Metrocide now available on Early Access ahead of December release

According to our recent interview with Metrocide studio Flat Earth Games, the stealth shooter was due to release in August. That hasn't happened yet, and fair enough too: the indie studio has been too busy optimising the game's difficulty. Should it be "really hard" or "excruciatingly hard"? How hard is too hard? Flat Earth Games wants you to help them answer these questions, thus they've made the game available on Early Access until the game's final November / December release date.

“From the very beginning, we decided we wanted Metrocide to be hard," a spokeperson for the studio wrote on the game's Steam page. "Every time we've finished the game, we've made it harder and tried again. Cops, security cameras, gang members and vigilantes mix with permadeath to make sure that no matter how armed to the teeth you might be, one wrong move and you're back at square one (although you will keep all the unlocks)."

The studio said that it's happy with the game from a technical perspective but that it didn't want to go overboard with the difficulty. "The short time we intend to be in Early Access will be centred around balancing the game (the last third or so in particular), to make sure that it's as punishing as we intend it to be, but also that it's punishing in the right way.”

Metrocide is available now on Early Access.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.