Dead Season - Review

Remove all ads!

The Turn Based Lovers reviewed Dead Season:

​

Dead Season Review: XCOM-Lite Zombie Slaying

It always seems like to me that there is a certain convention when it comes to zombie games. If in doubt, turn to a random page in the dictionary and name your game "Dead <Word>". We've seen Dead Island, Dead Rising, Dead Space and even Dead Cells. That's before we even try and work out how Valve's new game Deadlock fits in.

Today, though, we're going to be taking a look at the new turn-based tactical RPG Dead Season, the debut game from solo developer studio Snail Bite. Published by Iceberg Interactive, it will be available on Steam on October 8th.

Table of contents:

• The Beginning
• The Combat
• The Journey
• Final Thoughts
• The Beginning

Stop me if you have heard this one before. Four characters from a variety of backgrounds meet in a zombie apocalypse and have to hastily build trust and cooperate in order to try and make it out alive. At this point it's very much a cliché of the genre and is going to throw most players back to fond memories of Left 4 Dead, one of the clear inspirations for this title.

Upon starting the game I was immediately introduced to Francis Travis, the biker of the group. On that note, if I ever hear of a zombie outbreak on the news I am heading right to the local bike gang as they seem to have an especially high survival rate in post apocalyptic scenarios.

A quick tutorial then introduces us to some key mechanics of the game. You are going to be controlling your group of 4 survivors in XCOM style tactical engagements, making your way across the city in search of help. In a slight departure from many recent zombie games, Dead Season makes an effort to streamline the mechanics that have become so prevalent in the genre to focus on trying to deliver meaningful missions.

[...]

Final Thoughts
For all my gripes, I would struggle to describe Dead Season as a bad game. It looks good, it runs well and there is a decent tactical slant to the combat but, much like the last can of food in a postapocalyptic supermarket, this experience is only going to be treasured by those truly hungry. If you really crave some turn-based zombie action or want a more linear light strategy experience, there is some fun to have here. For those on the fence, it's a far harder sell.

I hope the developer continues to add to this game from a gameplay perspective because what it does effectively is give me the same feeling I would get from a game of Zombicide: always teetering on the brink of being overwhelmed. It just feels like it's missing a real hook to make players love it.