Soldak Entertainment has officially launched Din’s Curse: Demon War, the new expansion for the action RPG out now for $9.99 through the developer–complete with a 30-day money back guarantee. New content includes lots of new quests, the Demon Hunter class, new demonic monsters, more involved NPCs, several new dungeons/caves, and a whole bunch more.

The Windows and OS X demos now reflect all the latest updates and include content from both the base game and the expansion. A new patch (v1.022) has made it through beta as well for both PC and Mac versions, interested parties can pick it up over on Soldak’s patch page.

Arsen reviewed the base title last year, and it’s really come a long way since. Perhaps we need to dive into crawling mode again and see what’s new. Until then, here’s some monsters having a disagreement in the game:

[Soldak Entertainment]

A range of new Vista Points make the game even more picture-postcard pretty.

Some games never had a chance to achieve their full, immense potential, being rushed out or otherwise abandoned shortly after release. FUEL was one of them. A post-apocalyptic, freeform racing game set across an astoundingly huge game-world wracked by environmental catastrophe. It looked great, but the gameplay was unbalanced, the campaign awkwardly structured, the vehicle handling often strange and unsatisfying, and the AI wonky and prone to suicidal charges headlong into trees. It had a litany of issues, and while the game found a dedicated fanbase, reviews ranged from the cautiously positive to the outright scathing.

Big Sandwich Games, indies in Vancouver, British Columbia, have been making (fire) waves with their latest action-strategy hit, Hoard. Its PlayStation Network free demo is live now. At 160MB, it’s a quick download for those who are impatient. Stripped of all its glory and ingenuity, Hoard could be labeled as a tower defense game. Players control a dragon with one primary directive: to hoard more gold than its fire-breathing competition. Players navigate the dragon with the PS3 controller, flying with left analog stick and exhaling fire breath with the right analog stick.

The dragon’s breath destroys just about everything on the map, and almost everything drops some amount of gold the dragon must return to its hoard to build its score and level up. Players choose between leveling the dragon’s speed, fire breath, carrying loot ability, or defense. During play, a bar limits the dragon’s breath. The wagons, towns, princess carriages, and more have life bars that will regenerate slowly if the dragon fails to burn them completely. Archers are weak adversaries alone but deadly in groups. They are unique in that they later become the dragon’s allies if it instills enough fear in the town the archers protect. This fear involves damaging the entire town, except for the town center. Once in fear, the town will offer monetary tribute, as long as it remains standing.

No dragon, like the rest of the items on the map, is invincible. While the dragon’s score multiplier increases over time, it will reset when the dragon’s health bottoms out. The dragon must return to its hoard to heal.

Like a certain anti-heroic spiked turtle/dragon king (whatever Bowser is), kidnapping a princess is heavily encouraged and rewarded in Hoard. She turns into a healthy ransom if she is kept in the hoard long enough. Other dragons may steal her, just as thieves may attempt to steal gold. The score multiplier also resets if either form of thievery occurs. Defense. Defense.

The game has two thorough tutorials to cover all of the offensive and defensive strategies (there are more than this preview covers). The first walks gamers through basic gameplay, and the second expands skills to reach high scores. These tutorials are both necessary to succeed in the main mode. Hoard mode, a survival mode with picking up princesses as the only healing mechanism, and Princess Rush mode, being the first to ransom 15 princesses, unlock with full purchase. The full game includes 4 game modes, over 35 maps, leaderboards, and trophies.

Up to four players can compete online, and up to two locally. The thieving, burning gameplay will ensure maximum insults and anger among players. During the demo, I had equal parts fun and frustration. I was pleased walking away with NOT achieving a gold medal for score my first attempt, as most games seem bent on patting gamers’ backs undeservedly. A lot of the game happens off-screen, so reading those icon clues of what is heading where is a vital skill I have not yet refined but could see myself enjoyably honing.

If gamers like the demo, the game is for purchase now at $14.99 on PSN. Hoard‘s PSP, PC, and Mac versions are said to follow. This free demo should entice even more gamers who may have otherwise been disappointed that a game called Hoard from a company named Big Sandwich capitalizes on overindulging in gold and not food. However, those who try out Hoard will most likely overindulge in addictive, tower defense gameplay that will make them work hard for the money and the medal achievements that seem to add many hours to the already lengthy base game.

Hoard Official Site | Facebook

A shiny new cockpit, added in a recent build. Graphically tasty.

There’s more than one game in the works about making your fortune through bashing rocks until shiny things fall out. Ambitious indie outfit Keen Software have been hard at work on Miner Wars 2081, a sprawling space-combat genre-blend that seems to take as much inspiration from Descent, Allegiance and Red Faction as it does from Minecraft. Along with finally catching the eye of lumbering compu-giants Intel and an invitation into their Software Partner Program, they’re now offering a sizable playable demo to be updated in parallel with their Minecraft-esque 70% discounted preorder Alpha.

Soldak has announced a new beta update for their action RPG Din’s Curse, bringing the testing version of the game up to v1.008 and adding a laundry list of new improvements, tweaks and fixes that can read in full here. The patch is available for both PC and Mac.

Additionally, the demo now carries the latest update and has had it’s level cap raised to 6 “so players can get a better feeling for the game.” Grab it direct from the developer here (all mirror sites are currently carrying outdated versions.)

Arsen reviewed Din’s Curse in June, but a re-review is now on our to-do list given the game’s complete graphical overhaul a couple months after.

[Soldak Entertainment]

A few happy items to touch on as we lead up to Frictional Games release of their immersive survival horror title Amnesia: The Dark Descent next week.

First, Frictional has offered up a multi-platform (PC, Mac and Linux) demo for the title. The trial weighs in around 150 MB and apparently the devs have turned up the sanity mechanics so it’s harder to stay sane. You like your demo difficult right? The file can be found along with a list of mirror sites hosting it via the official site for the game.

Also in related news, Steam has launched its pre-order page for the game, offering 20% off ($4) for those who throw down for the game before its release September 8 on PC and Mac. A 10% discount can be had through other digital outlets and the developer themselves who also offer a Linux version.

Amnesia hits next Wednesday and from what we’re hearing thus far, is shaping up to be an IOTY contender.

A demo has sprouted on the Steam page of CINEMAX’s action RPG Numen: Contest of Heroes, now available for anyone with a Steam account to download and try out.

Numen is a fully 3D action RPG set in mythical Greece. The game goes beyond the standard hack-and-slash RPG by offering several tactial choices that determine the results of battle.

No info has been provided on what the trial version actual entails, so we’ll just have to figure out the old fashioned way and go play. The title itself debuted this past June and runs $30.

Though it wasn’t available the moment the game released, the Worms Reloaded Steam page now carries a playable demo for the strategy title courtesy of Team 17.

No word yet on what the trial version of the game offers to interested parties, and whether that includes single-player, multiplayer or both. So dive right in if you get a chance and let us know, remember we’re all working together here.

The full version of the game is available for $20, while a discounted 4-pack is also being offered for $60 ($20 savings).

Indie game dev Tyler Doak has unveiled a new demo for his upcoming action-brawler Aces Wild. The release is just in time for 2beegames 3rd indie contest. Boasting hand-drawn animations and “over-the-top” 2D combat and platforming, the demo for Aces Wild is available for download at this location.

Doak is aiming for a release late this year on PC and Xbox 360. The demo on PC is playable with a gamepad (highly recommended). More information can be accessed through the developer’s blog or TIGsource. At the moment, Doak is welcoming feedback from the community and looks to improve the game.

Check out a trailer for the intense brawler below.

[Download the demo.]

Joe Danger is a fantastic game. How do I know? Well, because I read Pete’s news piece earlier this week letting us know that the demo would come out on August 17. However, that release date is only pertaining to the demo for the American PSN store. For the rest of the world, the trial demo’s release will be next week on August 25th. In other Joe Danger news, Hello Games announced that a new “feature upgrade” will be available soon after the demo’s release.

The “People’s Patch,” as the developers have named it, provides many fixes and updates as a result of community feedback. Managing Director Sean Murray claims “If you think you’ve completed the game… well, you haven’t.” Expect some huge updates for the game!

I don’t think we can recommend this game enough. Having finally played it, I can say it’s a very legitimate contender for indie game of the year. Check out Hello Games’ website for more updates.