- Post-Launch Round-Up - 24 April 2017
A lot has happened in the world of Near Death since its launch, and we wanted to put all of the updates and improvements in one place to make it easy to see everything that’s changed. Here’s a list of everything that’s changed since the game came out: The game has been translated into French, German, Hungarian, Spanish, and Russian. Trading cards were added for your collecting enjoyment. A number of visual effects were added to the game to give it an all new feel. You can find out more about those here. Added two new difficulty levels, along with achievements for them. Try the game on Hard or Condition 1 if you want a true challenge. Added an FOV slider to help those who suffer from motion sickness. Patched in a huge number of bug fixes and performance improvements. Many thanks to everyone who’s played the game, loved it, and spread the word. See you in Sutro Station!
- Post-Launch Round-Up - 24 April 2017
A lot has happened in the world of Near Death since its launch, and we wanted to put all of the updates and improvements in one place to make it easy to see everything that’s changed. Here’s a list of everything that’s changed since the game came out: The game has been translated into French, German, Hungarian, Spanish, and Russian. Trading cards were added for your collecting enjoyment. A number of visual effects were added to the game to give it an all new feel. You can find out more about those here. Added two new difficulty levels, along with achievements for them. Try the game on Hard or Condition 1 if you want a true challenge. Added an FOV slider to help those who suffer from motion sickness. Patched in a huge number of bug fixes and performance improvements. Many thanks to everyone who’s played the game, loved it, and spread the word. See you in Sutro Station!
- Near Death 1.07: ¡Ya disponible en español! - 3 April 2017
Near Death is now available in Spanish! Version 1.07 also brings a few bug fixes and enhancements: Near Death is now available in Spanish! Updated physics settings on the long range antenna to help prevent it tunneling and getting into bad states. Keypad buttons are now detected for equippable items, which allows players with AZERTY keyboards to equip the flashlight, portable heater, and other tools. Thanks, as always, to everyone who has played or told a friend!
- Near Death 1.07: ¡Ya disponible en español! - 3 April 2017
Near Death is now available in Spanish! Version 1.07 also brings a few bug fixes and enhancements: Near Death is now available in Spanish! Updated physics settings on the long range antenna to help prevent it tunneling and getting into bad states. Keypad buttons are now detected for equippable items, which allows players with AZERTY keyboards to equip the flashlight, portable heater, and other tools. Thanks, as always, to everyone who has played or told a friend!
- Near Death 1.06: Effects, Effects, Effects! (Plus Bug Fixes!) - 16 January 2017
We just uploaded patch 1.06 of Near Death, which features a number of fun new visual modes for the game. Why? For no other reason than we had some free time and it looks cool! The new effects really lend a whole different feel to the game; it's really fun to move through the base as if Sutro Station is a painting or a retro Nintendo game. Here's a quick rundown of the effects. Still images don't really do them justice, so fire up the game to check them out in motion or take a peek at the gifs we're posting over on the Near Death Twitter page. To begin, here's a still image for reference: https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F12135554%2Fcfc20a80e0eca8c4fdb8011d8a93f50ed564bf27.png The first effect is subtle, but effective: a 2.35:1 letterbox mode that matches the aspect ratio John Carpenter used in his late 70s/early 80s classics (the most relevant to Near Deat…
- Near Death 1.06: Effects, Effects, Effects! (Plus Bug Fixes!) - 16 January 2017
We just uploaded patch 1.06 of Near Death, which features a number of fun new visual modes for the game. Why? For no other reason than we had some free time and it looks cool! The new effects really lend a whole different feel to the game; it's really fun to move through the base as if Sutro Station is a painting or a retro Nintendo game. Here's a quick rundown of the effects. Still images don't really do them justice, so fire up the game to check them out in motion or take a peek at the gifs we're posting over on the Near Death Twitter page. To begin, here's a still image for reference: https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F12135554%2Fcfc20a80e0eca8c4fdb8011d8a93f50ed564bf27.png The first effect is subtle, but effective: a 2.35:1 letterbox mode that matches the aspect ratio John Carpenter used in his late 70s/early 80s classics (the most relevant to Near Deat…
- Announcing The Orthogonal Games Bundle! - 11 November 2016
Hey, everyone, we're very excited to announce The Orthogonal Games Bundle! It packages Near Death with The Novelist for a $5 discount, and if you already own one of the games you still get a discount on the other one. So spread the world and tell your friends. Thanks!
