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Epigenesis trailer shows why it won the Make Something Unreal contest

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Epigenesis is out on Early Access; here’s our Epigenesis review.

Looking like a cross between Shootmania and Orcs Must Die, Epigenesis tasks two teams with carrying a ball from the centre of the map to the opponents goal. This simple aim is complicated by each team’s ability to grow vast plant defences on their half of the pitch. Oh, and tornadoes.

When you see the trailer you’ll understand why it won this year’s Make Something Unreal contest: it looks brill.

The game’s movement is the first things that grips about Dead Shark Triple Punch’s shooter. (Well, the logo intro itself is one of the best I’ve seen.) It’s reminiscent of the low gravity levels in the original Unreal Tournament, particularly how exposed a long jump makes you. Also, that hits in the air stop your forward motion and can potentially drop your through the level cracks is a neat idea, it should mean that players need to be deliberate in their moves and not simply leap about the place like a mayfly.

The choice to go with a blend of stripped down eSport environments (a la Shootmania) but then having the players build on them with natural defenses is a cool juxtaposition. It makes the players noticeably leave their mark across the map and should have the benefit of making the level readable – one of the downsides of grey-paletted shooters like Dust 514 is that you can’t make out a level’s architecture easily.

There’s no word on when the team will be releasing a retail version of Epigenesis but, after that trailer, sooner would be better.

You can read more about Epigenesis and the team in Jeremy’s coverage of Make Something Unreal.