THE DEAD TIMES
DEAD ARE COMING...
2019 Preview - Part 2: Games
Welcome back to my epic preview of all Zombie stuff happening in 2019. In the first part, the movie projects were listed. Now, in part 2, I delve deep into the mysterious - and often unforgiving - world of games.
Resident Evil 2
Of all the Zombie projects happening in 2019, this one has got gamers in a spin; people have been crying out for a remake of Resident Evil 2 for years and finally, finally Capcom have listened. That being said, the exact nature of the game remains a mystery (probably for good reason). The viewpoint has changed; ditching the fixed camera-angles of the original and adopting a more modern over-the-shoulder view, similar to that seen in Resident Evil 4. Don't worry though, the more actiony viewpoint does not mean a more actiony game; the game's producer has stated that the mysterious, puzzle-oriented gameplay is still the key focus. As for story however, not much is known. From the footage released so far, the narrative will be a near exact copy of the infamous fall of Racoon City to the murderous hordes of Zombies and other nasties escaped from Umbrella laboratories. I would not be at all surprised if Capcom through a small twist or to into the mix to keep things fresh and exciting. With a release date of January 25th, we don't have long to wait - this could well be an early contender for game of the year!
Dying Light 2
Dying Light was arguably the best Zombie game to come out for quite some time - I certainly loved it, giving it and its later expansion, The Following, a massive 4 stars each. In 2019, Dying Light gets a ambitious sequel that is a lot more than just 'the next chapter'. Chris Avellone - the famed RPG writer behind greats such as Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Fallout: New Vegas - has been helping Techland (the game's developers) produce a much more open-ended, dynamic narrative than the fairly linear, 'A to B with Zombies' style of the original. Now, every choice you make will matter and radically impact the world around you; changing the scarcity of resources, the threat level of its inhabitants and its entire visual appearance. In addition the world renowned parkour system has been improved allowing you to seamlessly traverse the infected streets in style, jumping across rooftops, grappling ledges and climbing telegraph poles in a desperate bid to avoid the biting teeth of the dead.
Days Gone
Players take control of Deacon St. John in this third-person action adventure Zombie game from Sony; a nomadic former outlaw turned bounty hunter who prefers life crusin' down the road on his motorcycle to being holed up in some wilderness encampment. Two years after the world was cast into disarray by a deadly virus that turned people and animals into dangerous Zombie-like "Freakers" as well as spawning multiple lawless biker gangs, it is up to Deacon to survive and help other survivors do the same. What really impresses about this game though is the visuals - it looks down-right amazing - and the mesmerizing tech powering the Zombies; crawling and tripping over each other in tsunami-like stampedes reminiscent of World War Z.
The Walking Dead: The Final Season continues
It's been a turbulent year for The Walking Dead adventure game; one that almost saw it come to an abrupt end mid-season. As followers of such things will know Telltale Games, the original developers of The Walking Dead adventure games, was forced to close down operations and cease all development in late 2018. This left the current season of the game, season 4, in dire straights with only two episodes complete and the very real chance that we would never witness the true fate of Clementine - the long-running series' protagonist. Fortunately, Skybound Games - the game publishing company owned by The Walking Dead franchise daddy, Robert Kirkman - stepped in to fill the void. Ex-Telltale developers were hired and brought on to finish the final two episodes, narrowly avoiding the inevitable riots from millions of gamers at the lack of suitable conclusion to the emotional story started by Lee Everett, way back in season 1. In a shocking final twist to this story, The Walking Dead: The Final Season is now to be exclusive to Epic Games Store. Owners of the game's season pass on Steam will get the final two episodes for free on Steam but new players will have to jump ship to Epic.
Daymare: 1998
This is a bit of a weird one. It started life as a Resident Evil 2 remake project by a couple of avid fans from Invader Studios but since then has spawned an entirely new game (a good thing given that the official Resident Evil 2 remake is coming in just a few days time). The story of the game is all-new, yet clearly inspired by the Resident Evil franchise. A terrorist attack in the late 90s has transformed the residents of North America into mutated, blood-thirsty killers. Three characters - an elite soldier, a helicopter pilot and a forest ranger - must fight their way through this nightmare-zone in an attempt to discover the truth about the unleashed virus. In some uplifting news, the project recently acquired a publisher, granting the funds to give this already chilling game, the extra polish it deserves.
