Co-op horror game The Blackout Club emerges from Early Access in July

The co-op horror game The Blackout Club, about a group of kids investigating a horrific mystery in their spooky neighborhood, made a big impression when we looked at it last year, just ahead of its October 2018 launch on Steam Early Access: James called it "a legitimately terrifying cooperative game where the horror emerges from clever systems and enemies designed to ratchet up the tension using the same clear, unrelenting logic of the best movie monsters."

That's pretty high praise, and there have been multiple updates since then, which have fixed bugs and made performance improvements, and also added significant new content including missions, areas, and more oddball (that is, freaky-sounding) stuff like the Enhanced Horror System, which enables the game to record your "vocalizations" while you play (without impacting other microphone settings) and then "use it to create the most immersive possible horror experience, both for you and other players."

It's all apparently coming together well, as developer Question has announced that The Blackout Club will leave Early Access and go into full release on July 30. The full and proper launch of the game will see more fixes and polish, and the addition of a large new above-ground region. It will also bring about an increase on the $20 Early Access price—although it's currently on sale for $16/£12/€13 in the Steam Summer Sale.

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.