SitRep: Besiege

Title: Besiege
Developer: Spiderling Games
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
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Back in January, I posted about Besiege and its medieval physics-based vehicular chaos. For an early alpha, the level of polish was astounding, and the game has only been improved since then.

The new island of Tolbrynd joined the original island, with five new levels of fortifications to raze. The next update, coming in July, will expand this island with five more levels.

To compliment the challenges, a varied array of new parts have been added. Drill heads, different sized cogs, a powerful shrapnel cannon, new wheel types, and more, as well as improvements and refinements to the building interface, have provided myriad new ways to design machines.

The upcoming update will also add Steam Workshop support, making it easier than ever before to be amazed by the inventive designs from the community.

Besiege is available for $6.99 on Steam Early Access and through Humble.

PC Review #113: Besiege

Title: Besiege

Developer: Spiderling Games

Platforms: PC

Price: $6.99

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Destruction is fun. Anyone who played Red Faction: Guerrilla surely remembers the joy of driving trucks through buildings or collapsing towers with a few swings of your sledgehammer. Besiege takes the vehicle construction you love from games like Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and injects it with a dose of physics, blood, and medieval destruction, as you build powerful siege engines to level castles and lay waste to armies.

From the moment you start Besiege, the polish put in the game is evident. The two-man team behind Spiderling Games have been working on Besiege since late 2013 and it shows in every aspect of the game, from the slick menu designs to the building UI that makes constructing vehicles effortless. It's the little details that stand out: wood beams snap in half when broken, blood stains your blades and the ground, your structure collapses and falls apart realistically when aflame, buildings crumble under the might of your cannon fire or swinging maces.

The current version of Besiege offers fifteen levels, with more to come in future updates. While your objectives are not that complex (ranging from destroying a specific building, destroying a certain amount of enemies, to transporting resources), building something that can steer effectively, withstand damage, and attack without breaking apart from recoil or movement can be tough. Half the fun in this game is experimenting and learning from your failures and tweaking your designs. Blocks at your disposal include everything from armor plating, pistons, Kerbal Space Program-style detachers, wings, and propellers to an arsenal of maces, cannons, and devastating saw blades. This toolset allows you to create all kinds of unstoppable killing machines. A mace-armed behemoth. A rolling windmill of death. A spring-loaded scorpion tail ending in a flamethrower. The variety of silly and creative builds you can create in Besiege is vast.

Besiege is currently only at the 0.01 alpha stage, but honestly, the game doesn't feel like an alpha. It's an easy-to-play, polished experience, both in terms of visuals and gameplay and in performance. It's fun and enjoyable, and you can spend hours messing around and building new and more ludicrous ways to complete your objectives. Besiege was Greenlit recently, and the devs plan to have the game on Steam Early Access "very soon". You can purchase the game through Humble, and learn more about Besiege and its development on the developer's site.