We're talking about Knock on the Coffin Lid, along with a grab bag of horror games for this October season including Crow Country, Dread Dawn, and Dead Season.
Knock on the Coffin Lid is a roguelike deckbuilder where players learn the fate of the three heroes and explore the dark mysteries of their deaths.
Other game discussions in this episode include Wild Bastards, Anton Blast, AI Limit, VA Proxy, Spirit X Strike, Karate Survivor, Knights in Tight Spaces, Tenebris Somnia, Streets of Rogue 2, Telebbit, Windblown, Totally Spies! Cyber Mission, The Park, Among the Sleep, Scanner Sombre.
Transcript
Hello everyone, and welcome to Indie Game Arcade, a podcast all about indie games and nothing else.
In this episode, we're talking about Knock on the Coffin Lid and a whole bunch of horror games, including Crow Country, Dead Dawn… DREAD Dawn… and Dead Season. I get those two mixed up, and I keep interchanging them.
Anyway, my name's Chris.
They’re very interchangeable names. Like, Dread, Dead Season... or Dread Dawn Dead Season. Dread Dawn: Dead Season. Like, these are just—I don't know—like, not the best names. Maybe the games are good, who knows.
Well, you silly—we’ll get there.
Well, this is one of those occasions where I did not play either of the games that you're bringing to the table, so it'll be interesting to me. I'll be completely on the outside of it.
And I played all of the games. I played all four, so I'm ready. Knock on the Coffin Lid, too. Okay, I played maybe—I don't know—40 minutes of it. But I played it!
Oh, so you didn't even finish like a run of it?
No, no. I only got to play—like, I only was able to start it last night. I was so limited on time that I was only able to start a run and get maybe about four battles in before I had to go do dad stuff. And then I was too tired to do anything and just took my meds and went to sleep.
Because... Dad stuff.
Yeah. Some of the runs are long. Like, I had one earlier today that was like an hour and 20 minutes. Like—that’s a movie.
I believe that. Based on what I see of that grid, it looks like they could be really, really long. But let's go ahead and start talking about that.
Developed and published by RedBoon. For a quick description:
Investigate your own death. Find ways to break free from a time loop. Choose a hero who will ascend to the throne and rule the Northern Gate. The fates of whole nations in the land of Midian depend on your choices.
So, you obviously played way more of this game than I did, so I'm going to let you kind of take the reign here with this one.
Okay yeah, I’ve put about—I think—12 hours into it so far. But it's also, like I said, those runs take so long. That's the equivalent of maybe 10 or 11 runs, maybe.
Yeah, this one is set in a grim fantasy world. It follows the journey of you—the resurrected warrior, Perel, at first—but there are three playable characters, two of which you have to unlock later.
When you come back to life, you're speaking with this mysterious guy named Mortis—not the WCW wrestler Mortis.
Not—unfortunately not...
Chris Kanyon.
Yeah, seriously. I loved Mortis the wrestler. He was great.
I was literally just watching a video of him earlier today, so that is fresh in my mind, man.
Yeah, there's a good documentary about him.
Oh okay, I'll have to check it out. Anyway—back to the game.
So Mortis is this mysterious guy who says that he isn't solely responsible for bringing you back—that some of it is your own hate and anguish that brought you back. But it seems like he's got something up his sleeve. I wouldn't trust him fully yet.
Oh yeah, he’s one of those kind of guys.
The main narrative involves dialogue between Perel and Mortis. Like, literally everything you do—every single place you go on the map—after you finish it, there’s a one-on-one talk with Mortis right after. And there’s really good voice acting in this too.
Yeah.
So you're going to hear a lot of that. That, I think, also pads out the time a bit if you want to actually listen through those dialogues. And some of them are actually important and give you good clues to progress the game. So I would recommend at least listening to some of them.
The gameplay style is like a deckbuilding tactical turn-based combat game, and visually, it feels like a less stylized Darkest Dungeon. Like, it still kind of has that comic book sort of appearance, but it's not as grim.
There was a game that came out several years ago that I played that the art style reminds me a little bit of—I think it was called Sword Legacy: Omen. I feel like the illustration of the characters looks somewhat similar to that.
But the character movements remind me of Slay the Spire, where the arms don’t look super connected in the way they swing the sword.
Oh yeah—so it’s just kind of like characters that have a skeleton rig, and the motions are kind of floaty.
Yeah, they kind of have that ragdoll-ish movement to them, but it doesn’t really take away from the game at all.
