Dead Age 2

IN A WORD: WORTHWHILE
IN SHORT:
WHAT TO EXPECT:
Potentially a proper sequel in the making. Turn-based story RPG. Apocalyptic zombie setting. Character levelling and skill-point allocation. New overland nodal map of dynamic locations. Expanded locations with longer encounters. Deeper combat with more tactical options. Multiple factions with a reputation model. A few dozen quests. Larger inventory pool. Current balance seems more forgiving. Graphically expanded with increased animations. Permadeath - made with repeat dying in mind. Singleplayer only. A work in progress, some bugs. More content to come, still in EA.
ACHIEVEMENTS: ORGANIC. MOST ARE NATURALLY OBTAINED DURING PLAY.
STATUS: COMPLETE. OUT OF EARLY ACCESS.
WHEN TO BUY: WHEN SUITABLY PRICED.
More info below....
THE LOWDOWN:
Dead Age 2 is a quest driven RPG with survival elements and side-on encounters with turn-based, tactical combat. It is set in a large dystopian world following a zombie apocalypse where factions are now jostling for survival and domination. After creating a character and playing through a tutorial the adventure begins.
Players start at their home camp and gather a party. They are moved across an overland nodal map to explore, scavenge, interact with groups and complete quests. NPCs belonging to one of three new factions provide quests via dialogue. Resources such as food, water, materials and ammo must be collected to arm and feed the group, and upgrade the camp's facilities. Survivors are assigned jobs at these facilities to provide a steady supply of resources.
Visually the game has seen lots of benefits. Camps are fully rendered and their facilities must be visited to interact with NPCs. Map locations now have three sub-areas instead of one with a range of randomly generated encounters. Combat occurs against hostile survivors, zombies and wild-life when conflict arises. Up to six combatants can fight on each side. XP is gained by winning fights, saving random survivors, completing quests and jobs. This allows characters to level-up and allocate points to a range of skills. Completing quests for factions also increases the group's reputation with them. This is required to progress to additional quests. If the main character dies, the game restarts but 'upgrade points' can be allocated to give the character a boost to starting stats, before taking on the challenge anew.
THE GOOD:
+ A new, comprehensive story of linked quests and detailed backstory.
+ Graphically expanded world with more backdrops to locations.
+ New nodal overland map with over a hundred dynamically generated resource locations to explore.
+ Reworked combat with greater tactical options, dynamic elements, with up to six allies vs six enemies.
+ Greater range of non-combat related encounters to gain resources (hunting, rescuing, healing, etc) and possible ambush encounters.
+ Larger selection of resources and an enlarged inventory of items.
+ Reworked range of skills.
+ Logically redesigned GUI showing alot of the game's hidden depth (info, tooltips etc).
+ New features like purchasable healing and hard to find resources.
+ Redesigned weapon and armor crafting with up to 3x selectable tactical modifications.
+ Organically gained achievements.
+ Consequences of actions matter for some quests.
+ Fully graphically rendered faction camps with personalities, services and quests givers.
THE BAD:
- Voice-overs would add to the immersion even more.
- Missing a few features I would like to see (i.e. no manual save, no retreat feature, healing other character, weapon jams.)
- Forced return to base at sundown not entirely nailed.
- Cascading combat effects on prone characters needs balancing. Possible for characters to die without being able to help them.
- Timed quests require a better notification system. Possibly alerts on the main screen.
- Only basic creation options for main character have been implemented.
- Needs more recruitable NPCs.
AND THE ORDINARY:
* A solidly put together campaign with around 10-30 hours of content.
* Extensive tool-tips provide a window into wealth of under-the-bonnet information.
* Some gameplay elements require more balancing.
* Random encounters between travel points brings welcome dynamicity to exploration.
* Only peripheral use of characters from the first game. No need to have played the first game.
* Early game has a fairly steep learning curve.
* Minimal quest tracking. Needs improvement.
* AI mostly works. Enemy AI may need tweaks.
* Still a work in progress.
