The Walking Dead meets Final Fantasy
Dead Age is a turn-based zombie apocalypse survival RPG developed by Silent Dreams and Is now available on the PS4. I grew up on games like Final Fantasy and ChronoTrigger and I am a pretty big fan of zombie movies and games. So, a turn-based RPG where killing zombies is the goal sounded right up my alley. I cleared some time and sat down with this title for awhile. This is what I learned.
Difficulty
Dead Age is hard as hell and can be infuriating. Just like the old days, this turn-based RPG gets difficult in a hurry. Were I not working on my New Year’s resolution of being calmer, I might have thrown a controller once or twice. See, the big difference between the games of old and Dead Age is that in this game, death is permanent. You can assign a survivor to the role of medic but there is no resurrection and no continues. If you die, you’re staring back at square one. Sure, it makes the game harder but it also adds some to the overall experience. You are supposed to be surviving, after all. Also, the permanent death really makes you take strategy more seriously.
Strategy is Key
After the game fills you in on how things work, the journey really begins. You pick up survivors to add to your team. Eventually, your team of survivors puts down roots and builds a settlement. You have to split your time, team, and resources between collecting more supplies and fortifying the base. You’ll be protecting yourself against zombies and other humans alike. Everyone wants a piece of your pie. Each character has his or her own skill points which level up over time. The important thing is to find the balance between defense, exploration, and completing quests.
Graphics
I’m not one of those people who had to have cutting edge graphics to enjoy a game. So, the graphics in Dead Age weren’t a deal breaker for me. They were, however, not great. The stills in the game look great as do the backgrounds. The character models used in the combat portion of the game leave something to be desired, though. They look more like something you would see on a really slick mobile game as opposed to a current console. They aren’t all that well animated, either. I get that this title is more focused around the strategy than anything but it does become visually boring after awhile.
An Endless Loop
One thing that I enjoy about old school turn-based RPGs is that there is a world to explore and combat is a random chance event. In Dead Age, there is no world to explore. The bulk of the game takes place between combat scenes and menus. There are random events that happen from time to time that help to break up the monotony, which is nice. Things like finding an abandoned car or coming upon some wild game give you a chance to obtain extra supplies. They also offer a chance to attract the attention of hordes of zombies. The encounters are random and their outcomes are based on skill level. In this respect, Dead Age reminds me of table top role playing games like D&D: if you pass the check you get loot, if not you get zombies.
Final Thoughts
All in all, Dead Age is a cool little time killer. If you’ve got the itch for a turn-based RPG on your console, this will definitely scratch it. I wouldn’t say that this is my new favorite game or anything, but it was fun for a few hours. It gets repetitive and there is a lot of grinding to be done, but at the end of the day it’s worth checking out. You can pick it up for $14.99 on the Playstation Store right now.
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