21 years after its PC debut, Team17’s Worms Armageddon is getting a huge update that makes it playable on modern machines. The Worms franchise has been running since 1995, primarily as turn-based tactics games. It’s a traditional turn-based artillery game, albeit with slimy creatures instead of tanks. Known for its collection of wacky weapons and its dry British humor, fans have returned again and again as the series continues to grow, even in modern times. However, there are some that say the franchise hit its peak in 1999 with the release of Worms Armageddon. Originally an expansion pack for Worms 2, this quickly brought the series to explosive new heights.
After its PC success, the game eventually made its way to everything from the Dreamcast to the Game Boy Color, with varying degrees of success. Despite multiple new titles releasing in the intervening decades, many still hold up Worms Armageddon as the prime example of the series. Team17 acknowledges this as well, widely advertising during the development of Worms WMD that the sequel was created on the back of the source code for Worms Armageddon. Unofficially, fans have continued to work on keeping Armageddon alive and that’s where today’s big update comes into play.
As explained on the Steam page for Worms Armageddon, the big update was created largely thanks to work done on the game by fans in the years since its release. The biggest feature includes full compatibility with Windows 10, something the game has struggled with in the past. There’s also now support for a windowed mode, which fixes compatibility with older machines that can’t run modern resolutions. Other features include support for seven different languages, the ability to play a new round on terrain devastated by a previous match, a streamer mode that hides IP addresses in-game, and bot support for online matchups.
Team17 Art Director Nick Gomersall, who has been with the company since 2002, had this to say on the occasion of the patch’s release:
“Worms has been a part of my life, and the part of the lives of millions of gamers, for a quarter of a century, and it continues to go from strength to strength. The series forms the backbone of my career at Team17, and the evolution of the Worms design throughout the last 25 years really stands out – everybody has their Worm.”
The Worms Armageddon patch comes as part of the celebration of 25 years of Worms, and that’s not all that Team17 has up its sleeve. The publisher recently announced Worms Rumble, a different type of real-time experience more in line with today’s online multiplayer mayhem. A closed beta for that game is running until July 20, and fans are encouraged to sign up on Team17’s website if they’d like a chance to play.
In all, today’s version 3.8 patch for Worms Armageddon included 370 fixes, 45 changes, and 61 new features. While there’s nothing here that’s going to make the game rocket back up to the top of the Steam charts, it is basic community support that will keep the fanbase happy for years to come. It’s rare to see games continue to receive patches even a couple of years after release, so hat’s off to Team17 for supporting its classic title and the fans that just can’t get enough. Let the Holy Hand Grenades fly, people.