The combat is strategy-based, using cards to attack, defend, and manage status effects and such. There's equipment that adds to it, there are armor sets—which I love, I’m a sucker for armor sets—and there are a ton of those in this game. So it's great when you're trying to collect and piece them together to get the bonuses.
There are random events and encounters, although the map’s kind of laid out where once you visit an area, it unlocks and you see that area. But I think, and I might be wrong, that it kind of mixes where everything is on the map to some degree each time you go into it.
I don't think the locations themselves are random, but once you’ve seen them, there are multiple options at each location—like, do I want to save this elf? Help this goblin? Betray the goblin? Rob the merchant? There's a lot of moral choice and branching paths.
It seems like with a run, you have so much more choice. Like Slay the Spire is the one I feel like I’m making the most comparisons to in my head. Or also Rogue Waters, which I was talking about last week—where you are making your path or whatever as you progress.
And really, though, you're only seeing maybe three paths to go along in Spire when you really look at it under a microscope. But this thing has, like, a huge grid—at least from what I saw—so it seems like depending on where you go, it could be so different.
Yeah, yeah. You have so many different paths you can take. There’s usually—depending on the area you're in—at least two different end points you can go to for the boss fight of that zone.
That map you're on—I don't know if you got to the second one or not—but there are three different maps per run. And all three of them have that same expansive, choice-driven kind of layout.
So you have tons of options. The paths themselves aren’t super long once you choose one, but it encourages a lot of replayability because of that.
Got it.
But also, at a certain point, there are quests you’ll need to try and complete. I’ve beaten the game—or beaten a run—probably five times now.
The first time you go through, it’s like, “Okay cool, I did this thing—what do I get for it?” And of course, there’s something after the boss, and you’re like “Oh man.” And then once you get your ass kicked by that thing, it’s like, “Okay—how can I possibly beat this?”
And that opens up a whole new branch of options. Like, now you have this quest to find something to defeat that new challenge. That’s kind of what I’m stuck on now, because there are just so many options and layers.
And there’s some mystery to it too. It’s not all super straightforward. So it's like, “Okay, what do I need to do?”
So yeah, there’s a lot here.
And then unlockable-wise—like I said, there are three characters. You start with just Perel. I think I unlocked the second one by just completing the game the first time. I don’t know how to unlock the third one—it doesn’t tell me anywhere.
So I think that’s just going to happen after I beat that other boss, if I had to guess.
And then there are multiple classes per character—I think at least four. I’ve unlocked one of them. To unlock more, you have to play the new class and level it up some.
Depending on the strategy you want to use, that determines the class you choose. So yeah—there’s a lot here. I know I’ve said a lot, but until you really dive in and play it, you won’t fully get it.
But I think, so far, I’m having a great time with it. Obviously.
What’s been your favorite—out of the two characters—which one do you like the most, and what class?
Well, so far I've only played it with the one character—Perel—because I'm still trying to unlock his other classes.
The class I have—his starting class—I don't remember what it's called, but his next class is Gold Digger. And that one literally is about collecting money and using that to your advantage, doing different things with it.
That's amazing.
And then—actually, no—I just unlocked Knight because I leveled up Gold Digger to level three. I haven’t used Knight yet, but the class I’ve won most of my runs with is the first one. So it's totally doable with your starting class.
Because it just changes up the strategy—what cards you have, and what you’re trying to do with them. It doesn’t necessarily mean one class is outright better than the other.
I do like too that you can basically have a companion that goes along with you, and that companion does different things—like provides buffs and stuff. And that happens automatically, like you don’t have to make those decisions for them.
Depending on how you acquire the companion—either through dialogue choices or just paying them or whatever—they may or may not stick around.
There was one time I had this dwarf companion, and then I reached this death idol. And one of the options was like: sacrifice my health, sacrifice money, or sacrifice my companion. And I was like, “Huh… I’m going to sacrifice my companion. I just want to see what it does.”
So I just sacrificed this poor dwarf to this death fountain. It was really cool, but honestly I don’t even know what it did for me.
I'm over here like, “Nooo!” and you're just like, “Yeah, that was awesome. I don't know what it did, but I loved it. I’m glad I sacrificed this little guy.”
There’s like—oh gosh, what is it called—like a meter that determines the good or bad things you do. I guess it’s like light or dark decisions throughout the run.
Okay.
