‘Pokémon’ developer Game Freak releases ‘Giga Wrecker’ on Steam Early Access

By Brad Jones August 19, 2016

Giga Wrecker - Announcement Trailer

Game Freak, the development studio best known for its work on the Pokémon series, has released a new game via Steam Early Access. The new title is called Giga Wrecker, and is a 2D action game that blends platforming elements with intriguing puzzle mechanics.

Giga Wrecker casts players as a cyborg girl who has the power to create various weapons from rubble and debris. The protagonist can repel the game’s invading force of murderous robots by experimenting with different armaments and their effects — and perhaps find a few secrets tucked away in the environment as she does so.

Established in 1989, Game Freak has been the primary developer of the mainline Pokémon series since its inception in 1989. Although the developer is best known for its extensive work in collaboration with Nintendo, Giga Wrecker is not the first release to skip that company’s hardware.

In 2015, Game Freak released Tembo the Badass Elephant for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. However, that game was published by Sega, whereas the studio has made the decision to self-publish Giga Wrecker — a role that it has only filled once before, for the Japanese release of 2013’s Pocket Card Jockey.

The fact that Game Freak is acting as both developer and publisher may well have influenced its decision to release the game via Steam Early Access. It seems that this was the correct choice — the studio published a technical issue notice earlier today in response to reports that the game was crashing for players using Windows 8 and above.

Despite these initial teething troubles, Game Freak’s stellar reputation suggests that Giga Wrecker will be a must-play title once these technical problems have been ironed out. The game is available now via Steam, and is priced at $15.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

Gaming

We finally know when Hades II will enter early access

Art for Nemesis in hades 2.

While the announcement is not tied to either of this Thursday's major gaming events, Supergiant Games still used today to reveal exactly when players should expect its highly anticipated roguelike Hades II to enter early access.

Supergiant Games confirmed in a blog post that Hades II will enter early access on both Steam and the Epic Games Store during the second quarter of 2024. More specifically, that means you should expect this initial version of the game to drop sometime between April and June of next year. While Supergiant isn't revealing a specific date yet, it did say that players can also expect a short technical test to be held ahead of that release.
Pricing and system requirement information for Hades II are unknown at this time, although Supergiant did lay out its plans for early access. It says that the early access release of Hades II will be a version that "is far enough along that player feedback won't mostly consist of stuff we already know isn't there yet, but isn't so far along that it's too late in development for us to act on the feedback we receive." Once the game is out there in early access, major updates will consistently drop to add story, character, and gameplay content before the 1.0 launch brings the game over the finish line while featuring the conclusion to the game's story.
Hades II will enter early access on PC during the second quarter of 2024. Supergiant does not know how long it will keep the game in early access, but players should expect the 1.0 version of the game to launch across PC and consoles at the same time whenever that happens.

Gaming

Baldur’s Gate 3: PS5 release dates, file size, preorder, and early access

A party of heroes stands on a cliff in Baldur's Gate 3.

If you've been patiently waiting for Baldur's Gate 3 to arrive on PlayStation 5 while PC players got an early start, you won't have to wait much longer, unlike Xbox players. By now you don't need us to tell you just how amazing this game has shaped up to be, and are more than likely already prepared with your choice of character and just waiting for the green light to finally dive into this massive CRPG. But if your excitement has gotten the better of you and you don't know exactly when Baldur's Gate 3 will be ready to play, how to preload, or even if you can get in on the game a little early, we've got you covered.
Baldur's Gate 3 release time

Baldur's Gate 3 will come out for all PS5 players officially on September 6 at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET. Anyone who purchased the Digital Deluxe Edition gets 72 hours of early access, meaning you can start playing on September 3 instead.
Baldur's Gate 3 file size

Gaming

Starfield preload guide: release time, file size, preorder, and early access

Screenshot from Starfield, a Bethesda Studios game.

Bethesda games are among the most ambitious and expansive experiences you can find, including pioneers of the open-world RPG genre like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. With its latest game, and first new IP in over a decade, the team at Bethesda has set its sights quite literally on the stars. Starfield promises to be as ambitious as a game from this studio that's set in space would imply. Originally planned to release on November 11, 2022, it was delayed for close to a full year, only making the wait that much more painful for hardcore fans of the genre. Now we're just about ready to take to the stars and explore the game's vast universe. Before you head out into the final frontier, take note of when you can depart and how much storage your vessel will need to make the trip a reality.
Starfield release time

The official release date for Starfield is at 8 p.m. ET on September 5.