What you need to know
- A little more than a year ago, Ocean Drive Studio unveiled its upcoming top-down twin-stick roguelike shooter, Blackout Protocol.
- Since its launch into Early Access, the game has undergone a rebranding, and Ocean Drive Studio continues to share roadmaps for the game’s updates with continued development through 2025.
- Now called Section 13, the game still features the same premise of an internal containment breach at a secretive corporation, with players taking on the role of the employees unlucky enough to be sent to deal with it.
- A demo for Section 13 is set to be accessible via the Xbox Dashboard during the Xbox Indie Winter Games Fest demo event, starting December 10 to December 31.
Ocean Drive Studio and Kakao Games have shared an update on the early access title Section 13, announcing the game will have a playable demo on Xbox as part of the upcoming Xbox Indie Winter Games Fest demo event. The event is set to last from December 10 to December 30, with games having playable demos that can only be found for a limited time on the Xbox Dashboard.
In the summer of 2023, Ocean Drive Studio revealed a project in development called Blackout Protocol. The game’s launch trailer was packed with charm, showing a secretive agency overrun with what could only be described as cosmic horrors. A select group of poor employees brave volunteers set off to the depths of the corporation to fight back against the nightmares lurking within the labs.
Players can team up and attempt to fight or flee, and they must always try to survive against the swarms of enemies that have taken over the agency. Failure to do so will likely result in more paperwork for HR, but ultimately, death is a part of the job.
Section 13 is already available for players on Steam, having entered Early Access last year when it was still known as Blackout Protocol. The game currently costs $13 on Steam, and the free demo is also available there. A roadmap for Section 13 can also be found on the Steam page, detailing plans for early 2025.
The roadmap lays out Ocean Drive Studios’ intentions to add two new, entirely procedurally generated levels, new tactical gear, a new Synaptic Enhancement unlock system, and a new paranatural enemy type. There are also plans to revamp the Beaker character in early 2025.
Section 13 is currently Steam Deck verified and compatible with controllers on PC. The Xbox demo is expected to go live on December 10. No official announcement on when the game might release its 1.0 version has been announced yet. A previous release window for early 2025 was seemingly pushed back to Winter 2025, which may seem like the earliest time for this darkly funny and slightly terrifying co-op adventure to leave early access.
Ocean Drive Studio is a subsidiary of Kakao Games and has previously released the turn-based tactical RPG Lost Eidolons. The follow-up, Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch, launched into Early Access on Steam this past November. The studio has also released a sandbox survival game titled God Save Birmingham and an action RPG based on the Sword Master Youngest Son IP. Kakao Games, the publisher behind Section 13, has previously been responsible for releasing titles like Pearl Abyss’ Black Desert Online, Krafton’s PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds, and Kong Studios’ Guardian Tales.