For instance—and I don’t know if one side is necessarily good or evil or just more of an alignment—if you help the elves, then it goes more toward the white/light side of the meter. If you help the dwarves, then it goes more toward the dark side.
On the next map, if you help the goblins, it pushes you to the white side. If you help the orcs, it goes dark. So there are a ton of decisions like that.
I’ve not pushed it all the way to the end of either alignment, so I don’t know what that actually does, but it’s just another one of the really cool things you can interact with. There’s so much depth to it—every time I say something, I’m like, “Oh yeah, and this... and this...”
What I think is really interesting is how the runs are set up in the first place. I mean that from a story standpoint, which is that you just died—Mortis literally knocks on your coffin and resurrects you. You just show back up in your coffin and come back to life.
And from what I understand—correct me if I’m wrong—as you're doing battles and everything, and then you get that exchange with Mortis and Perel (or whoever you’re playing) at the table, having that post-battle conversation... it’s like they’re talking about what just happened, as if each battle was a flashback. Is that right?
Yes. And when you die, it basically takes you back in time to the point before you died. So characters who you saw on a previous run aren’t going to remember you—but you will remember them and what happened in those situations.
So you can kind of avoid things or even get new dialogue options sometimes—or new choices—because you already know what’s about to happen.
I really like that aspect. I think it makes the story way more intriguing than I expected it to be on the surface.
Oh yeah, this is definitely a more story-driven type of roguelike deckbuilder. But not at the sacrifice of gameplay.
It’s so in-depth gameplay-wise and has this amazing story on top of it. I read somewhere that it was like five years in development—or five years in Early Access—so there’s a lot of polish here. And it shows.
Yeah, I’m hoping I can carve out more time to really get into this game. From what I’ve played so far, I really enjoy it.
I’m someone who really, really likes Slay the Spire. I have it on Steam. I have it on my phone. I play it all the time.
So this is totally scratching that itch—but also taking it the extra mile. It adds so many more elements and a lot of story to it, which makes it even more intriguing for someone who enjoys in-depth storytelling.
So this is a really big win-win for me.
Yeah, absolutely. I would definitely recommend this for people who are fans of deckbuilding roguelikes or anyone who enjoys deep strategy and dark fantasy settings. This one is a pretty great game.
The way Mortis talks to you after each of the choices you make—there was one instance where I had unlocked this new spot in one of the zones. It was flagged with a crown, meaning it was a quest location.
So I went there thinking nothing of it, and it was just this really tough golem that two-shotted me.
And Mortis literally said something like, “Oh, so you want to die immediately, okay.” He just mocked me as I made this horrible decision.
I still don’t know how I’m supposed to beat that thing. It’s probably an item or tactic I haven’t found yet. And the wild part is—that fight is at the start of the game.
So I don’t know how I’m supposed to prep for it since I can’t backtrack. That’s still a challenge I need to figure out.
But I just thought it was funny that Mortis basically told me, “Sure, if you want to die now, go for it.”
It's not a place you have to go, ever. But I do need to go there eventually, because I need something from that golem for the main quest. So now I just have to figure out how to overcome him as soon as the game starts.
I’m really not sure yet.
You’ll probably figure something out the more you play. Or at least come up with some kind of tactic or card combo where you’re like, “Okay, next time I do a run, I’m going there first and I know how to win.”
Yeah, it'll be something like that. And that’s what I really like about this game—it pushes you to actually strategize and plan your path around tough encounters.
Let’s hop into our many horror games now—we probably won’t spend as much time as we did on Knock on the Coffin Lid, but we’ve got multiple horror games to get through since it is spooky season.
Our first one is Crow Country. This came out back in May—May 24th—for PC and Xbox. And then it just released for PS4 and Switch on October 16th.
This was developed and published by SFB Games. They also created Tangle Tower and Haunt the House.
I actually have both of those! Though I haven’t played Tangle Tower yet. I have played Haunt the House. It’s a goofy little game—and nothing at all like this one. The vibe is 100% different.
So this is a really interesting departure.
For a quick description:
Crow Country is a survival horror game, intentionally designed to resemble early PlayStation titles like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Players explore the defunct amusement park “Crow Country” to find objects, solve puzzles, and defeat monsters.
The story is set in 1990. It’s been two years since the mysterious disappearance of Edward Crow and the abrupt closure of his theme park, Crow Country.
Special Agent Mara Forest—who you’re playing—is sent to investigate, but her presence stirs the evils within.