VERDICT:
Dead Age 2 is looking a proper sequel in the making. All the ingredients are there. The core features of the original game have been taken to a new level. Important aspects of gameplay have been enlarged, enhanced or revamped to offer more immersive gameplay. There is now substantially increased content and greater possibilities to interact with the game world, making for a stronger RPG experience than its predecessor.
The new overland map adds a significant level of strategy to exploration and scavenging, making it feel worth pursuing. Expanded encounter locations and greater tactical options offer more engaging combat. The addition of factions, reputation and graphically rendered camps create the sense of playing in a larger game world. Subtle tweaks to the nature of map locations and how encounters are populated provide a level of dynamicity that softens the repetitive nature of gameplay from the first game. A larger inventory pool and more prevalent resources combine for a more compelling experience. Something pack-rats are sure to enjoy. Some of the more mundane aspects such as abstracting camp attacks have streamlined the pace and feel of the game for the better.
Missing features seem few in number. I would have liked to have seen: a retreat option and a way to heal prone allies. Group interpersonal relationships from the first game seem to have disappeared. The atmosphere that these generated between camp survivors is missing. If added the immersion would be taken up a level. Recruitable survivors are currently missing. Hoping some of these get added.
The developers have managed to make the game they probably wanted to originally produce. Overall the changes in design and implementation are substantial if not entirely complete. The amount of content is bordering on 10-30 hours if you take your time to fully interact with this newly created world. However since the game has permadeath losing dozens of hours in a playthrough is possible. If that isn't your idea of fun then consider that it has been designed with that in mind. Subsequent playthroughs allow new characters to start with upgrade points assigned to key skills.
Though I am no fan of Early Access I enjoyed the first Dead Age game. I was always going to get the sequel if it was larger, better and offered a different experience than the original. Which it does. Dead Age 2 is well designed, suitably enhanced and going in the right direction. Its substantially complete but needs more work. Even so it is alot more playable than the first game. Alot more! If you are considering purchasing this in EA then I recommend it but with the usual caveat.
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In 2016 Dead Age was released. I must be honest, I never played that game. I own it, it was on my backlog but you know, there are many good games out there so it was sitting there untouched for a long time. Now Dead Age 2 is here, so I probably I’ll never play it. Why do I tell you this? Perhaps you are looking for an opinion by someone who is not influenced by the previous version or not just give a negative review because “I expected more”.
Dead Age 2 is a turn-based strategy game. This is how the combat is going. You also need to care about your resources, survivors so calling the game as a resource management and survival oriented roguelike game is also correct. A great mixture of the contents which require for a ZombieGeddon game. If you want a visual overview about the game then check my video about it, and then jump to the conclusion part:
If not, then keep reading:
Tutorial and difficulties
The game teaches everything you need to know. No unanswered questions, no misunderstandings. ZombieGeddon is coming and you are prepared for it. Or not? The game offers 3 different difficulties. Casual, Normal and Hardcore. Looking for a challenge or just some fun, all of us can find the fitting challenge for ourselves.
Build your base or suffer because of the missing resources
As a typical survivor in any zombie apocalypse series/game you need to have a base. It is not different in Dead Age 2. But what kind of base is that? If you want freedom to build fences, personalize every corner of your base then this game is not for you. You need to imagine a house like in This War of Mine and you can build upgrades inside of it or outside, as some room upgrades like Garden, Hunting Tower or guard posts located there. Small difference still compared to the previously mentioned game, that you can’t just put room upgrades anywhere in the house, all rooms have their own preset function. I must say this is the part where I feel that the game should be different.
The functions of these rooms are pretty simple. Used for crafting armors, ammo, weapons, food, water, medicines. Additionally a bedroom, guard post… Boring right? Indeed. Typical, well known areas without a unique idea, what could make this part of the game outstanding and something different. This does not mean that the game is bad, it just gives a feeling, that something is missing. As Dead Age 2 is still in Early Access there could be still improvement in this field.
Will you have issues to find enough resources? Now this is a hard question. After 10 hours I am already swimming in Materials and Food, enough Scraps and the problematic one is water. Never enough water. Getting enough water should be the main goal for everyone when starting a new game. I also have one minor problem here, as we are talking about resources. The used currency in the game is the dollar. Seriously? In what kind of world would anyone use an old world printed money as currency in a post-apocalyptic world? Yes, I know, easier to make an economy system for a game with a fixed currency, but it is still an illogical disappointing mechanic.
