs glomping onto heads and all manner of decorative doodads from Sega PC games scattering around hospitals. If you've not yet played the wacky hospital management sim, hey, you're invited to try the whole thing for free this weekend on Steam. The trial weekend has just started, so hop to it. Well, don't hop if you're suffering from Hurty Leg, Premature Mummification, Night Fever, Lazy Bones, or Mucky Feet, in which case the doctor will see you now.
]]>I didn't play Dungeon Of The Endless for nearly long enough. It's a splendid little roguelike where dungeoneering meets tower defence, and you usually meet your end within ten minutes. Except I got lucky on one of my early runs, beat the game, and never went back.
]]>Spectral space-spies and mushroom people have arrived today in Endless Space 2 and Endless Legend. The two expansions - Penumbra and Symbiosis, respectively - each add a new playable faction to the already-massive 4X strategy games, plus a major game-changing new feature that can impact everyone. Below, a developer stream taking an hours-long dive into both expansions.
Those new to the Endless universe (a sprawling sci-fi setting shared by all of Amplitude's games, including Endless Space 1 & 2, Dungeon Of The Endless and Endless Legend), all the games in the series are free to try on Steam for the weekend, along with discounts to keep. Endless Space 1 is forever if you sign up and link your Steam account over on their Games2Gether site here.
]]>It's a busy day for 4X fans. Announced just last week, new expansions have launched today for both space-empire builder Endless Space 2 and its more gravity-bound cousin Endless Legend. They're both excellent games (Endless Legend was RPS's Game Of The Year of 2014) that have only gotten better over time due to constant expansion & patching. Now seems a good time to give them a look if you've passed on them previously, as on top of the two new expansion releases, Amplitude's entire Endless series is free to try for the weekend, and steeply discounted to boot.
]]>Some games can be finished, completed, defeated or beaten. They have an end-point, even though they might be replayable. Others have the potential to go on forever. Whatever the case, there always comes a point when you're done with a game, and it might be long before the credits roll, or it might be after that one update that breaks a habit that has lasted for years. Why do we stop playing?
Let’s get one potential answer out of the way: ‘when we stop having fun’. While there’s definitely something to that idea, it doesn’t take into account temporary frustration caused by difficulty spikes, or the satisfaction - a related cousin of ‘fun’ - from seeing a narrative through to its end. It’s a sentiment that might work for multiplayer games, but I’m not convinced it can be applied more broadly than that. With a look at Shadow of War, Spelunky and Caveblazers among others, here are some thoughts on the end of play.
]]>Sega have acquired Amplitude, creators of the Endless series of strategy games. Endless Legend was our game of the year in 2014 and its predecessor Endless Space is set to receive a direct sequel that will enter Early Access later this year. Sega will now publish that game, as well as assuming responsibility for the back catalogue of Endless games, which includes Dungeon of the Endless, a fantastic tower-defense/roguelike hybrid.
Amplitude are one of the smartest young strategy studios around and they join Creative Assembly, Relic and Sports Interactive (Football Manager is a strategy game) in Sega's stable of PC developers. That's a mighty strong line-up for a company that old men like me still associate with ancient consoles and platform games rather than PC publishing.
]]>Perhaps Amplitude's award-winning strategy game really is endless. A large free update for Endless Legend [official site] is due to land sometime today and there will be two cash-money chunks of DLC arriving alongside. The free stuff comes under the heading Forges of Creation and brings AI improvements, new modding tools, including compatibility with free map editor Tiled and the ability to reskin 3D units. There will also be Steam Workshop integration. The two purchasable packs contain new music, items and minor faction quests. More details below.
]]>That rag-tag gang of mercenaries from Team Fortress 2 are at it again, "it" being "appearing in other games made by other people." This time they've popped up in Dungeon of the Endless [official site], the really very good roguelikelike tower defence game by Amplitude Studios.
The free Australium update launched yesterday, adding the TF2 Pyro, Medic, Heavy, and Engineer to Dungeon's lineup of playable characters. But wait, there's more! It also added five new TF2-y items. The game's on sale too.
]]>One of the year's Bestest Best Games is currently discounted by 50% on Steam. The game is Endless Legend, Amplitude's superb 4X fantasy game, and it's currently £13.49, but only until 6pm GMT. The discounts extend to all three of the studio's releases, so you can also grab debut title Endless Space and this year's brilliantly inventive roguelike door defense thing Dungeon of the Endless for £4.99 each. There's also a bundle with all three plus DLC for £30.49. If you need to know more, our reviews of Dungeon and Legend are here to help, and Jim and I wrote about Endless Legend as part of our December festivities.
