Death Trash: A brilliant (and horrid) indie RPG in Early Access
Death Trash
It is seriously difficult to define Death Trash. Stephen Hövelbrinks' work (developed over years of hard work with very little external help) has rather clear roots, and takes full advantage of the post-apocalyptic imagery that has invaded much of the medium; However, a few minutes of play are enough to realize how this RPG wants to overturn the classic canons, with a mixture of very black humor, an imaginary between splatter and cyberpunk, and a much more tantalizing narrative of what degradation and general violence of the setting they should be able to support.Well, this weird work of a single visionary developer has been in early access for a while, and we tried it out to get a better idea of the project. Considering the "workforce" it may take a long time before we see Death Trash completed, but what we've seen so far has impressed us.
Gameplay and structure: this isn't Fallout
Death Trash: maybe it is not Cthulhu, but certainly a distant cousin It is often read comparing Death Trash to the very first chapters of Fallout, but although there are some aspects in common - first of all not taking itself too seriously and systems related to the roots of the genre - the similarities end practically there. Death Trash is an RPG, yes, with feature development (and skills), inventory, structured narrative and multiple choices in dialogue-related quests, however it is a real-time game with no tactical pause, where combat is quite basic (but functional) and markedly freer and more unpredictable progress.To say, outside of an initial introductory phase (particularly useful for teaching the fundamental mechanics), the world map can be explored in full freedom, complete with random events that can put a spoke in the wheel as you wander around in search of new areas to reveal. The main quest, obviously present, acts as a rough guide, facilitating the advancement for those who do not want to experiment excessively, yet it is easily ignored for long periods of time, or recoverable laterally after visiting ahead of time buildings and advanced maps full of curious characters and strange secrets. That wasn't enough, in this Early Access version the main mission is brutally interrupted after not even a couple of hours of progression, so ignoring it at some point becomes practically mandatory. Even when it is complete, however, we believe that the deviations from the story will still represent one of the most fascinating factors of Death Trash, given that some of the most hilarious situations are encountered just wandering haphazardly.
It all comes together finally enhanced strongly by the aforementioned setting of the title: an alien planet (that's right, the game does not take place on earth) dirty and practically invaded by a mysterious organic mass, where sacred and profane come together in a tangle of flesh, metal and. .. vomit.
Narrative: a delirium of flesh and chaos
Death Trash: a naked man, and very proud of being naked Death Trash, in truth, is not particularly verbose: the dialogues are pretty straightforward and tend to get right to the point. A style perfectly suited to a wrecked world, where the protagonist is exiled from an unspoken "universal society" apparently controlled by automatons due to a mysterious contamination. In general, this is a more original starting point than usual, which goes beyond the typical memory loss (exploited as it should only in some great classics, and then abused to unworthy levels), and leads the story of Death Trash to develop in an unexpected way to say the least.The planet where the adventure takes place goes far beyond the "strange": its lands are invaded by heaps of partially sentient meat - which even if eaten raw gives nourishment to anyone who wants it - and it seems connected to huge sentient organic creatures. Mutants and exiles populate any area even remotely habitable, giving rise to settlements ranging from relatively quiet to utterly deadly without interruption. And in this delusional mix are robots eager to explore human consciousness, others who prefer to disintegrate people, mechanisms that require regurgitation to function, nudists, and a huge humanoid in a pool of blood desperately asking for your help. Yes ... it's a nice mess, but one really capable of gluing to the screen.
Death Trash: don't touch the corpses, they are in order So much good (especially if you consider the number of developers at the reins) is partially belittled by only one element: clashes. The battles in Death Trash are not unpleasant, for heaven's sake: we are talking about basic fights that pass naturally from hand-to-hand to ranged aim, where the main defensive maneuver is a clumsy dodge, and some special skills give a bit of variety. to the whole. Artificial intelligence, however, is extremely limited and easy to get around, and therefore to offer a bit of a challenge the good Stephen has staked everything on a fair diversification of the opponents, equipping certain mutants with techniques and characteristics that are annoying to say the least (including shots instantaneous with exaggerated damage, or explosive weapons that are often used at too close range). Even the use of skills for the moment is rather limited, and it seems mainly linked to the possibility of obtaining additional objects in the various maps; the latter element, however, can undoubtedly be improved by tweaking the game's missions and dialogues, which we believe will be quite automatic during development.
These shortcomings, to understand us, were not enough to make us unpleasant the past time with the game. Death Trash is undoubtedly an RPG with great potential, and if its developer can carry it out properly we could find ourselves a little gem. A gem stained with blood and various undefined substances, but a gem nonetheless.
Dirty, hilarious, full of humor, and unrestrained, Death Trash is an RPG with a setting that may not go down to everyone, but who managed to capture us 100% with her delusions and her genius. It doesn't look like a perfect title, sure, but it's still a small miracle considering it's a single developer's dream, and it has serious potential to sell. Although it's hard to think we'll see it completed shortly, it's already a winning game for us.
