Zombasite - zombie apocalypse action RPG from Soldak

[Kahr]

The title is awesome. "Zombasite". Sounds like one of these old horror flicks. Charming name.
Sadly not interested in that kind of ARPG.

 

[Norfleet]

It sounds like some kind of mineral that you mine from zombies.

Also, why is that guy swinging a spear around like it's some kind of sword or axe?

 

[Lurker King]

Meh, Project Zomboid is better.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Are you talking about that game which sit in Early Access for years, almost as long as DayZ?
ehehehenah

 

[Lurker King]

Yep, the game that is trying to beat Grimoire in the vaporware race, LOL.



The thing is, the unfinished game is already more sophisticated and fun than this action game you are promoting.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Is it the kind of game where the zombie virus 'might' be like the vampire disease in Morrowind. You know, where

Spoiler

everything in the manual, everything in the 'in game pop-ups', everything in the stats sheet, and everything that NPCs tell you is that there's no cure once you go past stage 2, but if you sneak through every library finding bits of ancient books you can piece together a cure quest-line that never actually shows up in the quest log until you complete the whole thing, as well as doing some ultra-hidden vampire quest-lines if you find the hide-out of whichever clan infected you

Wow that was a different Bethesda back then.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Oh this thing is done? Might as well redownload my copy.

 

[Lhynn]

Meh, Project Zomboid is better.

Zombasite isnt a zombie game.

 

[nomask7]

They are all iterative games that build on the previous one. Since Zombasite is the latest one it's the most expansive one with the most polish and content.

Unlike Zombasite, Din's Curse is a pure dungeon crawler so if, like me, you happen to prefer a simpler game that is "just" a dungeon crawler with dynamic monsters, then Din's Curse will seem like the better pick. It all boils down to what you are looking for.

EDIT: I also like the fact that it's a harder game. I like discovering powerful builds and I prefer challenge to being able to ace a game with whatever kind of character build, but that's just personal preference. I do realise that it hurts replayability for some people.

 

[Hobo Elf]

They are all iterative games that build on the previous one. Since Zombasite is the latest one it's the most expansive one with the most polish and content.

Unlike Zombasite, Din's Curse is a pure dungeon crawler so if, like me, you happen to prefer a simpler game that is "just" a dungeon crawler with dynamic monsters, then Din's Curse will seem like the better pick. It all boils down to what you are looking for.

EDIT: I also like the fact that it's a harder game. I like discovering powerful builds and I prefer challenge to being able to ace a game with whatever kind of character build, but that's just personal preference. I do realise that it hurts replayability for some people.

I don't see how you couldn't play Zombasite as a pure dungeon crawler unless you consider anything underground to be a dungeon and overland isn't. You can turn off clans and zombies and enjoy the pure crawler experience like that. As for the classes in the previous games, there are a lot of garbage classes that finally work in Zombasite because of better itemization. Pets were crap and casters suffered a lot after a certain point (usually around level 50-60). The only characters that scaled were melee because their damage was % based and not on a linear scale. You don't just win with any crap build in Zombasite though. Enemy clans will mess you up if you are running a junk build.

 

[nomask7]

You can turn off clans and zombies and enjoy the pure crawler experience like that.

Does it have monsters that will start building machines if you don't kill them fast enough? How about town invasions from these same monsters?

Does it have town portals on every level of a dungeon? I enjoy the dynamic these bring to Din's Curse. How about healing crystals?

Does it have dungeons that can have 20 levels?

You don't just win with any crap build in Zombasite though. Enemy clans will mess you up if you are running a junk build.

But you just said those would be turned off. So do the ordinary monsters - elites, bosses, uniques, groups, whatever - put up a fight at all?

a pure dungeon crawler unless you consider anything underground to be a dungeon and overland isn't.

Shape matters. Din's Curse has interesting and varied mazes, some have a big open area, some have multiple paths or just a single path but they are all complex and relatively interesting.

When you say it's just Din's Curse but better, is it really? I guess at some point I will try and see for myself, but I'm doubtful.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Does it have monsters that will start building machines if you don't kill them fast enough? How about town invasions from these same monsters?

Does it have town portals on every level of a dungeon? I enjoy the dynamic these bring to Din's Curse. How about healing crystals?

Does it have dungeons that can have 20 levels?

Yes, absolutely. You can also set the pace of events like this if you want them to be slower or more frequent. If you play with Zombies on then there's a timer that ticks until the zombie apocalypse hits. The zombie virus spreads dynamically throughout the world and infects all the monsters turning them into zombie versions of them. The non-zombified enemies will try to fight them off as well, but they'll eventually succumb to the virus.

