The huge REDUX! update for BEDLAM (the post-apocalyptic roguelike strategy by Skyshine Games) is now live, and seeks to address player concerns that were raised upon the successful Kickstarter project’s launch.

Well, does it? Let’s take a look at what’s new.

First of all, battle mechanics have slightly retuned in response to feedback from the game’s player base. It’s all rather technical, so if you’d like to read the full list of changes, I suggest consulting the update list itself. One change, in particular, is said to be ‘what everyone has been asking for’, so that shows promise, at least.

Both the Campaign and Arcade modes have been reworked, and every faction in the game is now playable too. Extensive! Furthermore, all faction crewmembers are rendered though new sprites and dozens of new members have been added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhjnJAGq8AI

A lot of content, and a lot of reworking, in essence. Not bad. But is the BEDLAM playerbase happy? Is this what they wanted?

Well, a cursory glance at the Kickstarter page’s comments section certainly seems to indicate as much. One backer writes:

“Wow! That’s really dedicated of you 🙂
I know you wanted to make a different and harder game. And you could have stopped development when it was released since the game was like advertised.
But you listened to your backers. Like me many did find the basic idea intriguing , but in the end it was no fun for us. You listened because you wanted to have us fun too. And for that I can only say “Thank you so much!”. To overthrow your own idea and redo a game so your backers are satisfied is quite a task you can be proud of. I am looking forward now to finally play your game longer than 2 hours and also to new games you will produce. You strongly remind me of CD Project in their early years, where they could create a community just because they listened and polish their games up to a point where they could sell at the end the AAA Witcher Wild Hunt, the game of the year :)”

BEDLAMIn fact, I’ve only found one negative comment, and the user doesn’t seem to be enraged so much as ‘slightly miffed’:

“Well, that makes me feel kind of stupid for paying extra to get the digital goodies like the faction dozers/crews…”

A Kickstarter comments section isn’t necessarily representative of the entire playerbase, of course, but there doesn’t seem to be any outrage, at least. I guess Skyshine Games can pat themselves on the back for a job well done!

On the other hand, if you’re a BEDLAM backer and you are just furious with the REDUX! update, you can let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Gary Alexander Stott

Gary Alexander Stott is a handsome young writer from Scotland absolutely brimming with talent, who feels his best feature is his modesty. When it comes to overthinking narrative and storytelling in games, his otherwise useless degree in English with Creative Writing comes in very handy indeed.

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