‘Games Deserve To Be Preserved’
blindfire was launched again in October 2024 with a novel hook: It was a web based first-person shooter set at nighttime and was constructed round discovering your enemies or remaining out of their sight. Sadly for developer Double Eleven, it by no means discovered a lot of an audience. Now, a 12 months after its final patch, blindfire will get one final massive replace and can go free, with devs promising to maintain the servers on as a result of they’re “proud of it” and wish to protect it for others.
On May 7, Double Eleven posted an update on Blindfire’s official Steam page saying that the sport was now named Blindfire: Lights Out and was now utterly free to obtain and play throughout console and PC. This doubtless got here as a shock to anybody nonetheless following the sport, as Double Eleven had not been actively engaged on blindfire for “about a year” based on the crew. So why come again to a recreation that flopped and make it free for everybody?
“We are doing this because we believe games are art and they deserve to be preserved,” mentioned Double Eleven. “We refuse to bury what we built just because things didn’t go perfectly. We are keeping it alive because we are proud of it. You won’t see advertisements or marketing campaigns trying to drag you back in. This is just a gift to those who want to see what we created.”
This remaining replace, reside now on all platforms, contains two new weapons, new achievements, and contemporary skins to unlock. It additionally provides a brand new “Audio Aim Assist” accessibility function based mostly on suggestions the crew obtained from blind and partially sighted gamers who instructed the studio that blindfire was “one of the first shooters they could truly compete in.” This new choice provides audio cues to assist gamers orient themselves and observe down enemies. “To us, it feels like a fitting final addition to a game about fighting in the dark,” added Double Eleven.
While it’s unlikely that this newest replace will instantly result in it changing into the preferred FPS on Steam this weekend, it should be sure that blindfire will not vanish into the void simply because it failed to attach with a large enough viewers. All video games, even on-line shooters, are artistic works by gifted groups of hardworking people. Watching them disappear and turn into unplayable sucks. So I commend Double Eleven for doing the work to protect blindfire and preserve it round for, hopefully, years and years. This is unfortunately a uncommon prevalence in an industry that kills off big gambles like Highguard and concord in weeks and monthsleaving them utterly unplayable endlessly.
“We loved making [Blindfire]”said the studio on Steam. “Watching playtesters get to grips with our twist on the FPS was a massive highlight for us and seeing some big streamers jump into our world was a proper thrill. blindfire was a flash in the dark. It was weird, loud, and ours. It is staying online for anyone who wants to play it today, tomorrow or years from now. Thanks for being part of the journey.”