The Bitmap Brothers' classic steampunk shooter The Chaos Engine is getting a remake/reboot

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If you remember steampunk co-op shooter The Chaos Engine , then you are officially Old. I'm sorry to break it to you, but those low-slung trousers and your inappropriate use of the word 'hench' is fooling nobody. On the bright side, however, I have some news that (if you're anything like me) will make you do your special Happy Dance. Just be careful you don't break a hip. The Chaos Engine is being remade/rebooted! And it's being published by Hotline Miami co-conspirators Devolver Digital! Stick around for a brief, entirely content-free teaser trailer.

Well, there we go. I feel suitably teased, how about you? If you do remember the original, you'll recall that it's a top-down action game with a huge emphasis on co-op (or 'multiplayer' as we called it back in the day). The six playable characters, who you've just seen behind frosted glass, have their own styles of play - obviously you'll want to mix and match for the best results.

The website has this to say about the reboot/remake/reboomake: "Prepare for the dark world of The Chaos Engine, a steampunk Victorian age in which one or two players must battle the hostile creations of the Chaos Engine across four dynamic landscapes and take part in the ultimate battle." You can now pre-order it on GetGames , which reveals that it's going to use Steam.

There's no more information yet (the game is at Rezzed this weekend), but as the cast, and number of levels, appears to be the same as the original, I have a feeling we might be in for a graphically improved HD-style remake rather than a fully fledged reboot. In any case, we'll know more soon. In the meantime, here's a reminder of what the original Amiga game looked like:

Tom Sykes
Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.