News
‘The Stomping Land’ Has Been Pulled From Steam Early Access
There’s always a level of risk involved with supporting unfinished games on Steam Early Access or through crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The developer doesn’t have to deliver anything, but if the concept sounds interesting enough — like an open-world survival game where you can ride a Carnotaurus, for example — some folks are more than willing to take that risk.
Most of the time, everything turns out okay and we get what we paid for. Then a story like this tries to ruin it for everyone.
Conceptually, The Stomping Land was exciting enough to motivate over 4,400 people to donate $114,000 in a Kickstarter campaign created by its lead developer, Alex Fundora. This past May, the game arrived on Steam Early Access, alongside the similarly themed survival horror game The Forest. Unlike The Forest, which has seen constant support from its developer since its arrival on Steam, The Stomping Land hasn’t seen an update since June.
After months of outcries from frustrated fans who are upset with a developer that’s been bizarrely uncommunicative and, for some unspecified reason, is either unwilling or unable to continue supporting its game, Valve has decided to take action. You can still find it on Steam, but the option to purchase it has since been removed.
It’s an unfortunate situation for everyone, except maybe for Fundora, who took home $114,000 and a lot more from everyone who spent $25 on it. It’s also likely to remain unresolved until the developer finally speaks up or Valve decides to start offering refunds.
News
Legendary Grimdark ‘Warhammer 40,000’ Artist John Blanche Has Passed Away at 78
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.


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