The destructible terrain that made the original Worms such a classic has inspired plenty of games over the years, but few have attempted to build an entire multiplayer shooter around it. That’s exactly what indie developers Unstable Entity, Part Time Monkey and Nitroyale are aiming to do with DIRTNAP, set to launch in Steam Early Access on 28 August.

DIRTNAP is a 2D arena shooter for 2-10 players where every pixel of the environment can be dug, blasted or burned away like the Worms of old. Players can tunnel through the terrain, create shortcuts, destroy cover and completely reshape the battlefield over the course of a match.

Players can choose from seven playable “Dirtlings”, each with their own unique ability. The Chameleon can turn invisible while standing still, the Ant traverses walls and ceilings, the Bear tunnels through otherwise indestructible rock, while the Spider uses webs as a grappling hook and to hinder opponents. Other abilities include automated turrets, enhanced swimming and increased weapon range.

The game launches with four multiplayer modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Battle Royale, with every mode also supporting tournament play where competitors can upgrade their abilities between rounds. Online multiplayer is supported through Steam or LAN, with bots able to fill empty slots.

Water and lava are fully simulated and react with one another to create stone and steam, fire spreads through vegetation, stalactites can collapse onto players, while dynamic snowfall can extinguish flames. Four biomes are planned, ranging from frozen wastelands and muddy badlands to lava-filled volcanic caverns.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Worms-like without a few too many weapsons, including machine guns, shotguns, sniper and gauss rifles, flamethrowers, bazookas, missiles and grenades.

Looks like it could be great fun. Just surprised Team17 haven’t gone back to their roots before now.

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