Waves: Arena Tactics is now on Kickstarter; £30,000 goal for the top-down shooter sequel

I'm normally immune to the draw of competitive leaderboard chasing. Waves was one of the few that penetrated my usually pacifist shell, leading to a few weeks of intense competition among friends. It was an elegantly designed twin-stick arena shooter, in which increasing your combo gave a temporary bomb power-up that would further increase your combo, thus granting more bombs, thus further increasing your combo, and so on.

Now, one-man outfit Squid In A Box has released a Kickstarter for the sequel, titled Waves: Arena Tactics. Rather than a simple score attack, this time the game will support custom loadouts and procedural levels, giving a sense of progression, exploration and build tailoring to the experience. The Kickstarter campaign is looking to raise £30,000 in 22 days.

The game has already been in development for two years, with much of the game already playable in online or offline modes. Here's what Squid In A Box, aka Robert Hale, has already achieved:

  • Procedural Arena Generation

  • Inventory and Equipment System

  • Modular Weapons, Buffs and Debuffs system

  • All new AI interface

  • Online Multiplayer Integrated with Steamworks

  • Ten Unique Weapons

  • Five Super Weapons

  • Eight Support Items

  • Ten Single Player Arenas

  • Eight Enemies

And the hoped for £30,000? Here's what it will help to achieve:

  • Soundtrack by Robert Stjärnström of Machinae Supremacy

  • Five Singleplayer Game Modes

  • Five Competitive multiplayer Game Modes

  • Two Co-Operative mulitplayer Game Modes

  • Seven New Enemies

  • Dozens of Upgrades

  • New GUI

  • New Arena and Enemy Art

  • Multiplayer Arenas

  • Testing and Balancing and Testing and Balancing

As always with Kickstarter, there are a list of potential backer rewards, with game access costing £10, and beta access available for £35.

Thanks, RPS .

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.