Some thoughts on 'Dead Age', the zombie survival game with turn-based combat and multiple endings

I'm a sucker when it comes to Zombie games, so I've tried out the recently released Dead Age [Steam] and written some thoughts down on it.

Don't be alarmed, this isn't "yet another zombie survival game" which everyone seems to be getting tired of, this is more of a strategy and RPG with a story.

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It has a basic tutorial prologue that teaches you the basics, which I do suggest and it won't take you long to finish. The tutorial seamlessly moves into the main game too, so it's nicely done.

You don't have a 3D world to explore, or even a 2D world, but instead you pick locations to travel to for loot and take on waves of Zombies as your characters explore.

What I do really love is the scrapbook interface, which I actually find to be rather well presented and it just looks damn cool:


It has a pretty nice skill system, where you level up specific skills and every few points gives you a new ability. If you level up handguns by three points, you can gain the "Leg Shot" ability for example. There's quite a lot to unlock, giving you a bit of freedom in how you play it.

While the combat isn't bad it still leaves something to be desired, as the battles seem a little stiff and static due to the animations. It's not that bad though for a small developer. It's a simple turn-by-turn system where you pick skills, weapons and abilities to use during a battle. A very familiar system to anyone who has played any JRPG or Final Fantasy-like titles.

The other issue with the combat, is that when you're exploring an area it has only a few backdrops available which start to get a little boring when you've seen the same backdrop of a fight 5 times in 10 minutes.

The save system is automatic and based on days, so you don't get to re-load if you die as it features permanent death. The interesting feature here is that you get medals for your play-through for completing challenges, and these medals can be used for permanent upgrades in future runs.

While it does have minor issues like I stated above, the rest of the game is still pretty good. It has a crafting system to make use of all the loot you find while exploring, and your characters get better the more they craft.

The story isn't linear which is awesome to see. It has six different endings and your decisions do matter. You can save everyone you find, or let them die and stock up on supplies, for example.

It has other rogue-lite elements too, with each play giving you different survivors to meet and challenges to overcome, it's a surprisingly feature-filled title.

Overall, I'm actually pretty impressed with it. It has good visuals, good sound design and I've been enjoying it. If you like turn-based combat, Zombies and a story to go with it I can recommend trying out Dead Age. It also gets bonus points for working perfectly with my two monitor setup right away!

You can find Dead Age on Steam.