The gravity-defying debut FPS from Cliff Bleszinski’s studio
Five years afterLawBreakersshut down, we’re getting to play the gravity-defying multiplayer FPS again thanks to fans. LawBreakers was the first game from Boss Key Productions, a studio co-founded by Gears Of Wars lead designer Cliff Bleszinski, and it had delightful ultraviolence beneath its uninspiring genric look. Alas, it did not sell well. Boss Key closed less than a year after launch, and the game soon followed. But after years of work, a group of fans this weekend successfully ran the first public test for a workaround to play the game again. While there’s no clear launch plan yet, more playtesting will follow.
This weekend, the unofficialRELB Projectran the first public tests for their own launcher which enables an unofficial revival. An FAQ onits Discord serverexplains this technical trickery is “done by creating ‘fake’ servers that the original game client uses”. And it got a lot of attention thanks to CliffyB pointing it out:
Somehow LawBreakers is coming back, see below!!!—If you’re interested in this weekend’s public test or future tests, join the RELB discord server to learn how to get set up and keep up with the current news!https://t.co/1COV57FZQ5
And it worked. Some classes were disabled, it only had one mode, and it had some technical hiccups, but people could play LawBreakers again. “We’re aware of all the issues regarding hitreg and such and are working on fixing/improving them (but keep in mind we’re a small team and this is insanely complex to properly do),” the team said on Discord. They’re now reflecting on the weekend’s playtest before deciding when they’ll run another. I know at least one person who might be excited to hear that.
Because video games are trapped in a hellish loop, companies closing games is a big topic of conversation right now/again. AfterUbisoft killed The Crewlast month, YouTuber Ross Scott launchedthe ‘Stop Killing Games’ campaigncalling upon governments to reconsider and reinforce consumer rights. You canhit its sitefor instructions on where to sign and which authorities to prod.