Befriend your enemies or suffer from your own decisions
The game offers a decent story and lore environment. Main, story, side, alternative quests, events, many of them with effect on your gameplay if solved differently, ignored, etc. Choices Matter, popular slogan on many games and Dead Age 2 operates with that one too. In some way it is true, there are multiple outcomes in many fields of the game.
There are also 3 major factions in the game. As it is usual in similar games, they do not really like each other. No one trusts anyone. It is up to you who will be your friend, which faction will you help by finishing side quests for them. When the time comes, they will help you too.
Killing zombies are cool, kk?
You will find many zombies and their pre zombie behaviour/job has an effect on their combat status too. A zombie who was a police officer before will be like an armored tank, a nurse or doctor will heal fellow zombies, a cheerleader zombie will boost the damage of others and there are many-many other enemy types. This part of the game is really interesting, just like it should be, else all the combat would be repetitive fast and so the game would be boring.
There are not only zombies out there. If you do not like zombie games, movies or series then you probably would never buy a game like this, and if you do, then you should already know that the other humans are always the real danger, not the zombies. Scavengers, robbers, members of other factions and they will have more deadly weapons than just claws and teeth.
Don’t be afraid tho, there are zombie bosses too. And they are coming for you!
Yes, it is also an RPG, level up your characters!
When starting a game you can choose some talents for your character. You might spend a lot of time there just trying to figure out what could be the best. Don’t do that. First of all, the 3 points you could spend there is like nothing. You will get much more in a short time. Also, you will have more than one character fast and you can spend their talent points once they level up. Diversification is important, after all you don’t want every character to use pistols else you won't have enough ammo while you will be swimming in rifle and shotgun ammos. You also want them to learn different secondary abilities, so you can solve more random events during your adventures or just leave some at your base to work in the garden or craft weapons/armors.
Developers want to created a cool game
No game gets released without bugs, even very expensive AAA games have many. While i enjoyed already the first version of the game, it was clear it had some error, like sound volume errors etc. Developers keep fixing those, there was already many updates to the game, which shows how passionate and caring they are. I beleive such teams worth to be supported and this is also the reason why the starter ~45% review score on this game now went up to 70%+.
Conclusion
Dead Age 2 is a promising Early Access game. There is room for improvements but already offers a quite long campaign with decent replay value thanks to the different difficulties, factions and decisions.
Story: 7/10 There are many interesting quests, conversations.
Replay value: 8/10 Events, locations randomized, except faction HQs, so the game is replayable.
Atmosphere: 8/10 Blood, Zombies everywhere, if you up a zombie post-apocalyptic turn based combat game then you are not going to be disappointed.
Visuals: 7/10 Looks nice in some parts, not AAA nice, but it is enjoyable on an indie game.
Gameplay mechanics: 6/10, good, but nothing new
Music/Sound effects: 5/10, nice/ok sound effect, music is not for me, but the volume inconsistency on various effects and parts of the game… my ears still bleeding
Game difficulty: 1-9/10, select your own difficulty
Hey, I am an achievement hunter!
Perfection time: ???? I'm sorry, I don't know that yet. 45/96 after 10hours, but the game clearly requires multiple playthroughs, it is not hard to say that it could easily take 40-50 hours or more. This part of the review will be updated once I get close to completion and could estimate a fair completion time but if you don’t want to miss a notification about the difficulty and time of perfection then follow my curator.

As a big fan of the original Dead Age I can say the sequel is a huge improvement and would even argue that the aspects that they took from other games such as This War of Mine have been implied in an even better way.
So does the upgrading system in Dead Age 2 feel way more rewarding, and give you access to truly better equipment, where in TWOM you only got different equipment. The combat system also feels more tactical, with an even wider variation of abilities/passives/zombies and other things to consider. The crafting system also had an improvement where you can now choose on what different skills you want the equipment to focus on (perception/strength/defense, etc).
