‘Homicidal All-Stars’ rebrands to ‘Showgunners’ with free demo

Homicidal All-Stars has been rebranded to Showgunners, with the dystopian turn-based strategy set to launch this May.

Showgunners will launch on May 2, and will be available on PC through Steam and GOG.

Ahead of its launch, developer Artificer has announced that a free demo for Showgunners will be available on Steam from today (March 13).

As for what the game is about, Showgunners tasks players with competing in a dystopian reality game show, navigating lethal traps and armed rival contestants to win. Players must also build a fan base by “avoiding death, surviving rounds, and eliminating your enemies with gruesome panache” in order to unlock sponsorship deals.

Artificer has shared that Showgunners is inspired by the likes of The Running Man and RoboCop, and you can watch a gory trailer for the upcoming game below.

The game’s Steam page says Showgunners is “equal parts Running Man and American Gladiator – with the violence dialed up to eleven – all set in an iconic early 90’s theme,” and teases “vicious and gruesome” gore.

NME previewed Showgunners last September, and praised its “intense tactical action” and dystopian setting.

“The setting feels like the sticky floor of a nightclub you should have left an hour ago, while the braying crowds, harsh neons and the traps – oh the traps – you’re navigating during the third-person action segments all just give off a strong dystopian vision that you can practically smell through your monitor,” reads our preview.

“It’s compelling stuff that mostly serves to steer you between the turn-based encounters with the minimum of fuss, but I found I quite enjoyed it once I got past how odd it was to switch between turn-based and third-person control schemes.”

In other gaming news, a content creator for Escape From Tarkov has claimed he was “attacked” by hackers after exposing cheating in the game.