November 22, 2019, shall be known as the day of the retro shooter. With Doom Eternal still a ways off, a ton of indie devs have taken to satiating FPS fans by releasing either free content or early access builds. Not wishing to be left out of the fun, indie developer Indefatigable has released a free DLC pack for its hit shooter Amid Evil. In it is some early alpha content that was changed for the final release.
Titled the "Ancient Alphas," players can now experience the early days of Amid Evil over the course of 2016 and 2017. Five different builds give players the chance to tinker with older versions of existing guns and explore different layouts to levels that made it into the final product. It's a rare look at the developmental process behind making our favorite titles, something the industry is only now recognizing as an important part of history.
Accessing the DLC is a little tricky. While a news update on Amid Evil's store page has a link, Steam doesn't actually recognize it. I managed to force my Steam client to open the page, but it simply booted Amid Evil instead of grabbing the content. To get it, you'll need to right-click on Amid Evil in your library, click on properties, then open the "DLC" tab. The content is free for anyone with the main game, so just click the checkmark to install and you're set.
This isn't the most substantial of additions, but Amid Evil doesn't really need it. The campaign is briskly paced and loaded with a ton of interesting levels and encounters. It not only perfectly captures what made 90s shooters great, but it also improves on them by not putting all of its best ideas in the beginning. The last episode of Amid Evil really needs to be seen to be believed.
So what are you waiting for, Champion? Grab your ax, slay some demons, and get cracking! Those monsters aren't going to kill themselves, after all! You need to protect the realms, even if these are ancient versions of them.
Source: Steam Community