Road Redemption adds split-screen multiplayer, gets an E3 gameplay trailer

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Once, when I was younger, I rented a Sega Genesis console for a week just to play Road Rash. I was never particularly good at it, but there was something about rocketing down the highway on two wheels, blowing past oncoming traffic at a thousand miles an hour and clubbing my fellow riders into next week that I just could not get enough of. So when Road Redemption turned up on Kickstarter last year, you better believe I was excited.

A new alpha version released yesterday looks like a big step toward the big finish. The update adds a split-screen mode for two to four players, full support for mouse and keyboard as well as gamepads, a new HUD, new weapons, enemies, "snowy forest" levels, Takedown and Survival mission types, deflect and disarm moves and a whole bunch of other stuff.

The update also comes with a new gameplay trailer that looks very much like the game I remember so fondly. The bike animations are still a bit stiff and floaty, but it sure looks like Road Rash – a much bloodier, more graphic and crash-bang-boomier Road Rash, perhaps, but there's no mistaking the heritage. I still laugh like an idiot whenever a rider runs headlong into an oncoming car and launches himself into orbit, too. You just can't beat classic comedy.

Access to the Road Redemption alpha can be had now for $34, or $70 for the special edition. The full release is expected to be ready to ride near the end of this year.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.