This was one that you specifically wanted to bring to the table...
Yeah, I wanted to at least play the demo of it to see how it was, because it obviously has that very OG Resident Evil feel to it—and even look to it. It’s got that PS1-era style.
Yeah, totally. It’s got that sort of Final Fantasy VII character vibe to it—polygonal models, the low-poly look to the environments, and that whole nostalgic feel.
What I think is really interesting about it is the atmosphere. That’s what really stood out to me. It definitely hearkens back to games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, even though I’ve never played those. I’ve literally only watched other people play them. So I feel like I probably won’t have the same level of appreciation as someone who has actually played and loved those games.
But as someone who just likes horror in general—I had a really good time with this. The demo is relatively short... unless I accidentally speedran it without realizing.
[Laughs] Okay, okay.
So it’s one of those things where—it’s survival horror. Your ammo is limited. You’re finding med packs in trash cans and whatever you can scavenge. You’re just constantly looking around for anything that’ll help you stay alive.
The monsters aren’t everywhere—at least not in the starting zone. They start populating more after you pass certain areas, but nothing really rushes at you initially. It's all just kind of somber, creepy exploration while you're trying to do something.
The gunplay—the firing—is almost exactly like it was in those early survival horror games. You have to manually aim a reticle, and it doesn’t snap to your target. It’s not easy to line things up. And I think that absolutely adds to the dread or suspense, especially when this giant spider creature is slowly walking toward you and you’re just trying to line up a shot.
Yeah, it really feels like how you would feel in that moment—shaky, panicked, trying to get your aim straight. That adds a ton to the tension, especially with the humanoid baddies lurking around.
Exactly. And it even hints at things like, “Aim for the head for more damage,” through clues and notes you find. But with how imprecise the aiming is—intentionally so—it’s so hard to actually land headshots consistently.
When I was up against a bigger enemy, I was burning through all my ammo just to take out one of them. And then I was like, “Crap, I’ve gotta run back to the car and restock.”
Yeah! There are a few modern conveniences, though, that help make this more accessible than those older games. Like, being able to return to your car at the beginning of a zone to restock ammo—that’s a lifesaver. You’re not just out of luck if you waste it all.
Yeah, at least they give you that.
That big spindly guy, though—oh my goodness. He scared the hell out of me the first time he showed up.
That's what I wanted to ask you about! That piece of crap scared me so bad! I thought I was home free—I wasn't expecting anything. Then I walk out, and there's this huge stick man just creeping toward me.
Oh my God, same. I was doing something—I think I was typing a code into a keypad or unlocking a door—and suddenly I see this giant leg coming up behind me. I just panicked. I’m freaking out, trying to finish typing the code so I could run.
Yes! That whole moment freaked me out.
And I gotta say, for as low-poly as this game is—since that’s the aesthetic they’re going for—it still managed to be genuinely scary. Not in the modern horror sense of like, “I’m absolutely terrified,” but more like you’re just constantly uneasy. So when something does happen, it throws you completely off guard.
Yeah, it builds suspense so well. Once you’re fully immersed in that environment, it really starts to work on you.
The sound design helps too—low rumbles, odd ambient noises. Sometimes you hear something and you're just like, “I don’t know what that was, but I know it’s bad... and probably close.”
The first time you go into the bathroom, there’s something in one of the stalls you can’t even reach yet, and it’s just shuffling around. I was immediately on edge.
Same with when you climb into that little house and there’s the big pit with the crane above it. At first, nothing happens. You’re just walking around. And then suddenly that chain from the crane starts tugging.
Oh my god, yes. That got me so bad. I jumped.
And the worst part? You know you’re going to have to go back and pull whatever’s on that chain up at some point. Like, one of the key items we couldn’t get in the demo was a chain crank so you could operate that winch. So it’s just building this suspense that something awful is going to be attached to it—and you’re going to have to deal with it later.
Right. That moment stuck with me for sure. You don’t see anything, but the idea of it is scary enough.
Only thing that bothered me—and this is totally just in the demo—was the aiming, like you said. I just wanted to feel a little more precise in my panic, because I was scared and I needed the enemy to die now.
Same. And the other thing that bugged me: where is the freaking shotgun?
Right?! I was picking up shotgun shells constantly. Left and right. And there was no shotgun anywhere in sight!
That would’ve been great. I had so many things I wanted to destroy.