]]>Amplitude are having a very good year. The studio's debut release, Endless Space, was a good 4X game but the follow-up, Endless Legend, is a great 4X game. I'm fairly sure there hasn't been a better release in the genre this year. Along with that, there's Dungeon of the Endless, a smart cocktail that contains a dash of roguelike, a splash of tower defence and several fingers of cunning twists.
Endless Legend, as you might expect given the name, isn't quite done yet. A second free add-on has just been announced. It's called Visions of the Unseen and the first details are below.
]]>I am playing a game for love this weekend, Rock, Paper, Shotgun-eers. Or, quite possibly, unrequited infatuation. Dungeon of the Endless is my current poison of choice. I remember feeling a mild throb of interest, the first time that I laid eyes on the game. It was pretty but I wasn't sure whether we occupied the same headspace. But then time passed and the game released. I picked it up because, why not?
And now I am hooked like a a fat trout in a lake filled with hungry fishermen.
]]>Dungeon of the Endless is a roguelike defense game that rewards fast thinking, inventive solutions and tactical awareness. No, that's not quite right. Dungeon of the Endless is a cocktail of genres that rewards inhuman omnividence, uncanny forward thinking and strategic oversight. Closer?
Dungeon of the Endless is an original creation made of familiar parts and further proof that Amplitude are a studio enjoying a rapid ascent to peak power.
]]>Dungeon Of The Endless, one third of the Endless trilogy of genres from Amplitude Studios, is now officially released. Version 1.0.15 of the roguelite dungeon defender/explorer is up on Steam, and has a dashing new trailer to celebrate the launch.
]]>The three-game Endless universe and its interconnecting lore is one of my favourite games-related tidbits right now. Amplitude Studios' two in-development games, Endless Legend--a fantastical grand strategy--and Dungeon of the Endless--a roguelike dungeon crawling/tower defense--are both prequels to Endless Space. It all ties together wonderfully, with monsters from Dungeon being minor races in Legend, some of whom have become playable factions by Space. While Dungeon is still wandering the halls of Early Access, Legend is launching onto Steam proper on September 18th.
]]>I've had my eye on Dungeon of the Endless ever since its mysterrrrrrrrrious "what's behind the door" reveal campaign (which actually ended up being rather clever). The randomized roguelike-like dungeon defender is about preparation and exploration, with players defending a generator using all sorts of tools and emplacements while cautiously edging through doors that hide writhing horrors of increasing power. You also meet and team up with all sorts of deranged sci-fi/fantasy prisoners along the way. Basically, it's RPS Advent Calendar: The Game, only less fatal. Oh, and it's a really pretty, highly unexpected offshoot of Endless Space, a wonderful 4X strategy. I can play it right now via Steam Early Access, and so I shall.
]]>The endless endlessness, it never ends! In the beginning, there was Endless Space, and it was endlessly space-y. Recently, we also told you of Endless Legend, which is another 4X strategy set in the same universe, only all fantasy-fied. But let's not forget about Dungeon of the Endless, which Amplitude teased shortly before getting sucked into the time-distorting, endlessly cacophonous Gamescom hypehole. At that point, all we had to go on was a rather painfully un-endless trailer, which cut off right before we found out what was HASHTAG BEHIND THE DOOR WOOOOOOO. But now... oh, now we know. And I can guarantee that you will be shocked and surprised probably.
]]>Space is ever-expanding. It is, for all intents and purposes, endless. Thus, when Amplitude asserted as much with much-loved 4x strategy Endless Space, I was totally on board. "Space? Endlessness?" I said. "Yep, all checks out. Looks like I won't have to get the Title Police involved after all. You folks behave yourselves now, ya hear?" And then I strolled off into the hungry hills, ever vigilant for a new entry in the Kingdom Hearts franchise. But dungeons? Those can't just go on forever. I mean, it'd defeat the purpose. Why lock some doer of grievous wrongs up in a never-ending expanse? "You are hereby confined to infinity. There are no limits on what you can accomplish. Good luck, sucker." I might just have to let Dungeon of the Endless off the hook, though, because of reasons. Mainly, it looks pretty great - even if we don't know a whole lot about it yet.
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