Damnation slips to early 2009

By Robert Purchese Published 4 November, 2008

Codemasters sidesteps Gears of War 2.

Codemasters has told Eurogamer that third-person shooter Damnation has slipped to early 2009. We had expected the game this winter.

The publisher also explained that PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 demos will appear roughly a month before launch.

"Damnation is being rescheduled for an early 2009 release," a Codemasters spokesperson told us.

"The game will be much stronger and better as a result, and will also give people time to get all the pre-holiday releases out the way - ready for the fresh (and vertical) gaming experience that Damnation offers."

The most threatening of those "pre-holiday releases" will be Gears of War 2, as Damnation shares the same Unreal Engine 3 foundation and rather similar visuals and mechanics as a result.

But there are differences; Damnation ditches a cover system in favour of vertical gameplay, where players climb up buildings, leap between ledges and slide down zip wires during battle. Pace has replaced patience.

The setting is a steampunk alternate history of the American Civil war, and the levels have opened into giant three hour-long treks and course-planning puzzles, where the goal can be seen from the outset, and vice versa. And there are motorbikes - ones that can ride along walls.

The tactical rescheduling also moves Damnation away from Call of Duty: World at War, Resistance 2 and Left 4 Dead. But February 2009 happens to harbour Killzone 2 and to a lesser extent F.E.A.R. 2, which will present problems of their own.

Head over to our Damnation gamepage for hands-on impressions, plus plenty of videos and screenshots.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (17) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Gnort #1 3 years ago

    Good move. I don't think it's a good idea for anyone with a lesser-known shooter in development to release it before the end of the year, it will be swallowed by the big names this holiday season.

  • Olemak #2 3 years ago

    You forgot to mention the boobage!

  • Farfarer #3 3 years ago

    I think I'll be picking this up reguardless of when it gets released.

    I'm currently rating it higher than GoW2, that's for sure.

  • muscleblade #4 3 years ago

    "I'm currently rating it higher than GoW2, that's for sure."

    Idiot!!

  • DoctorZoidberg #5 3 years ago

    "I'm currently rating it higher than GoW2, that's for sure."

    Idiot!!

    Why is he an idiot? It looks a breath of fresh air into the 3rd person genre!

    Gears 2 (which I'm sure is great if its your bag) is just far to generic in a massive pool of great games out / coming out soon.


  • andywilkie35 #6 3 years ago

    I'll get both

  • warlockuk #7 3 years ago

    Shouldn't that be "Codemasters strafes Gears of War 2"? :D

  • bushwod #8 3 years ago

    under boob FTW!!!

  • bodypopper #9 3 years ago

    Still looks like a UT3 mod to me

  • muscleblade #10 3 years ago

    Hes an idiot because he cant possibly rate Damnation higher Gears 2 when he havent played any of them. Considering the last action game Codemasters made it will be very surprising if its of higher quality than Gears 2. It looks good and i will probably buy it but comparing it to Gears 2 and thinking it will be better than Gears 2 is just plain stupid imo.

    Edit: Idiot might be a little harsh though. - Sorry.
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/08 @ 13:48

  • oupe #11 3 years ago

    Damnation slips to early 2009

    Still time to convert to a random religion!
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/08 @ 13:52

  • Triggerhappytel #12 3 years ago

    Shut up muscleblade.

    Just because he is looking forward to it more than Gears 2 doesn't make him an idiot. I suppose it would be pointless to factor personal opinion into the equation, or the possibility that they simply didn't like Gears 1 all that much?

  • Doctor_What #13 3 years ago

    On paper, I'd rate this higher than Gears 2 as well. It sounds a lot more interesting, a hell of a lot less generic, and generally more fun. In reality... Well, Gears 2 has had practically limitless cash thrown at its development so it damn well should be an extremely polished experience, but if Codies manage to get their game solid I'll still probably have more fun with it than on Gears 2.

    (Bare in mind that Gears 1 bored me intensely - I finished it to see if I could spot what the fuss was about, and couldn't, so I'm probably not their taret market anyway.)

    Steampunk, nice graphics, and something a bit different in the pacing? Count me in.

  • Machetazo #14 3 years ago

    This always looks interesting (and I'm no fan of Gears - similar viewpoint to Doc W about it), but I agree with those who think Damnation wouldn't get the most attention amongst the high-profile, heavily promoted releases that are starting to appear on shelves. I'm looking forward to seeing some spice and spark in the gameplay for this, when its out.

  • Farfarer #15 3 years ago

    muscleblade: GoW did absolutely nothing for me. GoW2 sounds very much like more of the same but slightly different. Damnation is coming from an indie studio and it's trying to do it's own thing gameplay-wise, which immediately ranks it far higher in my "games that interest me" list because GoW2 is already pretty much a known quantity (and that quantity doesn't impress me in the least).

  • smelly #16 3 years ago

    Winner of 2009's shit game name award goes to....

  • muscleblade #17 3 years ago

    @Farfarer and Triggerhappytel

    Ok, ok i get the point. I just dont get it i guess because i love Gears 1 and 2. Ive actually played Gears 2 btw just look at my gamertag.

    Farfarer and Doctor What dont have crystal balls thats for sure.
    Edited by 1 at 20/05/09 @ 17:49