With Death Trash‘s Early Access release right around the corner I felt it would be nice to share some information and fun facts about the game. Release Dates, Platforms, Story, Early Access and Full Release planned Features, how the development began and much more are the things that this blogpost will cover.
Description
Death Trash is a post-apocalyptic Action RPG where cosmic horrors crave humanity but meet punks with shotguns. It combines old-school role-playing, modern action gameplay and player freedom. Create your own character and explore a handcrafted world.
You might wanna check my First Impressions Post too:
What The STRUCK is Death Trash?
Early Access Release time
Exact moment of the Early Access release should be August 5th, 5 pm CET | 11 am EST | 8 am PDT.
Price
20 $ | 20 € | + regional prices
There will be a 10% launch discount for one week.
About the Early Access version
Here’s a summary of what to expect from the Early Access version and what to expect at
a later point:
What to expect from the first Early Access version:
- 5+ hours of the story campaign and side locations, with some of the main quests still work in progress
- medium replay value
- all gameplay systems
- more reliance on combat than non-combat
- mouse / keyboard plus controller support
- user config settings, rebindable keys
- Windows, Linux and MacOS support
- local co-op technically working
- probably some bugs
What to expect from the final release version:
- 20+ hours handcrafted story campaign
- increased replay value
- improved non-combat gameplay
- improved local co-op design
- more languages
What to expect from the post 1.0 version:
- updates concerning bug fixes and improving user experience
Feature ideas we’re aware of and that might happen, but not 100% sure:
- some kind of modding support, including a level editor
Feature ideas we’re aware of but probably won’t happen due to our budget limitations:
- online co-op
Demo
The demo will still be available after release. It’s a smaller button now, on the panel to the right of the store page.
After the Early Access release it’s possible to try out the demo, buy the game, and then continue your savegame in the full version. Demo savegames that were begun before the Early Access release can NOT be imported / continued.
If you want to help us minimize support issues in the first days of the Early Access, please use the demo to see if the game runs good enough and as expected on your system.
Release Dates
Early Access / In Development: August 5th, 2021
Full Release: 2022 (estimation)
Platforms
Early Access / In Development:
Steam (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux)
GOG (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux)
itch.io (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux)
Epic Games Store (Windows, Mac OS X) [this is a referral link – i get some profit if you use it]
Later:
XBox One & XBox Series X | S
Playstation 4 & Playstation 5
Nintendo Switch
Story
Humans traveled to the stars and some of them settled on the planet Nexus with its ancient secrets of stone and flesh. But secrets were unearthed, and the civilized people had to flee into enclosed habitats. The wasteland is reigned now by outcasts, controlling machines, and offsprings of the worm.
You are one of the outcasts, pushed outside with a dangerous burden to carry, and your path will take you through deserts, ruins, the underground, and beyond.
Singleplayer / Multiplayer Details
The main feature of Death Trash is the immersive single-player campaign. But the game also contains a local co-op mode:
- Covering the full campaign. The second player can drop in and drop out anytime.
- Second player has their own character, stats, inventory etc. but shared quest progress.
- Both players are restricted to the same location and traveling on the world map happens together.
- Both players can perform actions separately, including dialogue, and don’t interrupt each other.
- The game has a shared screen mode (default) and a permanent split screen mode.
The devs are not planning an online co-op mode due to limited development resources. They say they will evaluate this again in the future.
Developer
Crafting Legends
Berlin, Germany
http://www.craftinglegends.com/
Death Trash is gonna be self-published by Crafting Legends on all platforms.
Development History and Highlights
Development began 2015 with a Fallout fan art tweet: “I’m gonna make my own Fallout!” (https://twitter.com/talecrafter/status/605822453797904384)
Then it got a life of its own, strongly based on a constant flow of artworks.
Design Goals: Death Trash Design Goals
Long and open development process as solo developer plus audio freelancer, building the tools and framework in Unity.
Showcased the game at Unite 2016.
Met John Romero (“I love you and your game” – https://twitter.com/romero/status/917416283548934150)
Showcased the game at PAX East 2018.
Was visited by Josh E. Sawyer.
Grew into a two person development team in 2020.
Tweeted about doors: https://twitter.com/talecrafter/status/1369153361270935554
Expanded team with a marketing freelancer in 2021.
Got praise on E3 2021 for trailer and public demo. (E.g. Best Of E3 by PC Gamer)
Technical And Gameplay Notes
No content restrictions regarding streaming / videos..
Game works with mouse / keyboard and controller.
(Mouse controls might feel unusual for people due to support of both point and click and WASD movement. User settings available for different modes.)
Game has local co-op (use pause menu during gameplay to add another player character)
Disclaimer: I’ve received a free copy of the game, which does not affect my opinion of the game in any way. I am however, very grateful to the devs for the steam key.
Here’s a video of the first hour of gameplay footage as well:
