Gloomwood rings in the new year with a very vertical update filled with piggish cops and a useful new gun

Gloomwood opened the year not with a whimper, but with a town – a Hightown! Right on January 1st, a fresh update and new area (The Hightown District) arrived in the early access stealth game. This new district is very vaguely described as the game’s “most vertical open area” yet, and it certainly looks as suitably gloomy as the rest of the game.

One of the big new additions alongside the area is a new enemy type, the hoggish constable. The launch trailer offers little to go on on how they might behave, though I imagine the pig and police imagery might offer a hint as to the kind of brutality they might enact upon you if you’re spotted.

There are a few new, as a mostly detail-less Steam post explains, toys to pick up in the update too. One of these toys is a revolver, albeit one with a scope attachment that looks like it may be useful for taking out enemies from afar. There’s also a firebomb, which I’m going to assume does exactly what it says on the tin.

This update also serves a reminder for me personally that I really should pick up Gloomwood one of these days. As much as I want to ignore it, the passage of time has resulted in this game having already been in early access for more than three years now. Back when it launched, Alice B. had a little go with it and found it to be quite good, but also simply unfinished, lamenting how hard it was to recommend when the world wasn’t ready for anyone to put their skills to the test. Perhaps all these years on, it’s time to dive in.

You can pick up or wishlist Gloomwood on Steam right here.