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  • Summary: No other game offers this mix of role-playing, rogue-like, fast-paced turn-based combat and survival all in one. Inspired by Darkest Dungeon, Fallout 1+2, This War of Mine and The Walking Dead.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Mar 26, 2021
    60
    Dead Age 2 tries to rise above other games in the zombie survival genre, but while it does some things well, it does others quite poorly. Scavenging for supplies and building up a base are highlights, but having to talk to or fight with other groups to complete those tasks means one must always trudge through the bad stuff to get to the good.
  2. CD-Action
    Nov 19, 2021
    60
    There are some well-designed and well-realized elements in Dead Age II and at first I was certain it’s going to be fun. After 8 hours I was already tired of repetitiveness and relentless grind which overshadowed everything that was done right. [06/2021, p.70]
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. Dec 4, 2021
    9
    Dead Age 2 (2021) with 77% positive reviews on Steam is a much improved successor to Dead Age 1 (2016). Indie RPGs with a good quality.
    There
    Dead Age 2 (2021) with 77% positive reviews on Steam is a much improved successor to Dead Age 1 (2016). Indie RPGs with a good quality.
    There is now a 3D base in the style of War of Mine, many 3D outposts, numerous NPCs, an exciting storyline, numerous quests in which the main story also has some decisions to offer.
    Do friends die or do you go the most peaceful way possible.
    With three factions (Smugglers, Independents, U.S. Army) you have to build reputation and later an alliance. The factions' reputation building sometimes reminds a bit of the RPG Gothic.
    The turn-based combat system has become more complex and can best be compared as a mix of older Final Fantasy titles with Darkest Dungeon.
    The Rogue Like principle makes the game a bit dangerous, but if you act carefully, you'll get to the end after 25-30 hours.
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  2. Mar 28, 2021
    3
    Dead Age 2 comes with three of the four riders of the apocalypse on it’s store-page, namely “survival”, “crafting”, “zombies”, missing onlyDead Age 2 comes with three of the four riders of the apocalypse on it’s store-page, namely “survival”, “crafting”, “zombies”, missing only “open world” and instead offering “choices”. It’s the second attempt of the studio to make round-based combat with zombies a thing, meaning that instead of slashing and smashing your way through a horde, you will have to slowly chip away health bars after carefully lowering armor stats.

    If I had to point out something positive, it would probably be the visuals, as long as I ignore the UI. There are still some terrible design choices, like “decorating” the background with feeding zombies that never join the combat right next to them and ignore you while walking by. You have armored enemy types that don’t wear a helmet and expose more skin than your average anime princess warrior, but need to be handled with specific weapons and attacks before you can even think of using blades.
    1 in 3 attacks by any given zombie is a critical hit, meaning that you are going to use one medikit per round just to stay alive as early as in the first tutorial battles. There are also some special attacks needing a buildup of “adrenaline” that are obviously mostly there to cause more action, flying numbers and unconvincing graphical effects to make this whole dull affair look more interesting, but poison the already nonexistent balancing even more. Featuring permadeath in a game without a random map, with slow base building, repeating quests and dialogue sequences where you can’t improve your own skill because there are no real strategies except for grinding and hoping that the gambling mechanics in the background are merciful is yet another bad idea.

    All of that could be saved or at least helped by the writing, by having a great atmosphere or interesting characters, and that is where the “choices” come in. The very first choice in the game, this is a mild spoiler, is already classic video game logic where you decide to not give into the threats of a rivaling group and not give them your resources only to lose those resources anyway thanks to plot magic. The writing, it pains me to say, is borderline juvenile; you don’t expect Shakespeare from your horror strategy game, but this is the kind of storytelling you get from an excited 10-year old smashing his action figures together.

    This is not a new indie studio; they’ve been at this for more than 10 years. There are areas where you can see the experience that one would expect after so much time; it certainly is ambitious and looks and sounds ok, the animations are halfway decent, and as long as no one is talking, there is even some of the atmosphere they were going for. But it is also under-designed, terribly written, repetitive, comes with an UI that seems to use Comic Sans on plain backgrounds and mixes the most overused scenario in video game history with a genre that just doesn’t fit.

    After 10 years you should be a lot better at this; it's not about money and resources. So maybe give *your* money to someone with more potential, or even a good game.
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