Universe at War developer Petroglyph Games has unveiled its latest free-to-play project. A character focused action strategy game for the PC, Rise of Immortals is the latest offering in the increasingly competitive Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) subgenre. The new game takes place in Graxia, the multimedia fantasy setting launched by Petroglyph in 2010.

A dozen customisable combatants will be available from day one, each with a unique blend of skills and powers. The game will be supported with paid downloadable content, with the developer promising a steady stream of additional characters, environments and equipment. Rise of Immortals will feature a mix of single player, cooperative and adversarial multiplayer challenges.

The MOBA genre originated with 2003’s Defence of the Ancients (DotA), which narrowed the often sprawling RTS experience down to a handful of powerful units. The popular WarCraft III mod has since inspired the likes of League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Demigod and the forthcoming DOTA 2.

Rise of Immortals is scheduled for release in autumn 2011.

If ‘shiny’ is among your favourite colours, you should know that Vanquish, for all its violence and brutality, has been polished to a brilliant sheen. The game opens with an orbital space station firing its weapons on San Francisco, essentially melting a good portion of the city and its inhabitants. A threat from the station’s Russian captors gives America just 10 hours to surrender before New York suffers the same fate. This sets the scene for a manic assault on the station. Read the rest of this entry »