That’s rad.
Sega is celebrating their 60th anniversary with a big ol’ Steam sale right now. And initially, they were giving away Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to everyone that picked it up during this time period. But they’ve decided that they won’t just stop at one of the best Sonic games ever made. Oh no; they’re gonna go higher! They’re giving away 4 more free games! The one catch is, they’re somewhat more time-gated than Sonic 2.
First up is Streets of Kamurocho, which is exactly like it sounds. It is a Yakuza retro demake with nods to Sega’s other beat ’em up classic, Streets of Rage. It’s made by Studio Clip, who are known for this style of demake (A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV, Dead Island Retro Revenge). Probably the crown jewel of this round of freebies, it’ll be available from October 17th through October 19th.
Next up is Golden Axed; a slice of the long-canceled 2.5d game Golden Axe: Reborn. It’s a single level long, because it was sort of a prototype proof-of-concept sort of deal for the axed Sega Reborn project. I wouldn’t expect much, and due to its length and dubious quality, is only available on October 18th. Per the description:
At the beginning of this decade, SEGA Studios Australia was working on a series of reboots of classic SEGA IP, known collectively as the SEGA Reborn series. These included 2.5D reboots of Golden Axe, Altered Beast, and Streets of Rage, as well as an endless runner version of Shinobi, all encompassed in a universal hub world.
Sadly SEGA Studios Australia’s doors were shuttered in 2013, and with it the SEGA Reborn project was lost to the annals of video game history.
Until now.
On the occasion of SEGA’s 60th Anniversary, as a special treat to say “Thank You!” to our fans, SEGA is releasing a working prototype of Golden Axe Reborn, a single level created as proof-of-concept, or what’s known in the industry as a “vertical slice.” We’ve dubbed it, tongue in cheek, as “Golden Axed.”
Golden Axed may be janky, may be buggy, may be an artifact of its time, but it offers a unique glimpse into the prospect of a project that could have been, and a rare peek behind the curtain at the sometimes tumultuous world of video game development.
We reached out to some of the original development team to bring this dusty gem to light, and they are proud that this project could be revived in some form to be shared with you, the fans.
Next up is Endless Zone, a blending of Amplitude Studios’ Endless Universe with Sega’s own Fantasy Zone. It’ll be available October 16th-19th.
The final freebie is Armor of Heroes, which twists Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes into a top-down tank based competitive twin stick shooter. It’ll be available from October 15th to the 19th.
The latter three titles were developed by The Eccentric Ape.
As an aside, Sega is also giving away the Steam version of their Saturn classic Nights into Dreams for the next 60 days. All you have to do is go to Sega’s site and link your email to your account (or, in other words, sign up with them) on their official celebration page.
Source: Polygon
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[…] as it turns out, when Sega represented Golden Axed on Steam as “janky” and that they had consulted with the original devs, […]