Don't want to see articles from a certain category? When logged in, go to your User Settings and adjust your feed in the Content Preferences section where you can block tags!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

ASTROKILL, the Unreal Engine powered and impressive space combat sim is alive again, with a major update now available for this Early Access game.

With this fresh update out it brings in an upgraded Unreal Engine to 4.21.1, a completely new HUD with customisable colours, all asteroids and debris have been given a makeover to be more varied and realistic, mission loading time has been reduced, 4K display support, a new objectives system, new objectives in various missions, AI improvements and quite a lot more. See the full update notes here.

In my testing of this update, the Linux version (which uses Vulkan) continues to work well and performance with everything maxed out seemed very smooth. Audio volume is an issue though, with the speech being far too low for me compared to the rest of the game audio but that's a minor point.

Since this is the first major update in about a year, the developer posted about the delay in a longer post on Steam. They talked about how it's basically a one-person show and they've been at flight school, which was more time consuming than they thought. They also mentioned how they understood ignoring all social media about the game during that time was "NOT good". I think most of us will appreciate their openness on it, life is hard and trying to develop games on top of real-life work is hard.

With that out of the way, they did say they're now working on "new ships and structures" which they need for some other missions.

You can find it on Steam in Early Access.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
7 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
15 comments

Liam Dawe Feb 21, 2019
....aaaaaand I think I know what I'll be playing around with tonight. Good to see an update, and I'm incredibly curious about how well Unreal Engine with Vulkan will work on my Kaveri.
(I don't keep games installed if I'm not playing them, so I don't really see notifications about game updates unless they're posted here.)
And that's why I've got so much of my library installed, to keep everyone up to date :P
Eike Feb 21, 2019
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
(I don't keep games installed if I'm not playing them, so I don't really see notifications about game updates unless they're posted here.)

Major updates should be posted by the developers as news (that's my hope at least), so following the games could help.


Last edited by Eike on 21 February 2019 at 4:02 pm UTC
Egonaut Feb 21, 2019
Major updates should be posted by the developers as news (that's my hope at least), so following the games could help.

This could be helpful as well: https://store.steampowered.com/updated/myapps/
hummer010 Feb 21, 2019
....aaaaaand I think I know what I'll be playing around with tonight. Good to see an update, and I'm incredibly curious about how well Unreal Engine with Vulkan will work on my Kaveri.
(I don't keep games installed if I'm not playing them, so I don't really see notifications about game updates unless they're posted here.)
And that's why I've got so much of my library installed, to keep everyone up to date :P

Thanks for taking one for the team!!
Liam Dawe Feb 21, 2019
Major updates should be posted by the developers as news (that's my hope at least), so following the games could help.

This could be helpful as well: https://store.steampowered.com/updated/myapps/
The problem here, is that there's tons of developers who only post changelogs in their Steam forum as lots of developers feel like they spam users with updates.
Purple Library Guy Feb 21, 2019
....aaaaaand I think I know what I'll be playing around with tonight. Good to see an update, and I'm incredibly curious about how well Unreal Engine with Vulkan will work on my Kaveri.
(I don't keep games installed if I'm not playing them, so I don't really see notifications about game updates unless they're posted here.)
And that's why I've got so much of my library installed, to keep everyone up to date :P
Your hard drive/s must be a monster.
iiari Feb 21, 2019
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
My pointer isn't working on the Linux build so I can't select anything. The game seems to work perfectly in Proton, however.

I'm a big fan of this title and have played both campaigns all the way through. I love the engine but feel some modifications have made things a bit off. I'd like better momentum directionality, and for left and right thrusters to have more effect. Also, it feels like the enemy is EMP bombing me like mad, so much so I really can't do much in some missions. The dev has been on and off responsive on Discord, I'll reach out there...


Last edited by iiari on 21 February 2019 at 6:43 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Feb 21, 2019
....aaaaaand I think I know what I'll be playing around with tonight. Good to see an update, and I'm incredibly curious about how well Unreal Engine with Vulkan will work on my Kaveri.
(I don't keep games installed if I'm not playing them, so I don't really see notifications about game updates unless they're posted here.)
And that's why I've got so much of my library installed, to keep everyone up to date :P
Your hard drive/s must be a monster.
I have four, all of them almost full...
Lolo01 Feb 21, 2019
I bought it today and tried it...and didn't understand anything.
I guess I will try Everspace again instead. It's much more fun.


Last edited by Lolo01 on 21 February 2019 at 9:19 pm UTC
Linuxpunk Feb 21, 2019
I bought it today and tried it...and didn't understand anything.

Astrokill's thing is that it has "realistic" physics. So it's kinda hard to get the hang of it straight away, (I found it somewhat similar to Helium Rain). Also, the kinetic weapons drift a lot, you have to aim ahead of your targets.

I really like this game, but EVERSPACE is also great, and finished (which ASTROKILL is far from)!
dpanter Feb 21, 2019
Still doesn't support ultrawide... :'(
Looks and runs brilliant in any case.
iiari Feb 21, 2019
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Still doesn't support ultrawide... :'(
Looks and runs brilliant in any case.
I have it running in 3440 by 1440. What resolution are you trying?
dpanter Feb 22, 2019
3440 by 1440
Same here. It's zoomed in and in some cases broken because of it. Try rebinding keys, top/bottom are cut off.
iiari Feb 22, 2019
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
3440 by 1440
Same here. It's zoomed in and in some cases broken because of it. Try rebinding keys, top/bottom are cut off.
On closer look, you are correct, sir. You should report that bug. I also tried it in Proton, and it's the same there...
dpanter Feb 22, 2019
UW issues in Astrokill have been reported as far back as 2017. :) bluemoon is aware of the menu scaling problem and I expect it will be fixed shortly.
I haven't examined if 16:9 and 21:9 works the same in-game now btw.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.