Hack first, slash later if necessary. That’s the mantra of Double Fine’s genuinely unprecedented top-down Zelda-like. It’s not about hacking bits off orcs, nor even hacking the mainframe, man, but rather actual rearrangement of the game’s code in real time to suit your needs.
It’s also just now become Double Fine’s second game to launch on Steam Early Access.
“We’re releasing on Early Access so that players can influence the tuning of the mechanics, provide ideas for puzzles, help guide our Steam Workshop integration, and support the final game,” write Double Fine.
“Hack ‘n’ Slash is still in development and there will be bugs, but players who get in now will help us improve a game that can expose people to a whole new way of playing and thinking about games.”
Hyperbolic? Maybe. But based in a kernel of truth: Hack ‘n’ Slash will have players reprogram object properties, hijack global variables and alter creature behavior – in short, rewrite the game’s code.
If that sounds like a recipe for crashes, check that ‘Early Access’ tag again.
Hack ‘n’ Slash follows Double Fine’s Space Base DF-9, which released on Early Access with a dearth of features that made it less than fun. Will you wait this one out, do you think, or is its conceit tempting enough to reprogram your wariness value?