If you’re a fan of Half-Life, you’re going to love getting stuck into Kvark, the FPS that lets you loose in 1980s Czechia and forces you to escape from a crumbling underground facility. And now, the game has a very exciting update that offers five new levels of gameplay, four new enemies, and glowing toxic waste—what more could you want?
You’d be forgiven for not hearing of Kvark before. You’re unlikely to find it on many lists of the best FPS games, but that’s nothing to do with the quality of the project. Kvark is one of the new kids on the block, having first dropped in June 2023, but the game has improved rapidly since its first launch.
As of Thursday January 25, Kvark has received substantial upgrades as part of its Chapter Two update and, with a wealth of new challenges standing in your way, this may just have a shot at being one of the most complex yet satisfying puzzle games on PC this year. It may not have as many weird aliens as Half-Life, but we’ll forgive that for now.
The update is available on Steam right now, and the message from the creators reads: “We are finally back with a new chapter. Including plenty of new features and improvements. You can now explore the second chapter with five brand-new levels, each offering unique challenges and puzzles. Including many new enemies and weapons.”
As well as the more obvious new content, Chapter Two also brings reworked AI behaviors to improve NPC actions and environment changes. There has also been improvements made to the visual elements of the game, bringing a cleaner color grade and a more cinematic grain to the screen.
The attention to detail this time around is highly impressive, too. Kvark now comes with a fresh selection of in-game perks, advanced statistics, and the developers have even tweaked the HUD and user interface. And, as promised, toxic items now glow, which let’s face it, is the only thing anyone really wants from a PC game, right?
Kvark Chapter Two launches as a free update on Thursday January 25. It’s available as a free Steam download for all players who own the game already. If you’re yet to get on the Kvark hype, it’ll cost you $15.99 to do so now.
If you’ve completed Half-Life, and survived Kvark already, then you probably have some time to reflect on why Half-Life is still the best game Valve ever made. You can also find lots more to play with our lists of the best free Steam games, or go back in time once more with our list of the best old games on PC.
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