DoubleBear's ZRPG, a psychological zombie RPG

5:00 PM on 08.12.2009   |   Joseph Leray

28 comments

So, raise your hands if you're tired of zombies. No? No one? Good.

With the exception of perhaps Dead Head Fred, the thing about most zombie games is that you spend most of your time slaughtering them. Even the best zombie games (like Left 4 Dead or Plants vs. Zombies) tend to use zombies as cannon fodder instead of interesting plot devices. Luckily, newcomer DoubleBear Productions is looking to change that with the recently-announced ZRPG.

It's an RPG. About zombies.

DoubleBear, as far as I can tell, currently consists of Annie Carlson and Brian Mitsoda. According to Mitsoda, ZRPG will place a bigger emphasis on the human aspect of surviving a zombie apocalypse:

Unlike other games that are just about blasting zombies, the difficulties in this game stem from dealing with the other personalities in the group, the threats from outside the group, and the dangers of daily existence in the absence of law and the presence of desperate humans and persistent undead. It's more about the humans than the zombies.

The game was inspired by Mitsoda's experience in the aftermath of Hurrican Andrew, which hit Miami in 1992. 

I don't much about how the game will actually work, except that it runs the same engine as Iron Tower Studio's Age of Decadence, and both Mitsoda and Carlson spent time working at Obsidian (of Fallout fame). With a solid concept, an impressive RPG pedigree, and (judging by the art plastering DoubleBear's website) an eye for aesthetics, ZRPG certainly looks promising.

And before you get your hopes up, take a look at what Mitsoda has to say about playing as a zombie: "No, you are not a zombie, that would be stupid."

[Via The Escapist]