I really didn’t kill very much. I just avoided stuff most of the time. A lot of enemies are slow enough that you can just sneak around them.
Yeah, especially in that starting area. There’s not a whole lot of benefit to killing anything there since some enemies just respawn anyway. You’d just be wasting ammo.
That just goes to show how different our playstyles are. You’re like, “Let’s be smart.” I’m over here like, “I’M SCARED. EVERYTHING MUST DIE.”
[Laughs] I mean, using environmental stuff helps—like those explosive barrels. If you can lure enemies near them and blow them up, that takes care of everything quickly.
Yeah! Or shooting the electric sockets in the wall to shock enemies—that’s super satisfying.
There are a lot of clever ways to handle threats. And you don’t have to fight everything, especially early on.
That kind of leads into the second mode the game offers—what is it called? Exploration Mode?
Yeah. It’s like a safe mode where you can explore the whole game without monsters. Basically no combat—just puzzles and environment.
Which... to me, that would take away from the experience. I wouldn’t want to start there.
Same. That’s something I’d use after I beat the game. Like, I’d go back and explore it again to check out puzzles I missed or little environmental details, without worrying about being attacked.
Yeah. It's a really cool option to have—but it shouldn't be the first option. I kind of wish they had made it unlockable instead of available right away.
Exactly. Because starting with that would really rob you of what makes this game special. The suspense, the atmosphere, the dread—it's all part of the full experience.
Yeah, I agree. Loved the sound design, and the visuals are great. It’s intentionally low-poly, but it really works for the kind of experience they’re trying to deliver.
Mmhmm. And I think if you're a fan of original survival horror games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill, or you just have nostalgia for those PS1-era graphics, you're really going to like this. I absolutely recommend it. I think it's a great game—from what we played of it so far.
Yeah, I don’t even know how long it is. I don’t think it’s very long, though.
Yeah, I wouldn’t think so—probably why the demo was so short. I’m going to guess maybe a 6–8 hour experience? But that should be plenty, and I think it'll be one of those games you enjoy the whole way through.
Well, pivoting from a great game... let’s talk about the first of two zombie games that I played. This one is Dread Dawn. And I gotta say—both of these zombie game titles, man—if I looked on IMDb, I bet I’d find five movies with these same names.
[Laughs] You’d probably find multiple—like Dread Dawn Roman numeral I, Roman numeral II—different studios, different people, all independent, all kind of low-budget.
Yeah, exactly. So, okay, let me explain why this game is... not good. Because it looks really fun from the screenshots.
Yeah, explain that. Because from what I’m seeing, it looks cool!
Totally fair. So, Dread Dawn was developed and published by KUP—I don’t know if it’s supposed to be pronounced “kup,” or like “KOP” as in the dude from Gatchaman, but anyway...
Quick description: this is a “zombie survival game” set in a quarantine city. You play as a student who missed the evacuation convoy. Together with classmates and other survivors, you need to defend the school, survive, and await rescue.
Sounds solid on paper.
Yeah! And really, the core structure does sound fun. You’ve got this huge campus setup—the boys' dorm, girls' dorm, classrooms, gym, all that—and it's surrounded by military barricades. You're based there, but your sister never came back the night before the quarantine hit. You find out she got arrested and is being held at the police station, and your goal becomes getting out and finding her.
So far so good...
Right, but here's where it starts to break down. You have objectives to complete that take you outside the safe zone into the city, where there are tons of zombies. So you’re dodging them, fighting them, gathering supplies, and leveling up your character. You can find gear too—like different shoes that help you run faster or armor that gives you more protection.
Okay, still sounds cool so far. I’m even looking at reviews on Steam right now and seeing mostly positive.
Exactly. On the surface, it should be great. But it needs a lot of work. The bones of the game are solid—there’s a great idea underneath it all. But right now, it’s rough. It needs a lot of updates and some real design reworking.
Let me break down a few of the major issues:
First, it doesn’t really work with controllers. So you have to use mouse and keyboard. And your mouse has to be pointed in the same direction you're trying to move using WASD to attack properly. If not, your character just moonwalks around and swings wildly in the wrong direction. It’s not just goofy—it’ll get you killed.
That already sounds frustrating.
Then there’s the mission structure. It’s the classic “princess is in another castle” problem. Like, your sister’s not at the girls’ dorm—she’s at the police station. But on your way there, someone stops you and says, “I’ll help you, but first we need to find my cousin.” And then the cousin’s gone too, and now that leads to a new objective. It’s just constantly pushing the goalpost.
