Arcadegeddon Early Access begins today for PS5

I sat in Scotland with my heart in my stomach during our Christmas break. 2020 wasn’t a kind year to anyone, but the news that the game our team had been working on for the past year was no longer moving forward had just been shared with me…this seemed to be a very fitting end to an extremely hard year.  That was not even what bothered me the most, games are canceled all the time in our industry, but this one was different; we had the mechanics to a solid game and it was fun. The IllFonic management team and I came together, determined to save not just the game, but the larger team.

Once we all agreed the fun we had created was going to live on and we were going to publish it on our own (for the first time), I sat down and cranked out the concept for Arcadegeddon during the last two weeks of the year. This game was my answer to the frustrating question, “How do we fight for our place in this universe?” And, at the same time, it was also an answer to quarantined life. This game needed to be a pure escape after the year we’ve had.  Once the concept was done, I worked with our Art Director, Izaak Moody, to bring it all to life.

With the Muppets, Gorillaz, and 90’s punk rock as its influence, we both wanted to capture a world like none other, that still felt like a nostalgic escape and that is how Arcadegeddon and Gilly’s Arcade was born.

What’s Arcadegeddon you ask?

Gilly, the owner of a local arcade, is trying to save his business from a faceless mega-corporation. To do so he takes all the top arcade games and connects them all to make a super game, unfortunately, the mega-corporation, Fun Fun Co. hacks the game and injects a virus. You and your friends need to save the game and the last hometown arcade.

This ever-evolving multiplayer shooter allows you to play solo or with up to three friends to explore multiple biomes, play mini-games, find hidden chests, and defeat numerous enemy types and boss levels. Arcadegeddon is a co-op multiplayer experience that provides a mix of PVE and PVP experiences that allows for all different speeds of play. As you continue to play you can take on additional challenges from the local “gangs” that hang out in Gilly’s Arcade. These will earn you much more than street cred. Speaking of street cred, earn your spot on the global leaderboards.

One of my favorite parts of Arcadegeddon is the gangs within Gilly’s Arcade. There are nine different gangs to interact with. Each leader has their own individual style and a set of challenges for you to complete. Successful completion of these missions, if you choose to accept them, will unlock Surge Gauntlet Abilities to help you in defeating the arcade’s enemies. Not to mention once you complete their tasks you can pick up some sweet skins and sport their look as a sign that you really earned your street cred. If you’re looking to place on the global leaderboard, then these gang leader challenges are your key to success.

How will Arcadegeddon play?

As for how it will play, we are launching Arcadegeddon in Early Access. There is a lot of insight that can come from releasing a title in Early Access. We play our games a lot and build a lot of the “fun” factor off of our experiences, but Early Access gives us a chance to see people who haven’t designed the maps and levels play. Then we can dive into the data and community feedback to dial-up, or down, the experience. The great thing about this game is that how it will play is really dependent on you, the gamer, and your preferred style of play and the pace which you like to play at. This along with the Early Access monitoring we will be doing will help make this game a unique adventure. We plan to be in Early Access for seven months. During this time there will be planned seasonal updates as well as patches as needed each month. You can keep up to date on all the details on the game’s website and social media handles.

One of the best parts about Arcadegeddon is the biomes (aka maps) the player will explore. It’s also where you can really experience the game’s outside influences. Each biome has a very distinctive style and feel. There are three biomes that will be released for Early Access. We plan on releasing at least five total by our 2022 launch.

The Nerve Center biome is a neon-pulse-like electrical grid. This map is the very foundation of Gilly’s super game and it is the focus of Fun Fun Co. sabotage attempts. Mystic Isles feels like a tropical getaway island. It is home to an ancient magical presence and the temples were created by an unknown entity.  The last biome launching today with Early Access is Aftermath. Aftermath is a slightly futuristic city that is now being taken back by nature after being mostly destroyed by war. Each is unique and due to the game’s ever-changing quality, every run will be different.

Other factors to success come down to the weapons you chose, the hacks you pick up, and the Surge Gauntlet Abilities you acquire. There are seven different types of weapon classes and about 28 different weapons to choose from at the start of Early Access. Weapons feature a range of effects from fire, electricity, freeze, nano-tech, and more.  But more importantly, it’s how and when you use these guns that will send you skyrocketing up the leaderboard. Don’t forget that along with weapons, there are over 25 hacks and 8 Surge Gauntlet Abilities for a player to acquire. These will all be necessary for beating the bosses and running the biomes at increased difficulty. To find out more, jump into the game and try them all out!

Whether you play alone going for daily leader challenges, or on a team of up to four, there is one undeniable thing that we know will set Arcadegeddon apart from other games this year and it’s the music. First, we have original music for the game by Aaron Rutherford, Jimmy Blythe (AFK), Mark Rutherford, and Ray Volpe. We’ve also got music from Getter, UZ, Thook, Halogenix, Milano, South and Swrly. Even our very own Grammy Winning CEO, Charles Brungardt, is making a return to music and produced a few tracks for the game. Look to our social for more artists/music announcements coming with every patch.  So from all of us at IllFonic, we hope you enjoy this escape to the arcade as much as we do. See you at Gilly’s!