Housemarque shows new Stormdivers locations and upcoming Nanogrowth feature

Housemarque has so much at stake with Stormdivers, the Finnish studio's first incursion into the Battle Royale genre. Since the developer revealed that it was forced to abandon development of action arcade games in the style of the acclaimed Resogun and Nex Machina, its fate is now an uncertainty.

The announcement of Stormdivers was met with surprise and, in some cases, disappointment. The masters of arcade were now trying their hand at the most generic of genres, despite Stormdivers being in development before Fortnite Battle Royale took the gaming world by storm. These developments led to a low morale at the studio, something that was stressed by Housemarque's CEO Ilari Kuittinen last April.

Kuittinen also admitted that Stormdivers was planned to be a premium game, “but now it should be free-to-play” because of the tough competition from Fortnite, Apex Legends, PUBG and other Battle Royale games.

Nonetheless, Housemarque keeps working on its first game of a new era. Stormdivers retains the flashy style and fast-paced gameplay of previous games from this studio, and a new update just saw the addition of six new locations (see the video here): Odin’s Lair, Marshlands, The Pit, Beachhead, Trainworks and The Cove. The island was reworked in other places as well, with more flora and new loot hubs.

Gameplay went through some changes as well, including the full removal of support abilities and turning them into equipment that you can find on the island.

Housemarque also teases one upcoming Stormdivers feature that allegedly will have significant impact on the island. Nanogrowth is its name and it will slowly creep over the entire island, both land and buildings. This isn't purely cosmetic either; it will have an effect on gameplay as well but how exactly will be revealed to us at a later date.

While we wait for official confirmation on Stormdivers' business model, we hope that the legendary studio manages to stay afloat no matter what. The result of a fusion between two of the greatest Finish developers during the greatest years of the Commodore Amiga, Terramarque and Bloodhouse (I had so much fun with Stardust and Elfmania!), Housemarque is gaming history. Let's hope it stays that way for many years.