Yes, it has portals on every map and every level of a dungeon. Also healing crystals, wishing wells, obelisks and so forth.

I'm not sure what the maximum floor count is. I think the deepest I've seen is something like 8-9 levels. If there is a cap, it would be interesting to know if it can be modded. I might ask about this on the Zombasite forum.

But you just said those would be turned off. So do the ordinary monsters - elites, bosses, uniques, groups, whatever - put up a fight at all?

Yes, they do. There are also rogue human NPCs and there can also be gangs of them, which can be a very lethal challenge. These gangs can be pretty large, even up to 30-ish or something at the higher difficulties.

Shape matters. Din's Curse has interesting and varied mazes, some have a big open area, some have multiple paths or just a single path but they are all complex and relatively interesting.

When you say it's just Din's Curse but better, is it really? I guess at some point I will try and see for myself, but I'm doubtful.

The dungeon algorithms in Zombasite are more or less the same as in Din's Curse. Zombasite also has overland maps like Depths of Peril, but they aren't just open fields like in that game; they're also mazelike.

There's a demo, mang. You can give it a try for free as well. And be sure to check out the new class, the Death Knight. It's pretty rad.


Edit: I just checked the Zombasite forum on Steam and saw this thread with Soldak talking about Zombasite and future projects

For the first time ever, I think we are going to work on 2 projects at once. It's not like we are going to have 2 teams or anything. I just think these 2 projects will overlap enough that we can do both at the same time fairly efficiently.

While Zombasite isn't doing as well as I would like, I think it deserves an expansion. So that's one of the 2 projects we will be working on. I'm not positive what the focus of this expansion will be, but some possibilities are more classes, lots more quests, more monsters, etc. The nice side benefit of working on an expansion is that it allows me to actively work on Zombasite, so that will mean fixes, balancing, and probably even some new features here and there will sneak into the base game. If you all have things you would like to see in an expansion, please speak up!

The other project is going to be a separate game that is focused around the ideas of hardcore characters with random skills and traits, the next generation of character is evolved from his/her parents, and each world has a random setup and win conditions. The general idea is each individual character life will be fairly quick, but some amount of the character's power growth will pass on to the next generation. Also which characters you evolve from will greatly control what mix of skills the new character has. Ever want a character that could stealth, use healing spells, and shoot arrows? You should be able to do that, but it will take some time improving and evolving from the right characters. I know this is relatively vague still, but if you have any ideas or games that you would like me to look at, again please speak up!

None of this is set in stone and it is possible that I drop one or both of the projects or go in a different direction, but this is what I'm planning at the moment.

So what are your thoughts?

The Zombasite expac is nice, but the other game sounds like shit. I'm not really into Rogue Legacy and other games along those lines.

 

[nomask7]

So, I bought it and have played it for a couple of hours. Some observations:

1) You spend a good amount of time in the overland levels, so hopefully you're not too attached to dungeons.

2) The pathways in the dungeons are larger than in Din's Curse, the dungeons are darker, and the overall impression is that of dungeons that are harder to make sense of without the minimap and that in any case leave less of an impression. The graphics are "better" and the dungeons look "better", but this ironically makes them less memorable.

3) As in Drox Operative, actually even more so than in Drox Operative, the areas are connected to each other in a relatively complex fashion, so each time you start a new world you're not sure where the areas are that you need to find in order to solve certain quests. Quests are rated for importance, and some very important quests may be placed so that you need to pay for the game to add a map marker for you so you can get there reasonably fast. Not a big deal as such, but it certainly makes the game feel different from Din's Curse, where there is just one dungeon and you know exactly which level you need to reach to start completing a specific quest - and the connections are completely linear.

So I'd say it seems like a nice game, but I wouldn't say it makes Din's Curse obsolete. I'll probably be playing both.

 

[Hobo Elf]

So, I bought it and have played it for a couple of hours. Some observations:

1) You spend a good amount of time in the overland levels, so hopefully you're not too attached to dungeons.

2) The pathways in the dungeons are larger than in Din's Curse, the dungeons are darker, and the overall impression is that of dungeons that are harder to make sense of without the minimap and that in any case leave less of an impression. The graphics are "better" and the dungeons look "better", but this ironically makes them less memorable.

3) As in Drox Operative, actually even more so than in Drox Operative, the areas are connected to each other in a relatively complex fashion, so each time you start a new world you're not sure where the areas are that you need to find in order to solve certain quests. Quests are rated for importance, and some very important quests may be placed so that you need to pay for the game to add a map marker for you so you can get there reasonably fast. Not a big deal as such, but it certainly makes the game feel different from Din's Curse, where there is just one dungeon and you know exactly which level you need to reach to start completing a specific quest - and the connections are completely linear.

