It has been almost a year since Fallen Aces arrived on the early access scene, bringing impeccable Dick Tracy gangster comic vibes to the immersive sim genre. While there’s still a little ways to go until the second episode launches, the game was updated just a few days ago with a powerful level editor, Steam Workshop support, and a handful of great example levels set in some familiar places.
You can see some of these maps showcased in the trailer below. While there’s already some great stuff here from the community (like this slasher horror-inspired map), the example maps direct from the devs provide some insight on what you can do with a few choice imported textures and sounds. At Goon’s Gate is Doom’s iconic first map reimagined as a prohibition-era speakeasy and G-Day turns WW2 into a gangster turf war. We also get slices of System Shock 2 and Thief, plus a tour around Dogwood, Arkansas, home of New Blood mascot TruckGuy.
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While I’ve not had a chance to dig deep myself, I had a quick poke around the editor the other day and it seems very streamlined and easy-to-use, especially considering how complex and reactive the environments in the game have been. It’s great to see the players being handed the reins so early in the game’s life, too. While immersive sim mapping is definitely harder than straight shooter design, there’s a lot of talent out there looking for tools that aren’t a pain to use.
Easy as the basics are, it’ll probably take the community a while to get their head around the toolset, but I can see some really interesting levels being made here, including further tributes to the greats in the genre. Can we do Dunwall from Dishonored next? This all comes shortly after a big update in April, further polishing up Fallen Aces’ first episode and setting the groundwork for the next chapter.
Accompanying this big update, Fallen Aces is back at its launch-discount price of just under ten dollars on Steam. Likely the cheapest you’ll see it for in a while, as the base price is going up soon to match the game’s growing tonnage.
Between the highly replayable first episode and the new stuff the editor is bringing to the table, ten bucks seems like a steal. It’s also available in an even cheaper bundle with the excellent Half-Life/FEAR-inspired shooter Selaco, which also saw a major update recently. Given that I’ve played through the first episodes of both several times, the double-pack has my wholehearted recommendation.
