New Blood member and Dusk creator David Szymanski has announced his next project, Chop Goblins (opens in new tab). It will be released on January 2, and will have a play time of about 30 minutes.

I'm really drawn to the time-travel aspect of the game. After accidentally unleashing the little devils in a botched museum heist, you'll fight them in different levels of history, from ancient Greece to 19th century Transylvania, etc. It reminds me of the time-traveling main campaign in Daikatana, or the disparate levels of Serious Sam and Painkiller remind one of the disjointed levels of "Serious Sam" and "Painkiller.

So far there is no trailer, only screenshots, but it appears that weapons include a flintlock rifle, an old-fashioned machine gun, and a man-powered ballista. Chop Goblins also promises a certain amount of replayability through leaderboards, secrets, and achievements.

According to Szymanski, the original plan was for a surprise launch on January 2 (open in new tab) as a little New Year's treat, but he became wary of potential "discoverability changes" on Twitter. szymanski and other Many independent developers are using the platform to showcase their work and reach players. The social media site is facing an uncertain shift in monetization and staffing (opens in new tab) after an acquisition by someone you may or may not have heard of.

Szymanski's primary masterpiece, "Dusk" (open in new tab), was one of the first hits of the recent indie shooter boom. "Dusk" combines "Quake"-style visuals with a gothic style and humor straight out of "Blood. Many of the great FPSes that followed, such as "Hrot" (open in new tab), "Cultic" (open in new tab), and "Coven" (open in new tab), drew heavily on "Dusk" for inspiration, Its soundtrack was a breakthrough work by Andrew Hirschult, who scored the "Doom Eternal" expansion pack.

Chop Goblins is the latest of Szymanski's smaller projects since Dusk. My favorite so far is Iron Lung (open in new tab), "a short horror game in which you navigate a small submarine through a bloody sea on an alien moon. As unnerving and metal as that sounds, it's worth the $6 admission.

Szymanski also supports Gloomwood (opens in new tab), which is being developed by New Blood developer Dillon Rogers.