So I'd say it seems like a nice game, but I wouldn't say it makes Din's Curse obsolete. I'll probably be playing both.

If you want, you could post in the Steam thread that I quoted in my previous post where Soldak is gathering information. He's asking people for opinions and you could say that you'd like a Zombasite expac that focuses more on the dungeon crawling aspect of the game and expands on that. I might do that myself.

 

[nomask7]

Another thing I noticed is that you can avoid monsters more easily than is occasionally the case in Din's Curse, at least that's my impression so far, and certainly the case in the overland maps which are relatively open compared with the often claustrophobic passages in the dungeons of Din's Curse, where you may get unlucky enough to have only one longish passage to some critical gate or stairs that you need to use often, and the respawns can block your path. It's hard to explain but things like that create situations that I find interesting.

Zombasite almost feels more casual, almost like Diablo 2, but this feeling is offset by the threat of the zombie apocalypse and clan management. Without those features, the game would start feeling rather casual, so if someone doesn't like the idea of clans and zombie threat, I'd probably go for Din's Curse.

 

[nomask7]

Also, seems like money is more of an issue in Zombasite because you can't just sell everything you find - vendors are rarer and usually don't have much money at least in the beginning. Not sure how this changes as the game progresses, but so far it seems like respeccing a lot will be too expensive. Although the character skill system in these games isn't anything to write home about, Din's Curse did create some interesting possibilities via respeccing, so making respeccing more of a hassle should be considered a decline.

EDIT: This seems to be mitigated by the fact that you can do tons of quests for competing clans for rewards that include money.

EDIT 2: Just realised you can see the locations of the areas after you have accepted quests that must be solved in those areas.

Also, I'm finding wizard builds a drag. Too many monsters have mana drain that completely incapacitates your ability to cause decent damage. Not sure how people deal with this. It's hard to find anything much on these games via google.

 

[Hobo Elf]

To get money you should be trading with other clans, not vendors. Respeccing used to be even more expensive but Soldak changed that because it was nearly impossible to respec with the old rates.

I think that's a new feature that he added recently. I don't remember accepting quests showing the general location of the area where you need to go to complete it.

Most caster types will be difficult until you get +mana regen and +spell damage% gear. You should be adventuring with party members at first to make the beginning smoother; either with your own clan members or with friendly clan members. My suggestion is to use friendly clan members because if they accidentally die then that will just weaken the clan and make it easier for you to crush them when the time comes to do so.

 

[Black]

Zombasite is a far better game than Din's Curse now. When it initially came out in Early Access it was just Din's Curse with overland maps and clans. My early reaction to this game wasn't very impressive, but Soldak really worked hard and I like where the game is at now with release. Right off the bat I'd say the most important change was rebalancing the scaling of all the skills in the game. None of them improve in a linear fashion anymore, everything has an exponential growth, which is wonderful. It helps a lot since monsters used to (and still do in the older games) power up at a exponential curve while the PC had a linear growth which left off many characters and character builds in the dust at some point.
A new class was added, the Death Knight, and it's all kinds of amazing.
Soldak also revamped the skill system even further by adding synergy so that enhancing skills will give you some kind of bonus that will benefit your other abilities as well. As a quick example, each point in Fiery Blast (1st tier fire spell) gives you an additional +1% Spell Damage and +3% Fire Damage. That way you never feel like you're losing out by investing in some other skill.
Gear now has new stats like +magic damage% which helps make spell casters useful at higher levels. Melee used to be the top dog but it's possible to play as a caster or summoner now without sucking mountains of dick because there's gear that gives you more damage for your spells, or enhance various aspects of your pets (damage, armor, resistance, movement speed etc.). Perhaps my favorite new stat is +X% chance of Extra Projectiles. At 50% there's a 1/2 chance that any projectile you fire (bow or spell) will shoot two projectiles at the same time, without any added mana cost. More than 100% and you'll always shoot 2 projectiles with the chance to shoot and extra 3rd projectiles and it keeps going up the higher you get the stat. My Firery Blast Wizard does obscene damage as I've stacked this stat quite high.
The biggest gimmick of the game is the titular Zombasite virus that is slowly creeping through the land turning everything into zombies. It's pretty cool, but if you're not into it then you can turn it off and play the game normally without having to worry about it.

Are you saying I should buy it?

