Nuclear Throne update introduces final boss

Vlambeer's Nuclear Throne has been missing something important since its development first started. But the developer has filled that hole by adding an endgame scenario with an actual nuclear throne.

Ozzie Mejia

June 30, 2014 2:41 PM

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Vlambeer has tossed an awful lot into its roguelike, Nuclear Throne. But there's been something missing... something important. Oh yes, an actual nuclear throne! That will no longer be the case, though, as the latest Steam Early Access build introduces an official endgame scenario that has players doing battle with a final boss: a literal nuclear throne.

A new level has been tossed into the third level of the seventh world, with no minions whatsoever. A lone skeleton sits atop the game's nuclear throne and once it gets taken out, the throne will come to life with guns and cannons blazing. The throne's inclusion marks a significant milestone for the game, indicating that its development is about 50 percent complete.

"In terms of reaching release-ready, we're about half way," said Vlambeer's Rami Ismail on the Vlambeer website. "Nuclear Throne is starting to reach a state known as feature complete - it's the point that denotes that the systems that power the game are now all in place. You can technically walk around, shoot things, collect ammo, mutate, find crowns, uncover secrets, fight bosses, pick up things, find cursed and golden weapons, play co-op and all the other things that you're used to from Nuclear Throne. The next stage is known as content-complete. That's when all the content – the levels, enemies, weapons, mutations, crowns, secrets and so on – are in the game. After that, there'll be a period of polish and certification, after which the game will launch officially on PC, Mac, Linux and then PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita."

The character model for the nuclear throne is in its early stages and will likely undergo changes before the game's final release. You can check out its first iteration in the video below. Those interested in grabbing Nuclear Throne can pick it up on Steam Early Access and can assist with the game's development by participating in Vlambeer's Twitch livestreams every Tuesday and Thursday.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?