If you don’t know what a six-degrees-of-freedom shooter is then you probably don’t know what Descent is either. It’s a PC gaming classic, for the record, one that was released back in 1995 – promptly making many of its players feel very sick.

Why? A six-degrees-of-freedom shooter has you moving through large rooms and tight corridors – well, float through them, really – in zero-g, able to rotate freely in the air so that you can easily lose track of where the floor is.

Turns out that knowing the difference between the floor and the ceiling isn’t all that important in these kinds of games, though. All you really need to know is where your enemies are so you can either go on a high-speed chase, blasting their backside, or engage in a peek-and-pop showdown.

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Now, why are we talking about Descent? It turns out that the creators of that relic have now made a new game – and yes, it’s a six-degrees-of-freedom shooter. Overload is the result of taking 20+ years of advances in game design and technology and applying it to the original idea found in Descent.

The game is all about flying through sci-fi corridors – you know the type: grey, blue, steely, sharp angles, dark corners – in order to blast down a robot army that are out to kill you and, if that isn’t possible, flee in terror.

There are more than 20 types of this agressive metal orb and three bosses to take on. It’s handy, then, that you can upgrade your own ship with armour and nasty weapons. Fly, shoot, repair and upgrade – that’s what this game is all about. And it feels great.

Overload has been on Steam Early Access for a while now but is due for a full release on May 31. It will have a single-player campaign, challenge modes, a level editor, and VR support.

In order to make sure Overload’s multiplayer is as good as it should be, the developer is holding a beta test weekend that you can join in if you have a key. And, oh, looky – we have 2000 beta keys for Overload below. Just complete one of the actions in the widget below and you should receive your key.Please read ourterms and conditionsbefore you enter.

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Overload giveaway