That sounds exhausting.
It is. There’s just a lot of running around with very little payoff.
And let’s talk about the map and the visual design. The doorways aren’t clearly marked. So navigating through buildings becomes a nightmare—especially at night. Imagine trying to find a doorway by only seeing faint slivers of light shining through. That’s how it works. If you've ever used something like Foundry VTT with dynamic lighting? It's basically that—except it's a full video game. At night, that lighting vanishes, and you're stuck fumbling around.
That’s such a weird choice.
Totally. And it’s a huge map. So if you don’t know where to go, or what to look for, you’re wasting time just wandering.
And then there’s this: sometimes the background just doesn’t load. You’ll get to a new area and the environment takes 30 to 60 seconds to appear. You’re just walking through blue sky—clouds, nothing else—like you’re on the skybox itself. It’s wild. You can’t see anything you’re bumping into, can’t figure out where you’re supposed to go. You just have to wait and hope it loads in time.
Yeah, that’s rough.
And it’s not just once. It happens constantly. Even when you first launch the game, it’s like, “Hey, adjust your settings if you want this to run properly.” Not a great first impression.
Okay, so here’s something interesting I’m seeing on Steam. It looks like the bad reviews are mostly from people who played about an hour or less. But the positive reviews are from players with 25+ hours—some even with 40+ hours logged.
Exactly. I saw the same thing. If you can make it through the rough first hour or two, you might actually really enjoy it. But for a lot of folks, it’s too buggy or frustrating to get that far.
So it’s polarizing.
Totally. Like, I love the idea of the game. I think the setting and structure are great. But right now, it’s so buggy that it really took away from the experience for me.
If anyone wants to see it for themselves, we actually recorded gameplay—it’s up on our Patreon at patreon.com/nerdsloth. You can see all the jank, the bugs, the weirdness. It’s all in there.
That’s awesome. And I will say this—looking at the recent activity, they are doing a lot of updates. Like, I’ve seen at least three patches go live this past week.
Yeah, same here. My Steam Deck keeps downloading updates for it. October 15th had one, October 17th had another—so the devs are clearly trying to fix things.
So I guess we should just say, for transparency: we’re sharing our opinions, and this was based on our experience playing an early version of the game. It’s still being patched and improved, so if the concept sounds interesting to you, maybe give it a try.
Yeah, we’re not trying to rain on anyone’s parade—or on KUP as a developer. If you’re intrigued, absolutely give it a shot. But just be aware that, right now, it’s kind of a mixed bag.
What’s interesting is that when I first started playing Dread Dawn, the Steam reviews were mixed—this was like five or six days ago. But now, they’re skewing way more positive, and I don’t know what changed.
Yeah, I’m seeing that too. And it only released on September 30th, so it’s still pretty new. Seems like it’s evolving as the updates roll out.
Definitely. But let’s get into the last game in our horror block—and our second zombie game—this is Dead Season.
This was developed by Snail Bite and published by Iceberg Interactive. Here's the quick description:
"Guide a group of unprepared strangers in their struggle to survive a zombie apocalypse in Dead Season, a turn-based tactics game. Strategize to endure against relentless undead hordes—but beware, noise attracts more danger."
And I gotta say—this game? I really like it. This is one of those games where the Steam reviews say "mixed," but for me? Nah, man. This game is really fun.
Okay, so you liked this one a lot. Sell me on it.
Absolutely. So, like I said, it’s a turn-based tactics game. You start with a group of four survivors, and your goal is usually objective-based: get everyone to a certain building, scavenge for supplies, clear it of zombies, barricade it, escape the map, etc. And you do all of that in classic turn-based fashion. Each character has a limited amount of AP—action points—so you choose whether to move, attack, scavenge, or heal.
Once all your survivors finish their turn, the zombies get theirs. And then at the end of each round? More zombies spawn. And they never stop. You’re not going to kill them all. So the game applies constant pressure—just like an actual zombie movie would.
That sounds stressful but in a good way.
Exactly! And here’s what makes it even more intense: there’s a noise system at the top of the screen with two meters. The first one increases as you make noise, like using guns. When it fills up, it adds additional zombies to the next spawn wave. The second one is worse—when that fills up, all zombies enter a rage state: double movement, double attacks.
Oof.
Yeah. So if you’re not smart about noise management, it can spiral really fast. You will die if you don’t plan ahead.
