Outposters

THE BLOCK IS YOURS. KEEP IT.

The outbreak took the city in a week. Everything still standing runs on one thing: the core your squad is holding. Every wave, more of them come for it. Every gap between waves, you go out and take whatever the city has left.

OUTPOSTERS is a 1-4 player co-op third-person shooter with a rogue-lite core. Defend, scavenge, upgrade, repeat - until the block holds or it doesn't.

THE LOOP

• Defend - The horde comes for the core. Hold the perimeter with your squad, the streets and whatever you're carrying.

• Scavenge - Between waves the city opens up. Weapons, ammo, medkits and supply drops are out there - and so is everything that didn't join the assault.

• Upgrade - Pull a base upgrade off a laptop in the field and carry it home: pulse cores, auto-turrets, repair drones, shield blooms, an overcharge that clears the yard.

• Recall - Get back to the core before the next wave lands. Take damage on the way and the teleport cancels.

FIVE OPERATORS

Every operator has their own stat line and three abilities. Pick the one that covers what your squad is missing.

• VERA - Soldier. Heavy weapons, suppressing fire and a combat signal that buffs everyone standing near her.

• DOCTOR - Chemist. Toxic clouds, antidote fields, and stamina that simply does not run out.

• NYX - Assassin. Shadow step, execution marks, lethal from behind - and one mistake from the floor.

• KAIN - Wanderer. Grapple shot, recon scans, no bad matchup and no great one either.

• MURDAR - Survivor. Firm stance, second wind, and the kind of endurance that turns a wipe into a save.

NEARLY FORTY WEAPONS, MOST OF THEM SCRAP

Pistols, dual pistols, shotguns, rifles, a sniper rifle, a flamethrower, a chainsaw and a rocket launcher if the city is feeling generous - plus katanas, fire axes, sledgehammers, nailed bats, crowbars and pipe wrenches. Grenades, molotovs and pipe bombs for when the yard fills up. Melee is a real combo chain, not a panic button. Everything you find goes on the wheel, and everything on the wheel runs out.

THE INFECTED HAVE JOBS

Runners rush you. Spitters shell the core from range. Leapers come over cover. Bombers close the distance and detonate. Screamers call the block down on you. Bloaters leave poison where they die, Armored Riots do not care about your pistol - and every fourth wave, something much bigger arrives.

WHAT'S IN THE GAME

• Sixteen waves and four bosses, solo or 1-4 player online co-op over Steam.

• Five difficulties from Normal to Apocalypse, and curses on top for squads that want it worse.

• Endless Siege after the last boss, with a Steam leaderboard.

• Weapons that unlock as you play, goals for every operator, and cosmetics earned on the higher difficulties.

• Ten languages: English, Turkish, German, French, Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese and Japanese.

The free demo is still up: the first eight waves and two bosses. If the block held for you there, the other eight are waiting.