THE DEAD TIMES
DEAD ARE COMING...
Zpocalypse: Survival
Zpocalyspe: Survival is (or will be with enough help from the public), and I quote from the Kickstarter webpage, "A real-time with pause rogue-lite strategic survival game with exploration, scavenging, base building, crafting, and deadly battles!". That is a pretty expansive statement so I'll try to break it down into something even a dimwitted Zombie could understand. Basically, if you've played the old Bioware developed Role-Playing Game (RPG) Neverwinter Nights then Zpocalypse: Survival is very similar in structure to that but with a few new and exciting features bolted on such as boatloads of slavering Zombies hungry for human flesh, and a focus on 'survival' oriented gameplay where death is a constant threat.
In time honoured fashion of these types of games, you start by creating the character you will be playing as for the rest of the game - a sole survivor of the nuclear apocalypse inadvertently created by man in a last ditch attempt to rid the world of Zombies, a bold-handed tactic that did not work. Launching into this war-torn land (unique every time you play so no two survival adventures are the same), you are forced to eke out a living by any means possible; scavenging items, weapons, scraps, food, anything that might be useful - crafting what can't be found in the wild.
The goodies you find amongst the rubble and the more rare items you create are stored in a central base. That base is your makeshift fortress, your home, your point of safety and refuge in a world of chaos, a world where the dead walk and leftover radiation from the nuclear defence is an ever present worry. You'll have to defend that base though - the rampaging Zombies that rentlessly pursue the living are one threat, turning more violent and aggressive at night, though who knows what other devilry lies in the darkness...
Other people survived the nuclear holocaust, other characters roam the land, trying to survive in an illogical world. They may be friendly - joining you for safety in numbers - or hostile - taking what is yours so they can live that little bit longer. Trusting those who appear friendly though could turn on you at any moment is far from easy when law, chivalry and honour are abandoned but you'll definitely appreciate the help granted by anyone fighting alongside you. Each survivor has their own skills and traits meaning they could well be invaluable - if you pass them by or let them die, they are gone forever, their skills lost.
© Zpocalypse: Survival Screenshots | Softpedia
A final point of note is that Zpocalyspe: Survival is a digital adaption of a board game created by the same company as running this Kickstarter campaign - Greenbrier Games. That means it already has an established fan-base, it already has rules governing combat, base-management and so on, it already has story elements and lore from which to draw upon. Most importantly though, at least in my Zombie-centric mind, it gives the game pedigree - there is already a fun game there that people are playing, quite probably, at the same time you read these words. While this is no guarantee of success for the computerised version - the gaming industry can often be as perilous as a Zombie-filled wasteland - it is a major bonus to have a product that has been released.
© Zpocalypse Red Carpet Release Event! | Myraid Games
There you have it, Zpocalyspe: Survival in a nutshell (or, more fittingly, the shell of a nuclear warhead). There is a ton more information on the Kickstarter page (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/greenbriergames/zpocalypse-survival-post-nuclear-zombie-apocalypse) including screenshots and early gameplay videos. I really hope you do decide to back this game - I am certainly going to but as a lover of anything with Zombies in it, I am quite an easy target. This is one Zombie horde that I honestly cannot wait to see unleashed from the fetid chains of financial struggle.
DESCRIPTION:
A new article series has begun - The Kickstarter & The Kickstarted! In this series, I or some other amazingly talented member of The Dead Times will give a quick shout out (as I believe these descriptive referrals are now known) to Zombie games - and possibly other Zombie projects - that suddenly appear on Kickstarter like newly unearthed corpses as well as taking at look at those projects that have successfully completed a funding campaign, immanently shambling forth into the world of the real. First up under the all seeing eye of approval is Zpocalypse: Survival - a video game from Greenbrier Games.
CATEGORY:
The Kickstarter & The Kickstarted
WRITTEN BY:
DATE UPLOADED:
04/05/2014