Death Trash is a forthcoming indie game by Crafting Legends soon to enter early access, and a ~2 hour demo is out now for Windows, MacOS and Linux. It's an incredible post-apocalyptic grotesque, a perfectly-crafted missing link between the original Fallout games and modern action RPGs with almost no unnecessary moving parts. And it's absolutely gross, too, a gore-streaked violent cybernightmare conjured by artist and developer Stephan Hövelbrinks' gritty pixel art and ironclad stomach.
You play an individual evicted from the comforts of a bunker society into the ruined surface world, where dangerous mutants, bandits and scavengers lurk around every corner. Technology is abundant yet decrepit, just like the weapons. Hillocks of pulsing, living, edible meat seem to grow from the very ground. Cosmic horrors bask distressingly close to the settlements and outposts that humans still call home. The world and its inhabitants are expressive yet viscerally unclean, a punk vibe that struck me as weirdly coherent and convincing (epsecially compared to the surface grime of other cyberpunk/postapoc worlds.)
And it's fun, too, with simple controls, vicious combat (Kiting a la Diablo doesn't work! You have to be quick and thorough) and clear RPG character progressions. Since the demo is quite short, I'd hazard that it favors plain tank builds, but there's plenty of scope to try out techie and especially stealthy characters if that's your bag.
I blasted through the demo in about 90 minutes and am eager to get my hands on the early access version of the full game later this summer. Expect a full review then.
