Afterfall: Reconquest

The game like its predecessor is a third-person shooter. However unlike the survival horror gameplay of the first game it is a story-driven shooter with a semi-open world.[1] The art style of the game is comic book-style black-and-white with items of interests highlighted in red. The aiming style of the game is a centered one.[2] The player faces both human and non-human enemies in the game with mutants being the most common enemies and he has two types of weapons at his disposal. One are the conventional types of weapons with limited ammunition, for example a 10-mm handgun, and the other are energy-based weapons which recharge over time. The player can also zoom in with the weapons. The Reaper said player is in control of has access to three separate "powers" at any given time. The life drain power drains life energy from the mutants the player slaughtered and converts it to his own, a hand-mounted shotgun and the holographic shield that protects from damage but drains the energy ammunition whenever it takes damage. The player can also lure enemies to narrow alleyways where gunfire can sometimes ricochet.[3] The mutants which are the most common enemies attack using their claws while the human enemies use weapons. The player is given quests by characters in the game that encourage exploration of the maps of the game which are usually linked through tunnels.[4]

The game takes place 63 years after the events of the previous game in a post-apocalyptic world. Those that found shelter in "sanctuary cities" in mountains survived the nuclear holocaust. After some years, the resources in these cities began to run out and the survivors were forced to venture in the outside world to find places suitable for life. The game features three powerful factions which are the Hartor, Irivdali and Red Eye.

On October 19, 2012, the developer Nicolas Entertainment Group revealed that a sequel of the game would be developed through the creation of a Facebook page "Pearl of the Wasteland". The game was titled Afterfall: Pearl of the Wasteland.[5] The title of the game was later changed to Afterfall: Reconquest due to a change in the format of the game. Due to the changing of the title, the name of the Facebook page was also changed. Concept art, new information and pictures about the game were posted on the website.[6] The game was announced to be episodic[7] and consisting of nine episodes each focusing on different overlapping scenarios.[8]

On July 21, 2014, Intoxicate Studios revealed that an early access version of the game would be released on Steam Early Access on July 24, 2014. A teaser trailer and screenshots of the game were also released. The early access version of Episode 1 was released on July 24, 2014, and contained a small part of the entirety of the full episode.[9][10] In November 2014, update 1.4 for the early access version was released that added improvements to the game along with a journal for quest logs. Also update 1.5 was announced.[11] In December 2014, update 1.5 was released which added a new art style of the game.[12]

On January 20, 2015, the developers revealed that the first episode would be released in the last week of February and that an accurate release date would be revealed later on.[13] On February 9, they revealed the release date of the first episode as February 19.[14] The episode was released on Steam on the announced date.[15]

The developer declared itself bankrupt in an application to a court in Katowice on June 8, 2015, as a result of legal dispute with Epic Games, the creators of Unreal Engine 3. Epic Games had filed a lawsuit in October 2012 over overdue royalties for using their game engine. A month later, the developers were ordered by the court to cease production and distribution of a video game as well as hand out all the data carriers with the game engine. After the developers failed to comply, Epic Games contacted Valve which blocked the video games made by it from being sold on Steam by May 2015.[16]