Things have been slow again, and a lot of what I have seen has had the usual things I gripe about. Seriously, I’m pretty sure I am no longer going to include anything that promises to “revolutionize the zombie genre”, is supposedly “a completely new take on zombies” (that is really a very old take on zombies), or is a “zombedy” (PLEASE let this word die). However, there have been a couple of gems among all of the dross.
First up is a video game, originally titled “Ozombie”. It’s a Dark/Twisted take on Frank Baum’s beloved world. This game is being made by Spicy Horse, American McGee’s development studio. For those who don’t know who American McGee is, he’s been in the video game industry for quite a while and has worked on a lot of different games, both great and terrible. He’s most well known as the guy who created the amazing games “Alice” and it’s sequel “Alice: Madness Returns”. The game formerly titled Ozombie is another game in the same vein.
The background is that The Scarecrow has become evil and twisted and has conquered all of Oz, with a special emphasis on controlling the brains of those still living there. He has twisted their minds into complete conformity, turning them all into zombies. No, they’re not the flesh-eating zombies most people are used to, but “zombies” in more of a classical sense of a person who has no free will of their own and obeys any orders given to them without question. (Insert your own political joke here.)
While the game is still in development, American does have a strong resume for building dark, twisted, and visually impressive worlds. If that sounds interesting to you, definitely check it out.
Starting soon, the name will no longer be “Ozombie” because apparently a lot of people (mostly young kids, is my guess) are so ignorant they don’t realize that the word “zombie” has been around a lot longer than Romero’s flesh-eating ghouls and so they were “confused” by the title. So the name will be changed to “Oz Adventures: Subtitle Here” or some such. An incredibly bland name, if you ask me but hey, It’s not Spicy Horse’s fault, really. They’re trying to raise money, so the mob gets its way. But seriously… “confused” by the name? Are they seriously incapable of understanding metaphor?
Next up is I Am Zombie. This is an upcoming role-playing game by Mark Rein*Hagen. He’s the guy who created the World of Darkness RPGs, starting with Vampire: the Masquerade. That’s quite the pedigree. Apparently he wants to do for zombies what he did for vampires. I’m not the biggest role-player in the world, so I can’t really comment on the mechanics he’s proposing for this game. However, I do understand that he’s planning on having a meta-storyline that will be revealed over 20 years IRL. I’m not sure if that’s crazy or just very ambitious. Maybe it depends on how successful the game is.
So, if you really liked the old-school WoD or are just looking for a different kind of zombie RPG (most all the others I’ve ever seen take place in the zombie apocalypse, so as far as I can tell, this RPG actually is different… as far as zombie-centric games go,) go ahead and check it out.
And since it’s been a slow bit for zombie stuff, I’ll put in another plug for Dark, Darker, Darkest, which is ending soon. It looks to be a fun co-op board game where you enter into an old mansion to stop the mad scientist living there from unleashing his zombie hordes on an unsuspecting world. They’ve added a bunch of stretch goals, and actually reduced the funding levels needed to get a lot of them, so you’re getting a lot more value for your pledge then you were even just a week ago. Check it out.
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