Death Road to Canada

“It's funny looking back at a game like Organ Trail, a zombie-inspired indie based on the educational game series of Oregon Trail, seeing how eye-opening of an experience it was as far as being amongst my first ever roguelites played from years ago on the PlayStation 4, yet I simply lack the urge to go back to it on account of how little variety there is to the gameplay alongside the humor not having that same 'zing' to it and the graphics simply being too barebones for long-term gameplay.”

“The only big flaw is that the gameplay loop gets old pretty fast, especially once you know what you're doing, but there's enough achievements and unlocks to make you keep coming back over the years.”

“However, the game gets sorely repetitive in its gameplay loop: you walk around getting loot and pressing one button to hit zombies.”

“Don't think I've ever experienced a game that had the soundtrack ruin it so viscerally for me.”

“From the zombies to the film grain to the Oregon/Organ Trail style presentation of the journey to Canada, the music actively ruins any and all immersion I could get and makes the whole thing feel like a joke game.”

“Awesome game in many aspects but the soundtrack, it's out of place, it's bad, it's not even generic for a zombie game or anything, it's like playing Mario with a heavy metal soundtrack, or Mortal Kombat with a polka soundtrack.”

“It doesn't help that a lot of the replayability comes from the additional game modes where the majority of the changes is just 'more unfair and tedious' and a lot of co-op stuff even though the game doesn't even have online multiplayer.”

“Even though it has variety, it still loses replay value after a while.”

“The developers claim it was designed with replay value in mind, but it seems to me it was designed to force replay by rigging RNG against the player.”

“Purchased a year ago but couldn't play due to game-breaking graphical glitches.”

“Tried again recently in the hopes the game had been patched but the graphical glitches are still present.”

“It's a painfully cliched game made by a stereotypical development team throwing retro pixel graphics, chiptune music, and pop culture references at a game that isn't that fun to play.”

“The story is that it’s the zombie apocalypse and there are rumors that in Canada there are no zombies, so you plan to get to Canada in a car and … that’s it.”

“This isn't intended to be a game where you become attached to your characters or experience a well-written story.”

“Most runs end up as wipes through no fault of the player, but rather because the game throws a bunch of ridiculously harsh RNG events at you, or fails to provide enough supplies in the looting missions (most notably gas.. and once the group is on foot, the RNG gets even worse).”

“The game is fun for 30 minutes (your first game), then every new game is nearly identical: you go through tedious text-only random events, then run around in an uninteresting action phase that consists of pressing a button to shoot and another button to loot, no skill required for these action phases, there are no special combos, no spells/skills to unlock, no equipment to equip except weapons... overall the game is empty and shallow.”

“It feels like there's a pretty good wealth of content here but accessing it and engaging with it feels nearly impossibly tedious.”

“The sheer number of scratch runs would not be a problem (it's a roguelite themed off Oregon Trail type shenanigans so if you expected to win on skill and cleverness you're in the wrong genre. Go play Contra.) except the actual combat/looting remains the exact same garbage and restarting the plodding boring early game is incredibly tedious.”

“Dont get me wrong here, both are great games but I already reviewed Organ Trail and said in my review there that this game changes the mood from happy into something 'depressive' because the theme and atmosphere of this game is like 'the world is in ruin, zombies are everywhere and you have to survive as good as you can.'”

“The sounds are great although the music is a little too upbeat to ever give the game a truly grim or scary atmosphere.”

“It plays up its kooky atmosphere making the game seem casual and just a bit of fun, but I'm constantly finding myself without fuel, walking on the streets and losing all of my gear I've spent the past 15 minutes collecting.”

“Purchased a year ago but couldn't play due to game-breaking graphical glitches.”

“Tried again recently in the hopes the game had been patched but the graphical glitches are still present.”

“And some just make me lose faith in the game, like how the game just freezes and I have to force reset my computer.”

“The game could use more gameplay optimization and show more information on the weapons you get and their damage stats in-game, and maybe more options to deal with the bandits.”

“This issue is worse for the mobile version of the game. Don't get the mobile version; collision is messy, and performance when you get to Canada is unplayably choppy. Also, they don't seem to have special holiday NPCs in that version too. It's only $5 less (so it's $10) and it's far worse.”

“Very satisfying procedural elements, out of place music and intricate character development systems.”

“The gameplay mechanics are simple, but there's strategy not only on an active surface level but also at a deeper character development/inventory control level that keeps you continually engaged.”

“You will die a lot in the beginning and there is a steep learning curve, but the unique character designs, unlockable traits and perks (to build your own characters), special locations, and different challenges posed by each run kept me coming back for more.”

“Forced ads you have to click through to play the game?”

“The combat isn't revolutionary but it feels good and there is more than one way to come at the zombies and it allows you the player some flexibility in your choice, something rare for an 'indie zombie' game which typically are just cash grabs.”

“Could you potentially scale back the advertising budget for my area and perhaps pay the workers better wages so they actually give a fuck to make the food I’m ordering right?”