News by Jedediah H.
I’m going to adorn a clip-on tie, inch the tenderest parts of my buttocks to the edge of my seat, and confess something that I almost always defer telling a charming woman on the first date: I’m madly passionate about gaming (crazy, right?). But my passion is allergenic animal dander compared to Ragtag Studio’s, a three-person team of game designers who actually quit their jobs to pursue their gaming dream, to develop Ray’s the Dead, an aspiration that can be fully realized with a bit of community support.
Ray’s the Dead has managed to meet and exceed its pledged goal of $30,000; however, the team needs assistance if they’re to meet their Stretch Goals, substantial additions that include character cameo sets, an additional boss fight, and expanded flashbacks.
To discover whether or not this is the type of experience you would love to play and help fund, allow me to offer a summary of the game as well as footage from today’s Kickstarter Live Stream (Note: the more recent builds of the game are shown around the video’s halfway point):
Shooting, impaling, or kicking a zombie can be cathartic and good for the ego, sure, but it doesn’t hold a decaying, decapitated forearm to taking on the role of sentient zombie Raymond Lamorte, who can not only convert mobs of humans to his pulse-less team with hostile love bites but direct those newly created zombie mobs – in a manner similar to Pikmin and Overlord – with a flicker of the elongated contraption atop his head, for the purposes of swarming cocksure humans and solving environmental puzzles. And when he’s not tenderizing a man’s pre-frontal cortex with his teeth, Ray will experience playable flashbacks of a time before his undead status, which may answer a question that has never been more appropriate: How the hell did I die?
The adorable big-headed art style, the mob control mechanic, the ominous glow of Ray’s head lamp as he literally raises the dead – these elements are all impressive, but did you catch that infectious Jake Kaufman (the maestro responsible for Shovel Knight and Double Dragon Neon) soundtrack?! I mean, I was wearing a shirt twenty minutes ago, and now – I’m as topless as a zombie lifeguard.
If you liked what you read and enjoyed what you watched, take out your wallet and place it atop your head so as to free your hands, and click on over to Ray’s the Dead’s Kickstarter page – because, really, when else are you going to feel good about financially backing a zombie outbreak?
-Jedediah H.
News Editor
Ask me for useless zombie bite remedies at: jedh@digitallydownloaded.net
Watch me get Grounded in TLoU at: twitch.tv/the_major1219
