Luftrausers probably doesn't cost $5,000 (it might!), but it's definitely launching on PC/Mac this year
Vlambeer, the folks behind hyperaddictive rage inducer Super Crate Box, have another game on the way, Luftrausers, and it's coming out pretty soon. "Luftrausers is set to release on PC and Mac in late 2012," says newly announced publisher Devolver Digital. Devolver previously worked with Vlambeer on the Serious Sam 3 spinoff game, "The Random Encounter."
"But what's a Luftrauser?" you ask? Well, it's a fictional warplane created by the Vlambeer dudes, and it comes in a bunch of different varieties ("125 deadly combinations," says the PR). In practice, this means you spawn with a trio of settings for your plane and you've gotta survive as long as possible (while destroying enemy ships, planes, etc.). Mastering each combination and learning your favorite should help add plenty of depth to the basic spawn/shoot/die/respawn loop.
In a few rounds I played during GDC Europe, it was quick to pick up and hard to put down. The concept of playing it with an actual gamepad makes Luftrausers' core gameplay all the more thrilling – I was playing on a laptop keyboard with WASD, which worked surprisingly well, but I'd prefer a pad. Moreover, the soundtrack is delightfully retro-sounding with modern influence – think 16-bit era midi with dubstep influence.
Luftrausers arrives later this year on both PC and Mac, "with a price point set at $5,000." Of course, the phrase "release date and price subject to change" is attached to that hilariously high price, so don't go expecting to pay that much when the game launches.
