OK, saving the most interesting for last. The Steam listing for this game doesn’t contain the word “irreverent” anywhere, which I consider a mark of quality for any game that wants to be a bit cheeky. Death Trash demo does indeed show some cheek.
Planet Nexus! Whatever the first humans found here is unknown. The civilization fell, with humanity retreating into cryo shelters guarded by military androids. Those same androids have thawed your ass and kicked you out for bearing a mysterious disease. Don’t try to come back or procreate, and you’re good.The world outside is mostly post-apocalyptic brown with splotches of red where flesh grows out of the ground and blood worms roam. There are also enemies, both regular outcast humans and weirder mutated things. Shoot them, stab them, use your own vomit as organic lubricant at least twice during the demo – the world is your weirdly-fleshy oyster.There’s also this neat overworld map, with boundaries clearly delineated in the demo.Of course, those aren’t the only limitations. For example, many augmentations aren’t available in the Death Trash demo. While we’re here: you may notice that this one keys off occultism. Yep, there’s more than just science (and flesh) going in this fiction.You’ll still find a use for many of your skills. For example, here’s an early locker to crack with your lockpicking ability. You’ll also find ways to use animal taming, stealth and more.Yep, you have skills, abilities, crafting stuff, powers, augmentations – the works. If the devs don’t mess it up, the final title will allow you to create a wide combination of viable characters. Hopefully, we won’t have One Right Answer to game’s real-time combat.I was delighted by the Death Trash demo as I had noticed the extremely weird game a long time ago – long enough to basically forget that it existed. But the demo shows a world weird enough to match, say, Numenera in alieness (not Vangers, tho, but what can match Vangers?). Moreover, pixel art is the perfect medium for getting the level of dirt and blood the devs are going for. Can’t wait!