To "win," you typically just need to complete your objective—like moving everyone to a safe zone. Once you do, you escape to the next level. It’s all linear progression, and between missions your characters can level up and gain new traits.
My favorite trait I’ve found is Cold-Blooded. What that does is reduce the Fear effect by 33%. Because when you get hit by zombies, your character starts experiencing Fear, which decreases their hit chance. A lot of people complain that the base accuracy is too low—but I disagree. I think it's fair if you're playing smart and managing Fear properly. That Cold-Blooded trait has saved me so many times.
I mean, just looking at it—visually and tonally—it feels like the kind of zombie strategy game we don’t get often. And it’s nice to hear that the difficulty is tied more to planning than cheap shots.
Yeah. And the sound design adds a lot to the tension. There’s this one moment in my playthrough—also on our Patreon, by the way—where I’m just navigating through a city block, and suddenly this piercing shriek comes out of nowhere. No visual trigger, nothing—just this terrifying scream. Scared the hell out of me.
That's awesome.
It was so good. And stuff like that ramps up the pressure organically. Another moment that really got me was when I was nearing the end of a map. I had kept noise to a minimum, being careful with every move. And then—boom!—a zombie falls off a roof, lands on a car, and sets off the alarm.
Oh no.
Yeah. That skyrockets the noise meter. Rage kicks in. Zombie count spikes. And I’m like, four turns away from escaping—so now it’s just pure desperation. I loved that moment. I lived for that chaos. It’s cinematic in the best way.
That sounds like some end-of-Act-One movie panic right there. Total “we gotta go now” moment.
Exactly. It really captures that zombie movie tension.
That said, it’s not perfect. There are a few things I didn’t like and I want to be honest about those.
First, in between missions, your group travels from one location to another. It plays out like "autonomous travel," and during that time, the game will randomly remove weapons or items from your inventory. It’ll just say, “This item was lost along the way,” and boom—it’s gone. Even if it was a great gun you risked your life scavenging in the last level.
Yikes.
Yeah, it just disappears. You don’t get to see a roll or choose who carries what—it just strips stuff from your party. That feels bad.
Second issue: guns can jam, and that happens randomly too. You’ll be in the middle of a fight and your best weapon just refuses to fire. You can repair them, but not on the fly. It's not the worst thing, but it can get annoying.
Yeah, that seems like one of those systems that’s intended to add realism but really just punishes you at the worst times.
Totally. The last thing—and this one is the most tedious—is how the zombie turn works. After your turn ends, you have to watch every single zombie on the map move individually. Even ones you can’t see. The camera pans around to show you each one. And when there’s a bunch? That takes forever.
Can you skip that?
Sort of. You can hold the space bar to speed things up, but I don’t think it speeds up enough. Personally, I think they should just show you zombie movement within your line of sight—and skip the rest. Like, if my characters don’t see it, I shouldn’t either. It’s just unnecessary drag.
So, it’s a pacing issue more than a mechanics one.
Exactly. Minor stuff, but it adds up over long sessions.
Still, I really, really like this game. The tension, the strategy, the feeling of constant pressure—it’s all so well done. And for fans of Into the Breach or XCOM who also love horror? This is 100% worth checking out.
Yeah, I completely agree with you about that idea—you shouldn’t be able to see enemy movement unless your characters actually have line of sight. That kind of omniscience in a tactical game feels off.
Exactly. It really slows down gameplay, and while I get the idea of tactical planning, I think it’s more interesting when you’re reacting to things you couldn’t anticipate. Like, if I can already see how many zombies are in a building before I go in, it takes some of the tension away.
Right. It’s like what we were talking about earlier with DMing—if I’m using something like Foundry, one of the best parts is hiding enemies behind dynamic lighting. That way, when a player opens a door and walks into a room full of monsters, they genuinely don’t see it coming. That moment of shock is powerful.
Yeah! That’s what I want from a game like Dead Season too. Let me be surprised. Let me walk into a building and say, “Oh no. What have I done?”
Exactly. Give me some fog of war, and cut down on all the map-panning. I think that would both improve the pacing and increase the tension in a really organic way.
That said, I still absolutely recommend Dead Season. The core gameplay is solid. The turn-based tactics are fun and strategic, and if you like games in that genre—XCOM, Into the Breach, even Mutant Year Zero—you’re going to enjoy this one. It could use some quality-of-life improvements, but out of the two zombie games we played for this episode, this is definitely the one I’d recommend investing time in.
