Watch a Heat Signature mission go completely wrong in a new trailer

Big things are afoot in the world of Heat Signature, the outer-space stealth game being developed by Gunpoint creator (and former PC Gamer editor) Tom Francis. A new trailer showcases some of the game's factions, which are now working, as well as teleporters and the many different ways that things can go wrong when you're trying to kidnap someone quietly. Francis also announced that he's moving, temporarily, to Bellevue, where he'll spend the next few months working on the game at Valve.

"They want my input on something, and I’d obviously welcome theirs on Heat Sig, so I’ve accepted their offer to come and work on it at their offices instead of my bedroom," Francis explained. "I’ll still be independent, self-employed and pretty much full time on Heat Sig, but I’m very excited to be around people again—especially these people. I’ll be there for 3 months at most, at which point the siren song of visa waiver laws will call me home."

He's also looking for a bit of help while he's there, in the form of a programmer to help him finish the game. The primary focus will be on fixing bugs, improving performance, and adding more technical features, and it'll be in-person work, so you'll need to be local if you want to apply. The good news for the rest of us is that Heat Signature is now almost "feature-complete," which means we'll hopefully be able to actually start playing the thing in the not-too-distant future.

For now, we can see it in action in the care and control of Francis, who takes on a mission he clearly shouldn't and makes a hash of things from the moment he steps out the door. He does an admirable job of dodging enemy fire and killing people (which is completely against the mission parameters, but sometimes a man has to improvise), right up to the moment that he blows himself through a window and into space. Before he does, though, we get a good look at some of the game's mechanics, including the ability to pause in the midst of catastrophe to take stock of the situation and issue orders—there looks to be a strong puzzle game element to Heat Signature—and also a few of the interesting gadgets on hand, like the "high-capacity snake teleporter."

Heat Signature still doesn't have a release date, (although I'd say "sometime this year" is looking pretty good), but you can poke at it a bit more on Steam or at heatsig.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.