Underrail - Arcanum meets Metro 2033 - is available to alpha-buy now

Underrail is an isometric, post-apocalyptic roleplaying game inspired by Fallout, Arcanum and even System Shock 2, which is almost the perfect sentence until you add the part that it's set in a series of underground train tunnels, which pretty much makes it Metro 2033: the isometric RPG. Now it's the perfect sentence, and - to my tastes - probably the most enticing game summary I've come across lately, so I'm just going to let that sink in while I download the alpha demo of the game.

Aaaand we're back. The headline news here is that Underrail (not the most evocative of names) has just been released on Desura , for the dukely sum of £6.49. And by released, I of course mean 'you can fund continued development by buying the alpha version' - there's no such thing as 'released' anymore. If you prefer to try before you buy, there's a couple-of-months-old demo available here . Developers Stygian Software have handily summarised what's been added to the main release since then:

Huge new urban zone consisting of 8 areas
Big new 'dungeon' consisting of 6 areas (twice as much as the last one)
A couple of 'mini-dungeons'
New quests
New feats
Traps skill
Some updated game mechanics
Re-balanced economy
Food
More weapons and armors
Updated crossbows (feats, special bolts, damage boost)
Various other smaller stuff

I'm particularly excited about "various other smaller stuff", although that "huge new urban zone" sounds pretty appealing too. I'm mightily enjoying what I've played of the demo so far - it's reminiscent of Spiderweb Software's stuff, but with a bigger focus on usability, and with a soundtrack. It's also far more polished than its alpha status would lead you to believe, though admittedly I'm not very far in.

Underrail, once again, is available here . Long-ish gameplay video below.

[Ta, IndieGames ]

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.