Bonkers strategy game Pit People springs out of Early Access

I've had an eye on Pit People ever since Tom played a chunk of it last year, and described how he went to battle with a squad consisting of a unicorn, a man wielding a sharpened candy cane, and a sentient cupcake. It's a turn-based strategy game with an absurd cartoon art style and a story—complete with side missions—that you can play through solo or in co-op. Developer The Behemoth, also of Castle Crashers, sent it into Early Access a year ago, and now it's out for good.

Don't expect massively deep strategy here: the battlefield is pretty open and your units will automatically attack anyone they come in range of, so it's your job to put them in the right position to deal out (or avoid) damage. That doesn't mean it's simple, though, especially when you've got dozens of movement paths and icons on screen (Tom thought it was a little cluttered, so hopefully that's been sorted out during Early Access).

A lot of the depth comes in the form of squad and character customisation—you can outfit and equip your group of up to six fighters however you please, and there are more than 1,500 unlockable items. Admittedly, some of the differences between them are purely cosmetic, but some will drastically change the way you play.

It seems like a substantial package, with 200 regions to explore, both insane and permadeath modes for those who want to ramp up the challenge, and up to four-player PvP combat as part of daily tournaments. If you've been playing in Early Access, then the launch update slots in the final four story quests and adds a new world map with 15 bonus missions. You can read the full change log here.

For now, it costs the same as it did in Early Access, $15/£11, but on March 13 the price will go up to $20. Here's the Steam page, if you fancy it.

Again, Tom's piece is here if you want to take a closer look. Just remember that he played it before it went into Early Access.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.