Rogue like games are two a penny these days, there’s a vast plethora of games out there of this type, and it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. Well, “Death Road to Canada” from developer RocketCat games might be one of the few to stand out. It had its success on PC releasing back in 2016. Well, “Death Road to Canada” has now made its way to console (including the Switch, yay!).
The mission is simple, get to Canada! Because, the zombie apocalypse is here, the dead is walking, and you must escape with your life. Even so, you don’t have to escape alone, along your journey you will meet a variety of plucky characters. Each time you play, everything is randomized: locations, events, survivor appearances and personalities.
You can even customize your experience to your liking by creating your own characters which you can meet along the way, you can recreate anyone, characters from Shaun of the Dead (to be honest. It’s an absolute must), your family or whatever each with their own personality traits. Along the journey, situations will arise, and you’ll need to decide what you need to do.
Sound and visuals are adequate, the visuals sport the retro pixel graphics look. The music is also okay, with a catchy tune, but it does get pretty repetitive after a while. Controls are easy to learn to, and the game has a pick up and play vibe. In other words, the game is very accessible to anyone. You can also play Co-op with a friend.
The game is easy enough. You start off with very little but must gather resources like food, fuel and weapons, along the way you will meet other characters that may aid or hinder your adventure.
This is where item management comes into play. As you either keep your gang small but risk being mobbed, or have a larger ensemble, but risk running out of food. You could also be a man of the Doggos and just have a gang of dogs follow you around which can wield weapons quite comically.
Nevertheless, If you thought that this would be an easy journey, you’d be wrong, death can come quick and some situations can arise that can be just damn right unfair. At one point, I found myself armed with plenty of food, fuel and weapons. In other worrds, I felt like I got everything nailed down (home safe, and all that).
Even so, I managed to end up in a zombie attack situation where I was simply overwhelmed with no way of escape, it felt cheap. Of course, this all comes down to the fact everything is randomly generated, things might go better the next time you play.
You can also find power points, which you can use to increase your abilities to make the adventure easier. Furthermore, once you beat the main mode, there are several other difficulties to play. There’s a lot on offer here, and I have to say even with its frustrations, once it gets its hooks into you, it’s hard to stop playing.
All in all, “Death Road to Canada” is a pretty darn good game. However, it’s not without some frustrating moments, but the overall experience is a good one. Best thing to do is spend some time creating some characters and then seeing how the adventure goes. My personal experiences usually ended up in misfortune and death, but that one time you make it; it feels pretty good.
That’s also the reason why I still would recommend fans of roguelike and action-RPG games to give “Death Road to Canada” a try, as the game gives you a lot of value for your money.
Pros:
+ Addictive like caffeine.
+ Lots of trophies
+ pick up and play
Cons:
– Feels unfair at times
– that music track gets repetitive
– It takes a while to you get to Canada
Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound/music: 3/5
Controls: 5/5
Replay value: 4/5
Verdict: 4/5
Death road to Canada is a solid rogue-like game, it’s surprisingly addictive and has plenty on offer for the price of £11.99. So it’s most definitely worthy of your time and money if you’re into rogue-like games.
Title: Death Road to Canada
Developer: Rocketcat Games
Format: PS4, Xbox, PC, Switch (format played, Switch)
Genre: Rogue like
Resolution: 1080p
Release date: 2018-05-08
Difficulty: Easy to hard
Spent time: +5 hours
Average grade internationally TBA% Gamerankings.com
PEGI age rating: +12
Price: £11.99
Credit:
Robin Ek – Editor
Sharn Daniels
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @SharnOfTheDEAD
More by Sharn Daniels:
Tags: Death Road To Canada, Indie games, PS4, PS4 review, Rocketcat Games, Roguelike, Trip simulator