Secret Ponchos counts down to PC launch with 12 weeks of updates, starting now

Secret Ponchos, the isometric, spaghetti-western online gunfighter that launched on PlayStation 4 in December and has been in Steam Early Access for about a year, is three months from a full Windows PC launch and will count it down with a 12-week program of content updates, beginning today.

Developer Switchblade Monkeys said in a news release that their update campaign is meant not only to learn from the game's PS4 release, but also to deliver a game the PC community can call its own, rather than simply make a port of the PS4 edition.

"We wanted to use this opportunity to take what our community has taught us and act on it," developer Yousuf Mapara said in a statement.

That starts today with a free character for PC, Gordo, who had been a premium DLC character on the PS4 edition. Gordo lugs around a gatling gun with "an unrivaled fire rate," notes a news release, and features Molotov cocktails as an alternate weapon.

Additionally, Secret Ponchos will patch in a 3-on-3 game mode that highlights a new prioritization feature meant to streamline and speed up matchmaking.

The "12 Weeks Til Showdown" update campaign promises to deliver AI enemies, a new progression system and, of course, new maps, along with other features.

Also, beginning next week, Secret Ponchos will keep a "Season Zero Leaderboard" that will award top players at season's end — right before launch — with badges and prizes.

Secret Ponchos was delayed from its original release last spring on PlayStation 4, ultimately offered in December (and free that month to PlayStation Plus subscribers.) Managing the PS4 launch over the winter took Switchblade Monkeys away from Early Access testing for about three months. They returned in April with a large update, then announced last week the patch that kicks off this 12-week update campaign. More on that may be read here.