The exploration is really great with a wide variety of different encounters. Later on in the game you'll unlock the subway system which I found a very good implementation whereas in Darkest Dungeon the mindless backtracking could become very tedious.
As a disadvantage the game can feel a little too overwhelming, and you've to figure a lot of things out by trial and error. Some zombies are, for example, incapable of attacking your characters from their backline, while some abilities, such as the molotov cocktail thrown by the bitten civilian, can actually hit multiple characters while this is never specified. The turns order is also a bit foggy, where characters in the front row attack first and the ones in the back later. The turn order of the turret is also very weird whereas it will shoot when it is deployed and at the end of your turn, but will only shoot ones if the turn it is deployed also happens to be the last action of your turn. Another thing is that the game gives you about 20 quests in the first 2 days, and that you have to keep track of which were the difficult ones and which were the easier tasks. Maybe the developers could try to even out the amount of quests you constantly have?
You can also definitely still sense that the game is still in early access, there are a lot of typos and I have experienced 1 crash. If you can look past an occasional typo and a very rare crash, then the game is definitely playable and highly enjoyable.
Overall a huge improvement and definitely looking forward for more to come!

Dead Age 2 - the successor of the original Dead Age - is a tactical turn-based game with rpg rogue-like and survival elements in an open world strategic meta.
Played on i7 8700K, nVidia GTX1060, 32 GB RAN, WIN 10.
Written at the state of early access, there is still a lot of work to do and the developer needs the feedback of the commumnity.
But is the second part better than the first one? Yes! Here is why, in my humble opinion:
pros:
- world map with free roaming, random encounters, loot and quest sites
- day/night cycle - at night with higher risk, but higher chance for better loot
- base building with improvements during the game
- factions and their bases for trading, story and side quests
- party and base management with focus on skills and well thought-out use of goods/food/commodities
- challenging turn-based fights, more enemy- and skill-variety compared to DA1
- rogue-like elements and permadeath - invest skillpoints for an easier re-run
- reunion with some predecessor NPCs during the story
- developer is very close to the community and reacts quickly
- short early access phase due to the roadmap
neutral:
- difficulty probably needs little balancing in some areas
- more resolution options beyond Full HD, like 2K or even 4K
cons:
- some sounds are louder than others - adjustments needed
- framedrops in some areas - my rig can handle that - maybe others not
- Bugs. They do exist as expected for early access. And obviously they depend on different (random affected) playstyles.
Sure, its annoying everytime. But the developer takes care of them so I'm sure this is going well until release.
So far, I like the game and its ideas, not at least because of so many improvements after Dead Age 1.
Thumbs up, I can't wait for the final content!

I like this game. I like the tactical combat, the equipment system, the upgrade system, the resource management, the base management, and the story (which is serious, but doesn't take itself too seriously).
I'd like to take this time to address another reviewer's negative review.
1. "the game is janky"
The game has only crashed on me a couple of times. It wasn't a problem because the game constantly auto-saves. I've only had problems with performance when running the graphics at "fantastic" settings.
2. "tryhard" game
I completed my first run through the game (up until day 32) on normal difficulty without losing anyone. Perhaps the dev's have balanced the difficulty since the reviewer's post.
3. "the RPG aspect is broken"
"stats go up at random upon levelup" - this is no longer true. You decide which stats go up.
"skills are mostly meaningless" - admittedly, some skills are useless. but some are quite helpful.
When I read a negative review and see that reviewer has invested a significant amount of time in the game, I ask myself "why in the world would you spend so much time playing a game you don't recommend?"

Dead Age 2 is a roguelite, turn-based RPG with survival elements. It's basically like The Walking Dead (Season 10). Your Main Character is the leader of a small group, which you need to take care of. You need food and water for everyone to survive. You can find both on the map or harvest them by yourself. The base management is at least as important as the turn-based fights which are pretty deep and full of surprises. There are several different weapons (firearms and melee weapons), dozens of different enemies with traits and abilities, aswell as different abilities for your own survivors. Some can use turrets or call a dog. Your Survivors level up. With each level, they gain points which you can spend how you want. Some skills are usefull in fights, some are useful at your base (Being able to harvest more food a day etc).
