Every so often a new game surfaces that aims to be a successor to classic, stylish, mid-’90s antigrav racer Wipeout. Released back in 2018, BallisticNG was among the better attempts, managing to capture the speed and a little of the style while hewing close to the chunky polgyonal style of the PlayStation 1-era original.
Fast Forward five years and BallisticNG has been regularly updated since that initial launch, and a new trailer to mark its release on GOG is keen to brag about
As the trailer says: it’s got VR support, mod support, plenty of community content, and plenty of game modes to choose from. It’s not Steam Deck verified but it reportedly works great on Valve’s handheld, too.
Two days ago, update 1.3.3 was released, which “completely revamps the game’s section tracking system to allow for much more complex layouts to be made”, according to the patch notes. Other updates include new accessibility options, revamps for several official tracks, and support for GOG Galaxy.
The latter is part of the game’s launch on the GOG store, where it costs the same as it does on Steam currently, £9.19/$12/€10.
Next up will be update 1.4, which will bring “final polish for the game,” including improvements to physics and how mods are handled. This will be the last major update to BallisticNG as, although there will be further new content and maintenance, developers Neognosis are “very happy with what BallisticNG brings to the table and are preparing to move onto a new project.” I hope they make a spiritual successor to one of the other forgotten, stylish PSone-era games.