 

[Hobo Elf]

Zombasite is a far better game than Din's Curse now. When it initially came out in Early Access it was just Din's Curse with overland maps and clans. My early reaction to this game wasn't very impressive, but Soldak really worked hard and I like where the game is at now with release. Right off the bat I'd say the most important change was rebalancing the scaling of all the skills in the game. None of them improve in a linear fashion anymore, everything has an exponential growth, which is wonderful. It helps a lot since monsters used to (and still do in the older games) power up at a exponential curve while the PC had a linear growth which left off many characters and character builds in the dust at some point.
A new class was added, the Death Knight, and it's all kinds of amazing.
Soldak also revamped the skill system even further by adding synergy so that enhancing skills will give you some kind of bonus that will benefit your other abilities as well. As a quick example, each point in Fiery Blast (1st tier fire spell) gives you an additional +1% Spell Damage and +3% Fire Damage. That way you never feel like you're losing out by investing in some other skill.
Gear now has new stats like +magic damage% which helps make spell casters useful at higher levels. Melee used to be the top dog but it's possible to play as a caster or summoner now without sucking mountains of dick because there's gear that gives you more damage for your spells, or enhance various aspects of your pets (damage, armor, resistance, movement speed etc.). Perhaps my favorite new stat is +X% chance of Extra Projectiles. At 50% there's a 1/2 chance that any projectile you fire (bow or spell) will shoot two projectiles at the same time, without any added mana cost. More than 100% and you'll always shoot 2 projectiles with the chance to shoot and extra 3rd projectiles and it keeps going up the higher you get the stat. My Firery Blast Wizard does obscene damage as I've stacked this stat quite high.
The biggest gimmick of the game is the titular Zombasite virus that is slowly creeping through the land turning everything into zombies. It's pretty cool, but if you're not into it then you can turn it off and play the game normally without having to worry about it.

Are you saying I should buy it?

If you liked Din's Curse and/or Depth's of Peril, then yes, you should give the Zombasite demo a try and then get it if you liked it.

 

[Black]

I liked the demo.
Codexfags got wiped out, probably for the best.

 

[Black]

Made a BLM clan and clanmates were constantly fighting and killing each other.
Coincidence?

 

[Black]

First loss at level ~20, was low on food so sent out an expedition to hunt stuff. Token Codex Tranny got killed and unsurprisingly everyone (!) went insane and killed my health stone. Had to put them down one by one

 

[Black]

I just wanted to be left alone to questing and recruiting good npcs.

 

[LESS T_T]

The "first" expansion has officially announced: http://www.soldak.com/Zombasite/Orc-Schism.html

Zombasite: Orc Schism

Zombasite: Orc Schism is the first expansion for the unique action RPG, Zombasite. This zombie apocalypse action RPG is set in a dynamic, evolving, fantasy world for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Long ago, when a necromancer attempted to raise Elves he thought to be dead, it went very wrong. Instead of raising an army of zombie slaves, a new race was born. The irate Orcs ripped the necromancer to shreds. Dormant necromancer magic has protected Orcs from zombie infection ever since, but the Zombasite, a zombie parasite, is intelligent. It has finally learned to break the defensive magic. The new infection swept through the entire Orc population like wildfire. Again it went very wrong. A war raged within each Orc between the Orc blood, the Zombasite, and the original Elven blood.

When the Orc blood won, a Dark Orc arose. With less Elven influence in their physiology, Dark Orcs’s aggressiveness and strength intensified, and they expanded their terrible savagery.

When the Elven blood won, the new being became one of the Mutated. The Mutated are a new, unstable Elven/Orc race. The Elven heritage has become the dominate part, but they are still corrupted with Orc blood and necromancer magic. This corruption slowly mutates them over time, sometimes in good ways and sometimes bad. No one quite understands the Mutated and everyone fears them.

And finally when the Zombasite won, a Zombie Lord was unleashed. Zombie Lords have full access to the strength of the Orcs and intelligence of the Elves. They are the most powerful and feared Zombies in existence.

With three new powerful factions rising up from the ashes of the old Orc race, how will you continue to survive the Zombasite?

Zombasite: Orc Schism is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2017, however it will be released when it's done.


Features

• Play the Bard class (Minstrel, Illusionist, and Sage specialties) (now 333 total class combinations)
• Control the defense of your town
• Fight new monsters (Dark Orcs, Mutated, & Zombie Lords)
• Solve many more quests
• Defend and explore random towns
• Explore new area types
• Fight with and against new clans

 

[Hobo Elf]

Random towns should've been in the base game, along with shopkeepers. Anyway, I look forward to seeing what the Bard has to offer.