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SiN Episode 1 dated

Priced, available to pre-load.

Ritual's much-anticipated first-person shooter SiN Episode 1: Emergence will be released via Steam on May 9th, gatekeeper Valve's announced, with pre-loading already available so you can get your teeth stuck into it as soon as it's live.

At the same time, EA's announced that it will be handling the retail version of the game, which is set to go on sale in Europe on May 12th. The price quoted for the US boxed version is $19.95, and those who buy it over Steam will apparently save 10 per cent on the price.

Emergence, which uses Valve's Half-Life 2 "Source" engine, once again follows the adventures of John Blade, as he tries to sort out the evil Elexis once and several episodes later presumably for all.

Expect news on more episodes soon, and in the meantime you can see how the game looks on Eurogamer TV.