- Announcing The Orthogonal Games Bundle! - 11 November 2016
Hey, everyone, we're very excited to announce The Orthogonal Games Bundle! It packages Near Death with The Novelist for a $5 discount, and if you already own one of the games you still get a discount on the other one. So spread the world and tell your friends. Thanks!
- 1.05: French, German, Russian, and More! - 28 October 2016
We just released Near Death 1.05, which adds support for the French, German, and Russian languages! It also includes a number of other fixes and improvements. To celebrate, the game is 25% off for the Halloween sale! Here's the full list of changes: Near Death is now available in French, German, and Russian! Training messages now stay on the screen for different durations according to their length (so that players have time to fully read longer messages). The player is now locked into place when the gondola is moving, so they don't fall out accidentally. Linux graphics APIs are now manually specified to see if it helps resolve errors with the game launching & requiring a manual override for which OpenGL version is being used. The blowtorch gas gauge is not visible when it should not be visible. Minor text updates. Fixed a bug where the Map and Menu buttons would show as blank images on…
- 1.05: French, German, Russian, and More! - 28 October 2016
We just released Near Death 1.05, which adds support for the French, German, and Russian languages! It also includes a number of other fixes and improvements. To celebrate, the game is 25% off for the Halloween sale! Here's the full list of changes: Near Death is now available in French, German, and Russian! Training messages now stay on the screen for different durations according to their length (so that players have time to fully read longer messages). The player is now locked into place when the gondola is moving, so they don't fall out accidentally. Linux graphics APIs are now manually specified to see if it helps resolve errors with the game launching & requiring a manual override for which OpenGL version is being used. The blowtorch gas gauge is not visible when it should not be visible. Minor text updates. Fixed a bug where the Map and Menu buttons would show as blank images on…
- The Verge: Near Death is a tense, fantastic game about surviving Antarctica - 22 October 2016
The Verge took a look at Near Death, and they loved it! Near Death, a first-person survival game released this summer, is easiest to describe in terms of the things it’s not. Taking place in an abandoned Antarctic research base in the 1980s, Near Death shares a setting with John Carpenter’s The Thing — but it’s not a sci-fi or horror game. Its main mechanic is avoiding death by crafting and scavenging, but it’s not a survival simulator. It’s made by Orthogonal Games, creator of character-driven indie project The Novelist — but it’s not a game about exploring other people’s lives. It’s a tense, lean, and tightly paced exercise in endurance, and one of my favorite games of the year. Read the full review here!
- The Verge: Near Death is a tense, fantastic game about surviving Antarctica - 22 October 2016
The Verge took a look at Near Death, and they loved it! Near Death, a first-person survival game released this summer, is easiest to describe in terms of the things it’s not. Taking place in an abandoned Antarctic research base in the 1980s, Near Death shares a setting with John Carpenter’s The Thing — but it’s not a sci-fi or horror game. Its main mechanic is avoiding death by crafting and scavenging, but it’s not a survival simulator. It’s made by Orthogonal Games, creator of character-driven indie project The Novelist — but it’s not a game about exploring other people’s lives. It’s a tense, lean, and tightly paced exercise in endurance, and one of my favorite games of the year. Read the full review here!
- Together Alone: 'Pure Untainted Survival' in Near Death - 27 September 2016
Gamasutra recently posted a great analysis of Near Death, discussing the impact of isolation in indie games. Here are a few of our favorite quotes: Games like this exemplify Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s famous aphorism “perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” The mechanics are spot-on, and the game ramps up its difficulty in a ladder that scales with the growing intensity of the snowstorm outside, slowly allowing you to accumulate various skills, upgrades, and tactics in the process. The only thing you’re fighting is hypothermia; you’re constantly at risk of freezing to death and have to leap from one warm spot to another, often of your own hasty making. The storm, then, is not just a backdrop: it’s the setting, it’s your experience, it’s a character who charts the entire path of the game. Near Death succeeds at creating…
- Together Alone: 'Pure Untainted Survival' in Near Death - 27 September 2016
Gamasutra recently posted a great analysis of Near Death, discussing the impact of isolation in indie games. Here are a few of our favorite quotes: Games like this exemplify Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s famous aphorism “perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” The mechanics are spot-on, and the game ramps up its difficulty in a ladder that scales with the growing intensity of the snowstorm outside, slowly allowing you to accumulate various skills, upgrades, and tactics in the process. The only thing you’re fighting is hypothermia; you’re constantly at risk of freezing to death and have to leap from one warm spot to another, often of your own hasty making. The storm, then, is not just a backdrop: it’s the setting, it’s your experience, it’s a character who charts the entire path of the game. Near Death succeeds at creating…
- Steam Trading Cards now available - 22 August 2016
Hello everyone! Just a quick announcement to let you know that Steam Trading Cards are now available for Near Death. There are six cards to collect, six badges to craft (including the foil badge), as well as five backgrounds and five emoticons. And a reminder that our recent patch 1.04 introduced two new difficulty modes in addition to Easy and Normal: Hard and Condition 1. Hard is hard, and Condition 1 will test even the most seasoned players. Both modes come with achievements so that you can prove to all your friends that you survived a full-on Condition 1 blizzard in Antarctica. Have fun playing the new difficulties, collecting the trading cards, and crafting those badges!
