dreamkiller posts

One of the cooler elements of Valve's Steam service is that it allows folks to download and play a full game for free for a limited period of time. Games that have used this offer include Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead and Unreal Tournament 3. Beginning today, Steam users will be able to play the recent first person shooter Dreamkiller for free for the rest of the weekend.

The game, released last October by developer Mindware Studios and publisher Aspyr, features a single player campaign where a woman enters the mind of patients and battles their manifestations with, well, firearms. There's also a number of multiplayer modes. Dreamkiller is also on sale from now until Monday for 25 percent off its normal Steam price.

Big Download has learned through several unnamed but reliable sources that Austin, Texas based game publisher Aspyr Media has laid off a large amount of its team members a couple of weeks ago. One of our sources estimated that over 50 percent of the workers were let go with only a handful of team members now remaining in the offices.

Aspyr Media began in 1996 as a major Mac game developer and publisher but has expanded over the years to include PC and console titles. This year it released several PC games including a number of titles from Russia-based 1C Company. Last month the publisher released Star Wars The Force Unleashed Ultimate Edition for the PC to retail stores and Dreamkiller as a Steam download exclusive. Most recently the company was responsible for the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network port of the original Call of Duty game. Big Download has both emailed and called Aspyr Media to get any official comments on their current situation.

The crazy over-the-top shooter Dreamkiller released as a Steam PC digital download exclusive today, and this trailer marks its launch. It looks like entering the minds of other to do battle with their worst nightmares comes with a high degree of risk and mortal danger. Good thing Alice packs plenty of anti-phobia firepower.

"Dreamkiller takes players deep inside the minds of the mentally disturbed as Dr. Alice Drake attempts to cleanse their conscious and subconscious of the demons that haunt them. Take the journey through over a dozen different patients, mindscapes and face off against the personal hell that torments each of them. With a myriad of upgradable weapons, Alice's own special abilities and non-stop enemy onslaughts. "

Download HD Dreamkiller 'Alice' Trailer (91 MB)
Check out all Dreamkiller downloads

After a busy last few weeks, things on the new PC game release front slow down a tad for this week. In addition to the games listed below you can also get the Fallout 3: Game Of The Year edition this week which has the original game and all five previously released downloadable mini-expansions. Also this week comes another collection of previously released material, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Collection.

NBA 2K10: While EA has pretty much abandoned the PC market for its sports games, 2K Sports is releasing their latest pro basketball game for PC owners as well as their console audience. Sports game developers Visual Concepts are in charge of this title which has features like updates and news that will reflect the real NBA season.

A couple of months back we first reported on Dreamkiller, an upcoming first person shooter from developer Mindware Studios and publisher Aspyr that would be using a modified version of the Painkiller graphics engine. Today, Big Download confirmed with an Aspyr PR rep that the PC version of Dreamkiller will bypass a retail release (at least for now) and will only be made available as a Steam exclusive downloadable game (the Xbox 360 version will still ship to stores).

The PC version will be released for Steam owners on October 12 although at the moment there's no way to pre-order the game from the Steam store. The PC version will have support for Steamworks features like achievements, the Steve Cloud and leaderboards.

The developers at Mindware Studios provide some insight into the creation of Dreamkiller, what the game is all about and who the main character, Alice Drake is. She makes a profession out of entering people's disturbed minds and exorcising their demons. We're not quite sure how much cunning it smarts it takes to dive into someone's psyche and unload a mess of bullets and explosive ordinance on someone's childhood trauma, but we'll find out soon enough since the game is expected to release in October.

"Dreamkiller takes players deep inside the minds of the mentally disturbed as Dr. Alice Drake attempts to cleanse their conscious and subconscious of the demons that haunt them. Take the journey through over a dozen different patients, mindscapes and face off against the personal hell that torments each of them. With a myriad of upgradable weapons, Alice's own special abilities and non-stop enemy onslaughts. "

Download HD Dreamkiller Behind-the-Scenes Video (160 MB)
Check out all Dreamkiller downloads

For the past two days Big Download has been going over the games that are currently scheduled for release in the fall/holiday time period, which is traditionally been the busiest time for the game industry. You can check out Part One and Part Two of our report here.

Today we conclude our series with the third and final part of our preview as we look at games that will be released from mid-November to early December. We also have some games that as of yet do not have a specific release date but are still scheduled to be released sometime this fall. Once again we remind you that release dates can be fluid; we will report on any changes in ship dates as we learn about them.

Click on the image above to continue reading The Big PC Games for Fall 2009 - Part 3

Dreamkiller might sound like the title of a game where players find some way to crush the hopes of aspiring musicians, artists and athletes, but it's actually an a completely over-the-top shooter that follows in the same vein as games like (surpise!) Painkiller. Dreamkiller's developers, Mindware Studios, also worked on Painkiller Overdose. In it, players take the role of Alice Drake, a psychologist with the ability to enter people's dreams and literally blast away the root of neurotic disorders. Players will have an access to a variety of high powered weapons to fight through 12 bizarre levels that reflect the disturbed minds of each patient. The game is expected to release this holiday season for the PC and Xbox 360.

Download HD Dreamkiller Teaser Trailer (80 MB)

This fall Aspyr Media is bringing a new first person shooter franchise over to the PC platform. Dreamkiller is the newly revealed game from developer Mindware Studios who previously created the 2007 FPS title Painkiller Overdose (and yes, Painkiller and Dreamkiller do sound kind of similar) This new game is promising to be "fast, frantic and mega-bloodbath first-person shooter", at least according to the official press release.

The game itself takes place in the minds of the patients of psychologist Alice Drake. She doesn't just sit on a couch listening to odd stories. She also enters her patent's dreams and battles their mental demon. The first screenshots from the game show that battling dream demons requires some heavy ordinance. In addition to single player, Dreamkiller is promising some multiplayer modes as well as supernatural powers.

[Via email press release]