Dead Age 2, the zombie management sim/survival/RPG, is set to launch July 16th after a recent delay. The title sees a mixture of role-playing, rogue-like generation and turn-based combat melded into one survival game. Similarities to This War of Mine and Darkest Dungeon are clear, and that’s not a bad thing.
Release Date: 16/07/2020
Platform(s): PC
Price: TBC
Developer: Silent Dreams
Publisher: Headup Games
The game has a combat system similar to a faster-paced Final Fantasy. Branching story decisions should render some tension to the players choices during the quests, with a faction reputation system giving a visual clue to how you’re doing. With six unique possible endings, Dead Age 2 is going to test just how well you guide your people through the apocalypse.
Silent Dreams are the developers behind both Dead Age 2, and its predecessor Dead Age. The original Dead Age was a similar game, with seemingly less complexity, lacking the base building aspects that are more present in the upcoming sequel. Despite this, the original title received Very Positive reviews on Steam (84% positive), out of over 3,000 reviews. It did well, in other words. The Silent Dreams team have had just under four years to improve, and the myriad of additional features shows it.
Dead Age 2 takes place in the same world as the first game, where Jack’s camp managed to flee to Freedom City, a place where the cure was being developed. Things aren’t all fine and dandy however, and new factions have sprung up in battle for dominance over the area.
The merciless Military, the shady Smugglers and the Independents vie for power.
You can interact with each of these factions, gaining favour resulting in better trades and improved rewards for dealing with them. The merciless Military, the shady Smugglers and the Independents vie for power, you have to choose how to deal with each and survive to tell the tale.
Most of the events that lead to this will be random, however, and it’s going to lead to a lot of deaths. Being a Rogue-Like title, this is permanent. If your camp dies, it’s game over. That isn’t the end, however. If the player fails and it’s the end, you can purchase upgrades unlocked in previous runs and keep them for your next play-through. Since there are three difficulty levels, this perhaps provides a way to survive when it gets tougher, bringing the fruits of your previous runs to bear against a more challenging world.
Base building is essentially the same as This War of Mine, a wonderful title where you manage your ‘household’, customising rooms, growing your own food, all while waiting for a war to end. If done well this can be pretty damn enjoyable, though the decision between not starving or an actual weapon can be the peak of stress.
Exploration is also similar, the world map looks to be populated by various locations, likely of differing difficulty, and you will have to choose where is best to go next. Hopefully this is done well, and the decision between scavenging for food, weapons, medicine… and so on, is going to be as difficult as other similar titles.
If you like the look of Dead Age 2 as much as we do, check it out on Steam, and ‘head’ to Headup Games to see their other upcoming and released titles.
Dead Age 2 will be released on PC/Steam on the 16th of July, 2020.
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