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    Spread the plague and grow your soul-reaping business with Kickstarter game Death Inc.

    ArchivesSpread the plague and grow your soul-reaping business with Kickstarter game Death...

    Once again, we’ve stumbled upon another golden nugget in one of our browsing sessions on Kickstarter. This time, we found an interesting game that lets players control the Grim Reaper and unleash the bubonic plague amongst the villagers in 17th century England. This crazy, quirky game is called Death Inc., and in order for it to be born, it needs our help.

    WHAT IT IS

    Death Inc. is a strategy-slash-god-slash-business simulation game that makes an epidemic seem like a good thing. Based on what we’ve seen on the Kickstarter page, the game features a witty strategy-based gameplay and a grotesquely adorable artistic design. It’s a single-player campaign game for PC and Mac, made to be enjoyed by “ages 8 to undead.”

    Its origins—a UK-based indie developer called Ambient Studios—may be small, but the portfolios of the people involved in the production of the game include the likes of LittleBigPlanetNeed For Speed, and the Fable franchise.

    HOW IT WORKS

    In the game, you play Grim T. Livingstone—a freelance Reaper, according to the guys at Ambient— and the object is to harvest as many souls as you can in order to grow your reaping corporation.

    How can this be done? By spreading the bubonic plague, of course. Infect one person, then lead him towards a healthy, innocent bystander and your plagued minion will do the contaminating for you. It’s dead simple.

    Collect a swarm of infected villagers, and you’ll have yourself a strong army of victims. Pretty soon, you’ll have a mob of villagers, plague doctors and soldiers using pitchforks, swords, bows, and even sticks to keep your troop away, but luckily, unlockable special abilities can help you deal with these creatures. These include plague rats, exploding livestock, a norovirus brunch and pigeon pox—all these to help you let loose a wave of infection.

    Then, you’ll be able to harvest the souls of your victims and spend them to upgrade troops and abilities, or to renovate your base of operations and make a personal statement about the business.

    Mike Green and Daniel Leaver from Ambient Studios recently posted a gameplay walkthrough. You can watch it in the video below.

    HOW WE CAN HELP

    Ambient Studios says they’re still in the early stages of game development, which is why they are turning to Kickstarter—and ultimately, to the netizens—for support in order to bring this game to life (more puns, ugh). If you think Death Inc. is an insane, yet uniquely brilliant idea, show the developers some love by backing this project. See what awesome rewards you can get HERE.

    As of press time, the project has earned £36,609 from 1,528 backers. The financial goal is £300,000 and there are 26 days remaining on Kickstarter.

    RECENT UPDATES

    Possibilities of Linux, tablet, Wii U, Ouya versions as well as a multiplayer component are discussed in the FAQ section of the Kickstarter page. A short online comic explaining the origins of Grim T. Livingstone has been made available on the Death Inc. official website. The developers have also announced that Death Inc. is already registered on Steam Greenlight.

     

    *Images in this post are from the Death Inc. media pack, Kickstarter page, and Steam Greenlight

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