Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell bypasses the difficult second album hurdle with a simple, elegant and carefully paced stealth puzzler.
Spotlight
VideoWatch: How do you soundtrack a video game?
Pump up the Volume.
VideoVideo: Layers of Fear, Volume's level builder and new games galore - The Eurogamer Show
Also, a can of White Ace.
Loud quiet loud.
Key events
8th June 2016
23rd December 2015
22nd October 2015
18th August 2015
10th June 2015
20th August 2013
Thomas Was Alone dev's Volume a timed PS4 and Vita exclusive
13th August 2013
Volume is getting a free PlayStation VR expansion
It's called Coda. Here's how it looks.
Mike Bithelll's stealthy cyberpunk adventure Volume is getting a free PlayStation VR expansion called Coda.
It adds 30 new levels along with an all new story and protagonist.
One neat addition to this VR expansion is the ability to scale and rotate the board. "You can make swoosh sounds if you want to while doing so," Bithell told Eurogamer. "No expense spared."
Volume finally has PlayStation Vita release date
Nice of it to turn up.
The PlayStation Vita version of Volume will finally launch on 6th January, developer Mike Bithell has announced (or, if you live in North American, 5th January).
It will arrive almost six months after its PC and PlayStation 4 brethren, which originally released back in August.
At the time, Bithell said the Vita version would be delayed a couple of weeks due to personal problems and submission to Sony.
Volume: Coda expansion headed first to PlayStation VR
Available at headset's launch.
Indie stealth game Volume will gain a new set of levels via story expansion Coda.
The add-on launches first via Sony's upcoming PlayStation VR and will be available at the headset's launch - whenever that may be in 2016.
Coda will be free to any existing owner of Volume on PlayStation 4 and contains 30 new missions set after the main game's campaign.
Hide your purse, Steam is having a stealth-game sale
Eldritch 99p! Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon £3! Monaco £1.86!
I wonder: do you end up saving money in sales or spending more because things are on sale? Regardless, Steam is having a sale, a stealth-game sale, which lasts until Friday, 16th October, 6pm BST.
VideoWatch: How do you soundtrack a video game?
Pump up the Volume.
Game soundtracks are getting standalone releases with ever greater frequency these days, which is great; they lend so much to our gaming experiences, whether we notice it consciously or not, and they absolutely deserve greater recognition.
VideoVideo: Layers of Fear, Volume's level builder and new games galore - The Eurogamer Show
Also, a can of White Ace.
With the sun starting to set on the British summer (not that I remember seeing much of the sun, come to think of it), we find ourselves once again blessed with some actual, genuine new game releases. Praise be!
Volume is so drastically different to Thomas Was Alone that I'm really glad to see it came off well - Dan Whitehead did give it a Recommended, after all.
Volume delayed a "couple weeks" on Vita
But Cross-Buy remains in effect.
Volume, the sci-fi stealth offering by Thomas Was Alone developer Mike Bithell, has been delayed on Vita.
Loud quiet loud.
One of the most refreshing things about Volume, Mike Bithell's second game after the charming Thomas Was Alone, is that the design is entirely naked. This isn't a game that tries to hide its systems behind a fig leaf of "immersion". It's not a game that wants to grease your path to victory so you can see the ending.
It is, proudly and defiantly, a game. Games have rules, and Volume's are spelled out in unmissable ways. Like the great pioneering arcade titles, everything you need to play the game is right there on the screen, in the sound effects, in the colour schemes and animation. That's design, and Volume isn't afraid to let it show.
Volume
Mike Bithell's announced the Volume release date
Or so we've heard.
Volume, the stealth game from Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell, launches on PlayStation 4, Vita and Steam on 18th August.
There's a new trailer, below, to coincide with the news.
Now you're done with that, have a gander at our Chris Bratt talking all things Volume with Mike in the video below.
VideoVideo: We play 18 minutes of Volume with Mike Bithell
A sneaky preview.
I'm joined by Thomas was Alone creator Mike Bithell to take a look at the latest build of Volume, his upcoming stealth game that has lots of famous people's voices in it.
Listen to Andy Serkis play the bad guy in Mike Bithell's Volume
Plus, all enemy types revealed.
Developer Mike Bithell has released a new trailer for his upcoming stealth game Volume, revealing for the first time voice over by Andy "Gollum" Serkis.
Andy Serkis joins the cast of Volume
As Guy Gisborne, a "villainous CEO."
Andy Serkis, the actor best known as Golem in Lord of the Rings and King Kong in King Kong, has joined the cast of Volume, Mike Bithell's stealth-based follow-up to Thomas Was Alone.
VideoVideo: Mike Bithell talks Volume
The Thomas Was Alone creator tells a disembodied voice all about his new stealth game at Rezzed.
Coming off the stage after presenting his stealth game Volume at Rezzed last weekend, Mike Bithell was alone - or was he? A disembodied narrator who sounded an awful lot like our video editor Ian Higton kept pestering the Thomas Was Alone creator with questions about Volume, and Mike felt compelled to answer him. Even when the voice asked whether the level editor could be used to make penises. A mysteriously present camera recorded his responses; you can watch them below.
UK video game tax breaks approved
"Finally gives the UK a level playing field."
The European Commission has approved tax breaks for the UK video game industry.
One is making Metal Gear Solid 5, another Volume. Both discuss the current state of stealth.
Jordan Amaro is a designer at Kojima Productions working on Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Mike Bithell is a designer working at home on Volume. Both are making stealth games, but both are taking radically different approaches.
Mike Bithell's Volume stars Danny Wallace and Youtuber Charlie McDonnell
Adapts the story of Robin Hood to a near future setting.
Volume, the upcoming indie game from Thomas was Alone creator Mike Bithell, stars Danny Wallace and Youtuber Charlie McDonnell.
FeatureIndies and the next generation of consoles
Inside Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony's fight for the future.
Indies are scorching hot. Maybe it was Minecraft. Maybe it was Super Meat Boy. Maybe it was Journey. Either way, just weeks before the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One it is indie developers who find themselves - whether they like it or not - on the front line of the next generation battle.
Thomas Was Alone dev's Volume a timed PS4 and Vita exclusive
Out on PC and Mac a month after PlayStation.
Volume, the next game from Thomas Was Alone developer Mike Bithell, is a timed PlayStation 4 and Vita exclusive.
The Metal Gear Solid-esque stealth game was shown during Sony's Gamescom press conference this evening as part of a raft of indie titles heading to the consoles.
Following the reveal, Bithell tweeted to say Volume will launch on PC and Mac a month after PlayStation. There's no word on whether the game will come to Xbox One, however - despite Microsoft's recent indie dev self-publishing announcement.
FeatureTurn up the Volume: Mike Bithell switches gears for difficult second album
Metal Gear meets Minecraft sounds like a sure-fire hit, but there's plenty at stake for rags to riches indie dev.
Mike Bithell first came across Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series as a not so innocent 12-year-old. A friend of his dad's passed him the PC version of the first game in the series with word that you could catch a glimpse at a nude girl if Solid Snake positioned himself perfectly in an air duct. Ask any hardcore Metal Gear fan what I'm talking about. They'll know.
Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell announces Volume
Metal Gear meets Minecraft.
Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell has taken the wraps off of his second project.
Volume is a stealth game that has been described as Metal Gear meets Minecraft. Indie developer Bithell has been working on Volume for the past seven months, and is aiming for a late 2014 release window. Platforms are yet to be announced.
The idea is the player avoids guards while stealing items. Volume will release with hundreds of environments, but there's also a user generated content aspect to the game.
