The human race is doomed to extinction, mainly due to its own faults but also due to random catastrophic events. The last two years (abundant) have strengthened this thesis and the cinema reminds us of it often and willingly.
We also know that living in New York or Tokyo this probability becomes even higher due to the very frequent onset of alien invasions / attacks / monsters from the abyss and so on. Then there is the “blank slate” factor that comes into play in the event of global thermonuclear wars, devastating epidemics or zombie apocalypses.
In Deadcraft the Marvelous First Studio has painted an even more unlucky future: in the year 20XX the Earth is bombarded by a hail of meteorites that exterminate 90% of the population and reduce the globe to a heap of ash and flames. As if that weren’t enough, the aforementioned celestial bodies bring a virus named ZiV to the planet, which awakens the several billion dead turning them into zombies. The survival instinct relegates the few survivors to sparse settlements, who live by expedients, consuming the few remaining resources … but the danger of joining the ranks of the “Zivver” is increasingly looming.
We know what you are thinking: here in the midst of all this mess comes the usual survivor who, after having had a huge blow of luck, manages to survive long enough to save the human race. More or less this is the case, but credit must be given to the development team for having tried to do something different than usual, giving Deadcraft an unusual hero and game mechanics a bit more original, at least in this context.
The protagonist is called Reid and he too was infected by the virus, which however did not kill him but transformed him into a human-zombie hybrid with very special powers. His fleshy arm can wipe out entire hordes of zombies to create a temporary shield but also hook humans who can be devoured to increase his power. You will discover his powers as you progress through the game and it will be up to you to choose “how” to use them.
Impersonating the unfortunate survivor you will have to make your way through a desolated wasteland, with very little hope of survival and a single goal: to take revenge on Nebron, the self-proclaimed “savior of humanity” responsible for terrible atrocities but above all for the disappearance of dear friend Gene. All clues lead to a place called The Ark, where Nebron runs his shady business and where it appears that his old partner is dead. Obviously getting there will not be easy, alone it will be impossible and Reid will have to entrust his hopes of success to a handful of improvised and bizarre adventure companions.
Deadcraft’s gameplay is a fairly classic mix of action and survival. The bird’s eye view (with 360 ° rotatable camera) gives the gameplay that “Diablo” feel that many developers have relied on over the past 15 years. Wanting to make some comparisons, we can compare Deadcraft to the various How to Survive and State of Decay.
The fights take place in real time, with makeshift weapons of various kinds and rarities, stamina to keep under control so as not to be fatigued on the worst and two survival factors, to say the least, canonical, hunger and thirst, which in case of crisis will also make the simpler very complicated actions. As per tradition, to restore the lost energies it will be enough for you to sleep, but the amount of vitality regained will depend on your primary conditions.
So far we have remained on well-trodden terrain but soon in the midst of this sea of “seen and reviewed” game elements will come into play capable of giving a slight shock to such banality. Crafting is obviously essential in a game of this genre and in Deadcraft it will allow you to create weapons, equipment, attack / defense elements for your base of operations (which we will talk about shortly) and recipes capable of transforming even the most disgusting rat meat. in a mouth watering delicacy.
The possibility of “cultivating” zombies to be transformed into allies that gradually form a real army contributes to raising the bar of originality. Some of them will support you in battle while others can be used to craft items and weapons with very special abilities.
All this can be done in your headquarters, which initially will be little more than a field but which over time you can modify and enhance in various ways. By completing the missions you will unlock new elements with which to expand and make the HQ more comfortable. You will obviously also have to think about its defense, which will not be limited to simple fences but to real active / passive attack positions that in a vague Tower Defense style will think of blocking sudden threats.
Over time you will also have to think about food, cultivating the fields with vegetables and fruits of various kinds, which if you want you can also change with a generous sprinkling of Zombie blood to give life to products with unpredictable effects. Both crafting, combat and defense skills can be enhanced by spending Survival Points earned by defeating enemies or taking certain actions. There are six branches of specialization to unlock and we guarantee that to get the most interesting skills you will have to sweat much more than the fateful seven shirts.
These flashes of creativity have allowed Deadcraft to rise above the mediocrity that the very first hours of play foreshadowed, but unfortunately we are still a long way from excellence. Above all, the level and mission designs, which stink heavily of mothballs, are sinning. Make a list of the things you hate about this type of game and you will find them in Deadcraft. Superficial survival elements? There are, the only thing you will have to worry about will be to eat and drink by collecting all the resources you find around. Meaningless dialogue? There are also these, but it must be said that in some cases they reach a level that is even funny. Maybe it is a deliberate thing.
Repetitive and / or irritating missions? Check: Go there and kill that zombie or find object X and take it to location Y which is completely on the other side. In the meantime, collect a dozen items we need and escort guy Z defending him from the zombies … but don’t go too far from him because the poor guy is unable to follow you!
There are some interesting quests to tell the truth but it is still made more difficult than it would be by an irritating checkpoint placement, which often forces you to repeat long sequences after being recklessly dead. Often the amount of enemies to face is overwhelming and Reid’s powers recharge with a certain slowness, just a little carelessness and you will run into the aforementioned repetitions.
A real shame because the game, among other things, also includes a (very light) system that manages your actions by rewarding and punishing them based on what you decide to do. You can also steal from shops or loot NPCs and / or kill them, but expect to be hunted down as soon as someone notices what you have done.
Unfortunately, the PS5 version of Deadcraft we tested does not make use of the next-gen features of the Sony console, indeed it seems to ignore them. There’s no trace of 3D audio, the DualSense acts like any DualShock (with all due respect to the DS), and the uploads are worthy of the previous console generation. Identical speech for the technical sector: if the animations can be defined insufficient, graphically the Marvelous game looks like the ugly son born of a marriage between Diablo and Borderlands.
In case you are interested in trying Deadcraft before a possible purchase, which in our view is wise given the many shadows that partly obscure its undeniable merits, on Steam there is a fairly full-bodied demo and sufficient to test most of the gameplay features. Go, download and eventually … survive!
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#Deadcraft #humanzombie #hybrid #fare