Liero 1.36

By: Derek Yu

On: February 14th, 2014

Liero

What better way to spend Valentine’s Day with your sweetheart(s) than playing one of the oldest and best freeware local multiplayer deathmatch games, Liero? Released in 1998 by Finnish programmer Joosa Riekkinen, Liero quickly became a cult classic for its slick controls, destructible terrain, and numerous diverse weapons. Although the original source code was lost, fans have released a number of successful clones and remakes, such as NiL and Gusanos.

Last year, however, a new, “official” version of Liero was released, 1.36. Although not developed by Joosa Riekkinen, Liero 1.36 is more or less an exact simulation of the original and has received the creator’s blessing to use the name. This update runs “on almost any OS”, fixes the few bugs that were present in Liero 1.33, and also adds a host of welcome features, such as post-game stats and an enjoyable new mode, called “Hold a Zone”, where players must claim and protect small sections of the map for a specified period of time.

The AI is also significantly improved, making single-player Liero a viable way to play for the first time. So even if you’re your own Valentine today there’s no reason why you can’t also enjoy the sweet sounds of bleeding worms violently grunting amidst hails of Zimms, Mini-Nukes, Banana Bombs, and other classic weapons.

  • Dylan

    After having a huge interest in local multilayer rekindled by the likes of Samurai Gunn I downloaded this recently. Absolute riot.

  • bart van der voort

    I’ve been playing liero since a long time. I never knew it is so young! I thought it was a dos game almost as old as I am.

  • ekun

    Liero’s pretty great, although if you want to play online I’d take a look at LieroX.

  • Basro

    Here’s a video of a liero 1.36 AI vs AI fight: http://www.twitch.tv/lierotv/c/2832936?t=1h15m22s
    The new AI can pull off some seriously impressive moves.

  • Steven

    great post derek. gotta love the look back multiplayer classics.

    And a personal look back: thank you for maintaining this site dude! db.tigsource as well. They have been a key part in developing my love for games, and continue to inspire me. And nothing will have changed my life as much as the multiplayer game compo, which conceived, or hatched 0space. classic. multiplayer. chaos. big ups to beau as well!

  • http://www.derekyu.com Derek Yu

    Thanks, I really appreciate that!

  • Pita

    Whoa! Blast from the past. This was an important game for me back in high school. It was great for custom content too; I remember making a number of maps & worm sprites. Special times.

  • Dylan

    I’d really love to see some more out of 0Space. Fantastic concept, would love to see it explored further.

  • drugon

    And one of my favorite Liero like games were Captain Pork’s World of Violence and Captain Pork’s Revenge by Linley Henzell. Also I remember MoleZ which is developed even before Liero and Pikku-Ukot Mesoo from developers of Crimsonland.

  • Steven

    Beau mentioned to me in an email that he might consider a steam release for 0space. (that was before samurai gunn was finished on steam).

    I don’t know if he’d consider additional content or not, but regardless, I’d be happy for a new version. Ever since I got windows 8 I’ve had problems with 0space crashing!

  • http://mutantfactions.net Ben Johnson

    Love this game. Used to play it all the time in highschool. The fast paced action has also been a big inspiration for my own games :)

  • Dan Tabár

    This is the game that initially and mainly inspired Cortex Command

  • Jamal Traub

    Loved it. My younger brothers beat me all the time though. But we used to mix things up and turn loading times to 20% or 0% and just fill the screen with chaos!