Words can’t express how much I utterly despise you-have-to-be-online-to-play DRM, especially when we’re talking about the single player part of a game. It seems the developer of Miner Wars 2081 have realized how annoying it is, because in a recent update the game added an offline campaign mode for the Steam version. But wait, there’s more!
However, before we get to what else is new, here’s a quick rundown for those unfamiliar with the game: you’re in charge of a mining ship in a 6DOF open-world environment, which is both fully destructible and persistent between missions, so be careful where you fire those lasers because the world around you doesn’t ‘reset’! It’s playable solo, co-operatively or in versus multiplayer, with a wide variety of missions and an overarching story to make space feel less like a big empty… space. Alright, let’s move on to what else this update contains:
- Cheats – infinite ammo, immortality, skip to any mission, and more (Ctrl+F1 in game)
- 2.5D Experiment – multiplayer 2.5D add-on for MW 2081 – available as a set of 2.5D death-match maps (all 2.5D sectors have 2.5D as a prefix)
Cheats?! Who needs cheats? I do like the 2.5D bit though… Oh and they’re working on rewriting the entire engine from XNA to DirectX for further optimization, which I for one am looking forward to since my PC hardware is rubbish. In other good news, though perhaps of greater importance to Keen Software House a.s. than their customers: Miner Wars 2081 just passed 50,000 sales, so congratulations on reaching that milestone.
Miner Wars 2081 is available on Steam, so do keep it in mind the next time you’re in the mood for a “6DOF action-survival space-shooter simulation-game” (what? that’s how the developer describes it).
(Source: Miner Wars 2081 forum)