In your base, you can craft new and stronger clothes/armor, weapons, ammo or medicine. All of this is needed in the long run, since enemies get stronger and the quests harder. There are innumerable story and side quests. Usually in rougelites the story is kind of boring. Something i skip after the first few minutes. In Dead Age 2 even side quests are pretty interesting since you learn to love or hate characters - especially quests about survivors in your team are interesting. One of my characters died and his personal quest just ended. I was pretty sad to not find out more about him. Many quests are pretty personal. Thats why you don't want your survivors to die. Often in other roguelites it doesn't really matter if one of your team dies, because you will eventually get a new one or start a new run. If your main character dies, your run ends and you have to start over. After every run, you gain points to start the run stronger than before.
Besides your own little team of survivors there are other factions (like U.S. Army). You have a relationship to every one of them. You can decide if you want to turn on them and fight them, or if you will cooperate and work together. Every faction gives you adventages, but some factions want you to attack others. This makes it pretty hard to be on good terms with everyone.
Every day is split into daytime and nighttime. Each is 8 hours long. One move on the world map takes 30 minutes, so you'll need to plan exactly what you want to do and when. It is also possible that other factions or zombies attack your home base. To defend your home base, you'll need to put someone on duty and that's what i dislike about defending your base. Everyone is at the base and just one can defend (you can level up your defence later and get more than that to defend)? I understand that the others are asleep at night or doing other things and that the one on duty notices first when someone attacks but there are so many enemies attacking that it wouldn't hurt balance-wise if there was some mechanic to wake others up. Survivors could have the ability to wake someone up for 2AP per turn (then you can't attack) and the one who wakes up joins the fight the next turn. I did not finish the game yet, nor is it finished - so maybe they will add that later (hopefully ;)).
One other thing i dislike is the tutorial. The tutorial tries to explain every little thing and mechanic at the very beginning of the game and to top it off, the UI and the menus are full with details. Some infos you could hide 'til you hover over some keyword/name/object to make it look cleaner. Also, within a fight you can hover over enemies and see details. It's not perfect right now. Sometimes you hover over an enemie and it shows stats from the one next to it. With 6 enemies it takes WAY to long and is WAY to hard to see stats from specific enemies.
You can play the game perfectly fine without a keyboard which is an important part imo. The only thing you CAN'T do without a keyboard is to return to the base before 8 hours are over. It's nothing big, but i would suggest to make it possible to select without the keyboard. It's just easier when you want to play on a couch and relax.
All in all this is an big improvement in the series. It's still in EA, has some minor bugs and glitches but is very playable and fun after the tutorial. The roadmap looks promising and the dev's really care about the game. They give answeres to every review and question and really pushed out a decent number of updates since release. With HeadUp as the publisher im sure they will take care of most things players are unhappy with. I would suggest everyone who is into the genre or liked Dead Age 1 to give it a shot.
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I can give this game a good review with over 100 hours in. IMHO you cannot get a better game than this for 20 bucks. (I got my 20 bucks in already and I'm still going) For a description of this game it's like This War of Mine meets Final Fantasy and they had a baby.
Graphics: Excellent use of the Unity Engine and character rendering with supreme backgrounds with zombies doing weird sh!t in the background, like gnawing on corpses noncholantly (sic) right next to you, shuffling by you while your battling it out, birds flying around, enviromental effects....just wow, well done. The game map is a little bare bones and such but so what.
Developers: The devs are VERY active in bug squashing and tweaking to the player bases needs. I find that refreshing in a game were the devs aren't afraid to show their faces. Keep it up, for that's what made me get this game.
Replayability: I say you can do it 3-4 times again, joining different factions, and playing Hardcore. I like that you get "badges" to apply to base stats on rerolled character. That would make playthroughs easier on highest level for example.
Again for 20 bucks 1 playthrough is money well spent IMO.
Quests: Confusing at first, but once you see how it is you will be fine.
Leveling: Gets real slow leveling up past 10 by the way, so the xp curve weird.
So, keep your food and water up and have fun! S!