World War Z
The 2013 blockbuster film, World War Z, is getting a video game adaption and, from the early footage, it's looking epic! It's a Left 4 Dead style 4-player co-operative game - no word yet on whether there'll be a single-player mode - that pits teams of survivors up against hordes of World War Z brain-munchers in various locales including Moscow and New York. The highlight is the superb dynamic horde simulation system the developers have engineered to control the ravenous deadheads; falling over objects and each other as they madly charge to get you, building ant-like ladders of fleshy bodies to reach high up places - truly, nowhere is safe. The game is exclusive to Epic Games Store and won't be appearing on Steam's digital shores.
The Last of Us Part II
Set five years after events of The Last of Us, players take control of an older, wiser Ellie as she crosses paths with a mysterious cult in the post-apocalyptic United States. To be honest, there isn't much more detail than that about this incredibly exciting game from Naughty Dog. Still, judging from The Last of Us we can expect some quality gameplay and emotional narrative from this sequel.
The Black Masses
Ever since I saw the tech demo of hundreds, thousands, of Zombies being slaughtered and dismembered, I have been eagerly awaiting the ambitious open-world, first person, RPG, The Black Masses. The medieval setting featuring knights with swords, crossbows and maces coupled with the superbly detailed, run-down look of environments and towns-people plus the huge 16 square-kilometre island you have free roam of, make this one truly unique Zombie game. Of course, it's not just ravenous dead people you'll be coming face-to-face with, demons and other satanically possessed entities abound. There is also a climbing/parkour system and a skill-tree style progression.
7 Days to Die
This survival-horror-crafting-construction game with RPG elements has been quietly shuffling forward for quite some time now, following a mind-blowingly successful kickstarter campaign gifting the developers just over half a million dollars. Zombies are the main enemies, slow in the day but dauntingly fast at night, although plans are still in motion to add bandit towns and mutated, lawless mercenaries, under the control of a deranged leader of the heathen apocalypse, The Duke of Navezgane. With a stable version of Alpha 17 just released, here's hoping that this hotly anticipated game will exit Early Access in true 1.0 form, this year.
Project Zomboid
Project Zomboid seems to have been in development before I was born - it has been kicking around in the background for years (no joke). Basically, this 2D isometric game from small-time development studio, The Indie Stone, is the ultimate Zombie-survival game with role-playing elements. Cupboards are lootable, things can be cooked (even things that aren't meant to be continously heated, leading to devastating fires), cars can be repaired and driven, items can be crafted, new skills can be learnt, Zombies can be dispatched with a variety of weaponry, etcetera, etcetera and still more is being added. It's definitely not a chirpy game - you are going to die eventually; the entire purpose of the game is simply to see how long you can stay alive in this post-apocalyptic world.
Dead Matter
Dead Matter is the new open-world, Zombie survival, sandbox coming to Steam's Early Access programme in 2019. All the usual trimmings are present; crafting, hunger/thirst, a dynamic day and night cycle, fully explorable buildings, a medical system, electricity systems, hunting, farming and, of course, lots and lots of dead people. What really makes this game stand out from the crowd though is the unique Calgary setting; Canadian flags fly and are draped over important buildings. I'm expecting good things from this project that spawned from a game modification in early 2012 so all infected eyes are on Quantum Integrity Software Inc. to see if they can deliver.
Dead Island 2
Dead Island 2 needs no introduction, or maybe it needs a lot of introduction, I'm really not sure anymore. Announced way back in 2014, the game was under development by Yager Development until, just before the intended release date, publisher Deep Silver pulled a surprising U-turn and stopped production, handing the reigns over to UK-based, Sumo Digital. From here, it has all got a bit murky; rumours abound that Sumo Digital has completely redesigned the game to be more like Techland's Zombie hit, Dying Light (although with Dying Light 2 on the very near horizon, I fear Deep Silver will pull yet another U-turn), months have passed without any new information (I contacted Deep Silver before writing this article but got nothing but static in reply) and the only confirmation of note comes from infrequently repeated blurb promising that the game is still in development. So, will we see this game come out this year or even learn something, anything of its true form? At this point, your guess is as good as mine.
DESCRIPTION:
With 2019 now upon us, it's time to look ahead at all the goretastic Zombie offerings lined-up for this year. This second part, takes a sneak peek all the games to look forward to.
CATEGORY:
Preview of the Dead
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DATE UPLOADED:
06/01/2019