{"id":466856,"date":"2026-10-15T15:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T15:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/466856\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T15:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T15:04:12","slug":"2023s-best-shooter-gets-a-killer-sequel-and-you-can-play-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/466856\/","title":{"rendered":"2023\u2019s Best Shooter Gets a Killer Sequel \u2014 And You Can Play Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2023, Strange Scaffold had a breakthrough moment thanks to El Paso, Elsewhere<\/a>. The Max Payne-inspired vampire shooter launched as an indie darling, helping an eclectic studio find the right audience for its games. It was even successful enough to pique the interest of LaKeith Stanfield, who was tapped to star in a movie adaptation announced in 2024. So it\u2019s no surprise that Strange Scaffold is returning to that world next year with El Paso, Elsewhere 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Currently scheduled to launch in 2027 on Windows PC and Xbox Series X, El Paso, Elsewhere 2 looks to stick close to the original while shaking it up in some key ways. You can see that for yourself starting today in a free PC demo available ahead of Steam Next Fest. If you loved the first one, the good news is that the sequel is filled with more guns, monsters, and slo-mo.<\/p>\n

Set a few years after the first game, El Paso, Elsewhere 2 continues the story of James Savage, a vampire hunter who set out on a quest to stop his ex-girlfriend from performing an evil ritual. Savage has reckoned with an addiction problem since the first game and no longer needs to take pills to heal. Unfortunately, Savage is faced with a new betrayal when a confidant sells him out to an Eldritch God by burying him alive and sending him to the monster-infested Void.<\/p>\n

In a hands-off preview with press ahead of the demo\u2019s launch, director Xalavier Nelson Jr. explained exactly what\u2019s different this time around \u2014 and what\u2019s still the same. First off, Strange Scaffold isn\u2019t ditching the low-poly aesthetic of the original. The goal was to still pay tribute to the PlayStation 2 era, where game developers would iterate on games by remixing existing assets rather than starting from scratch. The only thing that\u2019s gone for good is Savage\u2019s trench coat, which Nelson said was a technical necessity because of how buggy it was in the first game. (\u201cMay it rest in hell where it belongs,\u201d he said.)<\/p>\n

\"James
\n Image: Strange Scaffold\/Frosty Pop<\/p>\n

The sequel is still similar enough on its surface, with players shooting monsters and activating slow-mo bullet time to perform diving kills. The difference, though, is that it no longer takes place entirely in the claustrophobic halls of a cheap motel. The demo throws Savage into a dingy swamp with lots of space to move around. There\u2019s more verticality to fights as Savage can perform a sort of vampire double jump, a handy move for taking down flying gargoyles. Nelson describes it as \u201cthe Quake to El Paso, Elsewhere\u2019s Doom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Quake inspiration is apparent in the twitchy shootouts, but there\u2019s even more DNA from other classic games packed into the sequel. Castlevania was an influence, which is clear from the game\u2019s wider cast of monsters. Players will now fight zombies, cauldron-stirring witches, mafioso vampires, and more. Nelson also cites Resident Evil 4<\/a> as a jumping-off point, pointing to a tense shootout in an abandoned town.<\/p>\n

For Strange Scaffold, part of the sequel\u2019s goal is to make players actually use all of Savage\u2019s tools this time. He has a larger arsenal of guns at his disposal, including a Tommy gun modified to shoot stakes. More importantly, his method of healing has changed to reflect the fact that Savage himself has changed. Rather than popping pills, he can now use a glass stake to turn monsters into \u201cCapri Suns,\u201d as Nelson puts it.<\/p>\n

The scope of the project has changed too. The first game was ambitious for the small studio at the time, featuring 50 levels. The sequel will cut that number down to 20, with Nelson saying that the team is focused on making sure each level introduces a new idea of some kind, rather than offering more of the same old shootouts.<\/p>\n

Studio sustainability<\/a> seems to be at the forefront of Strange Scaffold\u2019s mind on the sequel. Nelson noted that the first game was a bit of a Hail Mary at the time, saying that it was nearly the studio\u2019s final game. While its success breathed new life into Strange Scaffold, Nelson believed that any idea of a sequel would have to die in order to let everything else the team was working on live. A long-term collaboration with publisher Frosty Pop helped salvage the dream of a sequel, one that looks to be a bit more focused this time around.<\/p>\n

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Thankfully, one thing hasn\u2019t changed: El Paso, Elsewhere 2 will feature more Pill Cop. One standout feature of the first game was the fictional in-game radio program that satirized tortured cop stories like Max Payne<\/a>. Pill Cop\u2019s story will continue in the sequel, as he has to confront a classic hostage situation on the ledge of a building. Nelson said he initially struggled to write the story in a way that felt like it had a satirical edge, but he eventually had an important eureka moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictorian orphan,\u201d he said with a mad man\u2019s confidence. I\u2019ll let you find out what that means when you play the full game.<\/p>\n

El Paso, Elsewhere 2\u2019s new free demo is available now on Steam. The full game will launch in 2027 for Windows PC and Xbox Series X.<\/p>\n


\n \"A<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tWhen making lots of small games is more sustainable than making one big one
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Indie game studio Strange Scaffold is a rare sustainability success story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2023, Strange Scaffold had a breakthrough moment thanks to El Paso, Elsewhere. The Max Payne-inspired vampire shooter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-466856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}