Update: Delays and problems, it seems. The free 5-day weekend thing has been delayed until the 15th. Guess it’ll be a couple more weeks until we can hit the battlefields of tomorrow.

When you advertise a ‘free weekend’ for your game, it usually leads people to assume that it’ll happen over the weekend. Netherlands-based indies Interwave Studios dare to think different, though. Starting this December 1st and continuing until the 5th, everyone will be able to download and play their interesting FPS/RTS hybrid Nuclear Dawn for free via Steam. Accompanying this will be a permanent price-drop to a more palatable $20, and a range of temporary perks on top of a recently-released mod toolkit.

In the style of Savage and Natural Selection before it, Nuclear Dawn splits each team into two key elements; a near-omniscient commander who plays the game as an RTS, building bases and directing units around, and squads of human soldiers, carrying out their commanders orders and making sure that the enemy players don’t scupper your plans for world domination. All this is wrapped up in a post-apocalyptic setting, with fancy power-armored future US & Russian forces (branded the Consortium and the Empire respectively) duking it out over the ruined and scorched setting.

By all accounts the game is flawed at worst, but excellent when all the pieces fall into place. Victory for any team hinges on the capabilities of the commander, and that’s a lot of pressure to put on a single player. The everpresent plague of indie multiplayer games – a lack of players – is, of course, the greatest obstacle, but that’s exactly what this free weekend and price-drop hope to address. The more new blood in brings in, the better the game becomes, and the more resources the developers have to further continue development. For that reason, I wish them every bit of success and can’t wait to get my hands on the game for a proper look at it come Thursday.

[Nuclear Dawn]

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