Redeemer, the top-down brawler about a murderer-turned-monk, will be out in August

Redeemer is a top-down action game about an elite spy and assassin named Vasily, who after a long and illustrious career manages to escape his corporate overlords just before they turn him into a cyborg murder-machine. He retreats to a secluded monastery and spends 20 years seeking peace, redemption, and an escape from his past.

But now the corporation has hunted him down, and so meditation and inner harmony is out, and killing everything that moves with "combat knifes, batons, fire axes, hammers," and of course plenty of guns is in. A release date hadn't been set when we first looked at Redeemer earlier this year, but today publisher Gambitious announced that it will be out on August 1.

The game will feature a story driven campaign that will uncover the secrets of Vasily's "haunted past" and the "journey of betrayal and redemption" that followed, as well as a horde-style Arena Mode for testing and practicing fighting moves. You can take a noisy approach to solving your problems—like, chainsaw-to-the-face kind of noisy—or you can go with a lighter, stealthier touch, although Vasily doesn't really strike me as a "get it done quietly" kind of guy.

The trailer has obvious echoes of Hotline Miami, but the visual style and apparent lack of insta-death reminds me more of Shadowgrounds. Either way, it promises much violence (if there was any doubt, Redeemer's subtitle is literally "Violence Awakened") and looks like it could be a lot of fun. It will be available for $15 on Steam and GOG, and you can find out more at redeemerthegame.com.

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.