Trying out 'Dead Age' - Gaming in the Quarantine
So, this morning as I was preparing for work I noticed that GoG.com was having a Zombie themed game sale, and as a sucker for most things related to zombies - I took a quick glance. Many were uninteresting, and others I already own, but I did notice one game that looked like I could waste a bit of time on, and was less than two bucks.
So, I bought Dead Age and spent most of my free time during today's lunch break giving it a quick look.
Visually, it has a really simplified UI and art style that is reminiscent of the 'Rebuild' series of games in some ways.
The character choice is limited at first, but it hints to replayability that several choices are locked when you first begin. It also has several different game modes, but for the quick look I was intending to give today I chose to go with the default path.
The story is fairly generic zombie survival. Which I really have no problem with. You wake up alone, having been knocked unconscious while fighting off your zombiefied brother. Your sister was with you, and you're pretty sure she must've made it to safety since she's not there when you wake up. So, that's your first quest: Find out what happened to your sister.
You have few items when you start - and you're immediately launched into a fight against a single undead.
Fights are a turn-based system, where you pick your action and your target. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be hotkeys for these options, which I would have liked to see - but perhaps there's a way I can set those. I didn't look too hard.
There's plenty of popup dialog to provide you guidance at the start and show you how the game mechanics work, like the ability to see enemy stats by hovering over their names (which you can also do to allies)
The fight mechanics are pretty simple, and I think for some people that'll be really nice, but it could also easily become pretty repetitive. But, for a dollar and a half game, it's certainly not a deal breaker for me.
Your character (and characters you pick up later) are equipped and interacted with largely in the context of a 'notebook' style UI, where you can assign skills, jobs, and gear to members of your survivor party.
The story plays out via shots of still images and torn paper text blocks, which I think is a neat little style. After-action choices also pop up now and then, which give you a chance to make a choice about what you do.
Finally, mission choice is done by picking a Polaroid-style photo from your navigation window, which gives you some idea of what likely loot drops as well as what quests are active in that area.
And, as with any good survival game, there are, of course...
Overall, I think if you like zombies and turn-based survival games, you should check this out! It's cheap as all heck, and it was a pretty fun way to spend an hour today.
I'll definitely be playing more of it!
Happy gaming my friends!
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