Outland announced for PC, will be on Steam later this month

It's been a good week for things unexpectedly coming to PC. Final Fantasy IV arrived while no-one was looking. Final Fantasy XIII was announced while everyone was looking. Metal Gear Collection isn't coming to PC, but only because it's clothes . Here's another: Outland, the Housemarque developed "polarity-switching" platformer. It'll now land on Steam at the end of the month, on 29 September.

Here's a short trailer to set the scene:

If you know what Ikaruga is, the easiest way to describe Outland is "it's Ikaruga but a platformer". If you don't know what Ikaruga is, then I should probably try a bit harder. Outland is a 2D platfomer in which you can switch colours between blue and red. All enemies and projectiles are one of these two colours, and you can't be harmed by same-coloured objects. Similarly, you can't harm same-coloured objects, and so will need to continuously switch in order to make it across the Metroidvania-style world.

I played it years ago, and broadly enjoyed it—some shitty boss fights aside. According to Housemarque , the Steam version will bring new campaign co-op and an improved checkpoint system.

It's an unexpected but pleasant announcement, then. Outland will cost $10/€10/£7 on release.

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.