- Steam Trading Cards now available - 22 August 2016
Hello everyone! Just a quick announcement to let you know that Steam Trading Cards are now available for Near Death. There are six cards to collect, six badges to craft (including the foil badge), as well as five backgrounds and five emoticons. And a reminder that our recent patch 1.04 introduced two new difficulty modes in addition to Easy and Normal: Hard and Condition 1. Hard is hard, and Condition 1 will test even the most seasoned players. Both modes come with achievements so that you can prove to all your friends that you survived a full-on Condition 1 blizzard in Antarctica. Have fun playing the new difficulties, collecting the trading cards, and crafting those badges!
- Harder Difficulty Modes + Patch 1.04! - 12 August 2016
We’ve just released patch 1.04, which in addition to fixing a handful of small issues also makes a big addition: harder difficulty modes! Instead of just Normal and Easy, Near Death now includes Hard and Condition 1 difficulties. Hard is hard, and Condition 1 will test even the most seasoned players. Both modes come with achievements so that you can prove to all your friends that you survived a full-on Condition 1 blizzard in Antarctica. As for what these modes do, they both step up the intensity of the weather right from the start of the game. They also make it so that you receive less loot from containers, freeze faster, and run out of resources faster. Especially with Condition 1, you really have to think about every move and manage your resources extremely carefully; the conditions are brutal, so you can’t waste a single drop of kerosene or even one precious battery. Here’s the full…
- Harder Difficulty Modes + Patch 1.04! - 12 August 2016
We’ve just released patch 1.04, which in addition to fixing a handful of small issues also makes a big addition: harder difficulty modes! Instead of just Normal and Easy, Near Death now includes Hard and Condition 1 difficulties. Hard is hard, and Condition 1 will test even the most seasoned players. Both modes come with achievements so that you can prove to all your friends that you survived a full-on Condition 1 blizzard in Antarctica. As for what these modes do, they both step up the intensity of the weather right from the start of the game. They also make it so that you receive less loot from containers, freeze faster, and run out of resources faster. Especially with Condition 1, you really have to think about every move and manage your resources extremely carefully; the conditions are brutal, so you can’t waste a single drop of kerosene or even one precious battery. Here’s the full…
- Patch 1.03 Is Live! - 8 August 2016
Hey, everyone, we're still hard at work hammering out issues people have found since the game was released. Here's another batch of fixes. Stay warm out there! Fixed an issue where you could place the Long Range Transmitter or the Radar Scope on the snowcat if you had previously picked it up but had then dropped it. Now the game checks to make sure they're in your inventory before you can place it. Fixed a bug where games saved on Linux systems using a comma-based format for floats would not load properly. Disabled non-stereo sound options until we can work out a solution for some players having crashes with surround sound. Increased the chance of finding solder in containers. Decreased the chance that outdoor crates would provide no items when searched. Updated the motion sickness warning page to mention that the game’s FOV can be adjusted.
- Patch 1.03 Is Live! - 8 August 2016
Hey, everyone, we're still hard at work hammering out issues people have found since the game was released. Here's another batch of fixes. Stay warm out there! Fixed an issue where you could place the Long Range Transmitter or the Radar Scope on the snowcat if you had previously picked it up but had then dropped it. Now the game checks to make sure they're in your inventory before you can place it. Fixed a bug where games saved on Linux systems using a comma-based format for floats would not load properly. Disabled non-stereo sound options until we can work out a solution for some players having crashes with surround sound. Increased the chance of finding solder in containers. Decreased the chance that outdoor crates would provide no items when searched. Updated the motion sickness warning page to mention that the game’s FOV can be adjusted.
