I'm not surprised to see that setting is the biggest factor, though I had to see it for myself (Scientific!)
In almost every interview Brian's all "I know you're sick of zombie games but
ours is different because blah blah human factor blah blah relationships blah blah survival" however he's overlooking one thing: RPG fans, especially on the Codex, have tastes that are narrower than a hallway in a camp of pygmy dwarves (to paraphrase the Saw, long live the Saw). Age of Decadence, while not a Tolkien-esque orcs'n'elves pseudo-medieval European fantasy setting, is still recognizably fantasy. You have your swords, spears, shields and leather and metal armor and enough recognizable trappings of a fantasy setting. Dead State, to paraphrase Josh again, has enough unusual choices of characters, equipment, and landscape
for a crpg to make it difficult for a person to look at a scene and think, "This is a fantasy setting," even though its zombies are quite fantastic (and the only thing fantastic about it; I'm also assuming there will be no hamfisted scientific explanation provided for the zombies' existence). Even a financial disaster of a game like Bloodlines is more recognizable as a fantasy setting. So it doesn't matter how well- or differently-executed the setting is if the people are flat-out not interested in it.
Fortunately for Dead State, trad-RPG fans aren't the only audiences out there; considering DS has outsold AoD on EA, they seem to be getting a few of them. I think how many it ultimately gets will depend on execution.
Really, the only thing both have in common is the engine and being turn-based.
They're both dialogue- and C&C-heavy turn based RPGs.
Because it is vaporware.
I would love to play it but i can't fucking get excited over game that will be released in 2020. And yes i fucking can't wait for AoD or DS
In a recent forum post, Brian said that they don't have it in them financially or psychologically to delay it up to another year. It'll come out either this year or early next; granted, it might not turn out very good.
Mitsodas self-ejected from 'dex. That tells all you need to know about Dead State.
Brian never posted here, and Annie isn't officially self-ejected. She is busy and possibly/probably not all that enthused about making it a priority to post here on account of the negativity. One might counter with "Thicker skin," in which case I'd circle right back to "busy." I think it's understandable for someone working on two video game projects to not want to spend what time they have for themselves engaging with killjoys.