Survival sandbox Scum makes all its men "Smokin' Hot" in today's 0.9 update

Multiplayer survival sandbox Scum has dropped its 0.9 Smokin’ Hot update today to add more of the expected guns, monsters, and balance tweaks. But the update’s called Smokin’ Hot because it makes all the guys in the game, well, smokin’ hot - if you're into men with a Gears Of War workout routine, that is. Following the revamped female character models last year, developer Gamepires continue their early access tour with a refresh for every male character in the game which may or may not include a touch up for the Danny Trejo DLC skin. Take a look at the new beefcakes and beefy mutants below.

Smokin’ Hot’s two new enemies are the quick-footed Razors (named after the blades attached to their arms), and the very ugly Brenners (named for their love of burning things with flamethrowers). Both beasties can be found in the bunkers, which probably explains their bad dental hygiene, although bunkers themselves are receiving some love in the update, too. Puzzles have been added down there, and to go alongside the new headscratchers, you’ll now be able to increase the Intelligence stat by solving them. For those more into brawn than brains, the update also adds a new light machine gun and rebalances XP gains to make powering up skills easier.

Fraser Brown took a look at Scum’s open world for us when it launched into early access. “Scum’s wall of data is mesmerising,” he said. “From the moment I arrived on the island, every spare second, and even seconds I couldn’t spare, was dedicated to staring at it. The readings and statistics told me everything I needed to know about my body, from how many teeth I had left to when I should squeeze out a big poo. It’s immensely convenient, but like so many human advancements, from ploughing fields to social media, it can take over your life.”

Scum’s early access build is normally available for £33.50/$40 on Steam, but a 60% discount slashes that down to £13.40/$16 until August 10th. There’s no word on when Scum will leave early access, but the studio were recently acquired by Jagex to “accelerate” the game’s development.