Yeah, and it just came out on October 8th, so there’s still plenty of room for updates and polish over time.
All right—so with all those horror games out of the way... what else have you been playing? Because I honestly don’t know how you’ve had time for anything else. You spent like twelve hours on Dread Dawn. I’ve barely had time to catch up!
laughs Well, I don’t have a child. That’s the big difference.
True.
And sure, I’ve got a job—but some days are slower than others, especially if I’m working from home. I’ve been squeezing in game time where I can.
All right, fair. So what’ve you been playing?
So first off, I finally beat Wild Bastards—literally the day after we last talked about it. I just sat down and powered through the rest of it. It was a great experience, honestly. There’s some postgame content—challenges you can do to unlock more gear—but I don’t know if I’ll go back for those. I feel like I got my fill from the main campaign and was satisfied. Still very much recommend it.
Nice! That’s one I’ve still got on my backlog.
Yeah, and now we’re also right in the middle of Steam’s October Next Fest, which is a celebration of upcoming games—tons of demos available to try. I didn’t get through hundreds, but I did check out quite a few. Some of these demos will probably stay up even after the event ends, so let me walk through the ones I played.
First up was Antonblast. It’s a fast-paced, explosive action platformer that’s all about destruction and momentum. Think Boogerman—but cranked to eleven. Or even better—think Pizza Tower. It’s got that same chaotic, crude, and colorful energy.
That sounds amazing.
Yeah! You basically run through levels smashing everything in your path. The demo lets you play the first couple of stages, and I had a blast—pun intended.
Next was AI Limit, which is a Soulslike action-RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world. Very much in the vein of Code Vein, with those anime-style visuals and fast-paced combat. In the demo, you play through the first level, fight the first boss, and then you unlock a Boss Challenge Mode where you get level 100 gear and face off against a mid-game boss.
That’s smart. Most Soulslike demos are too easy.
Right? This one actually gives you a taste of the real challenge. That boss took me forever to beat, but it was so satisfying once I figured it out. That’s what I love about the genre—learning the patterns, adapting, and finally pulling it off.
After that, I checked out V.A. Proxy. Another Soulslike, but with a focus on parry and movement-based combat. Sounds awesome in theory—especially after seeing that viral clip of someone parrying a nuclear blast.
That clip sold me, not gonna lie.
Yeah, but here’s the thing: controller support is totally broken in the demo. You can move around menus, but you can’t select anything—you have to press E on your keyboard to get past the title screen. And even in-game, you keep needing to switch between keyboard and controller, which is a mess. It’s something they could fix, but it made a rough first impression.
Worse, there’s no onboarding at all. No tutorial, no button prompts—you’re just dropped in with no idea who to fight, what your attacks do, or even whether you’re hitting anything. Combat feels floaty. It’s visually striking, and maybe it’ll come together with time, but right now it feels really unfinished.
Now here’s one I really enjoyed—Spirit Strike... or Spirit X Strike... or Spirit Cross Strike? Honestly, I don’t know how to pronounce it.
laughs Just make the X with your arms and call it a day.
Exactly. So Spirit Strike is a third-person action brawler with a big focus on fist fighting. It’s like if you took the combat system from the Batman Arkham games or Spider-Man—and removed all the gadgets. You're literally just fighting with your fist and your feet and the enemies are much harder so you really have to pay attention to what you're doing make sure you're countering the moves - like jump out of the way of the red ones, block… get a perfect block on the yellow ones.
It's that kind of thing… but once like it took me a little while to get through the first boss… but once I figured that out that again was just so satisfying it felt really good. It's a really cool combat system.
I'm curious to see like really what else there is to it the little demo it showed me after I finished the demo the… I guess the trailer part of it like there looked like there's some really interesting battles and I think it's based on more I guess Chinese local sort of uh like mythology and stuff. I don't want to say Legends.
Yeah, like mythologies, but it’s more of a modern take on them—with some Dynasty Warriors style stuff mixed in. So check that one out. I really had a good time with it.
Okay, so a couple more I tried today—Exced Kate Survivors. These two are definitely survivor games.
Yeah, that one is. I’d call it a vampire survivors type of game, except you’re a martial artist in an ‘80s movie setting, stringing combos together on waves of thugs. The first level’s a supermarket, and if you think about classic Jackie Chan movies, it’s that kind of vibe.
The graphics are actually really good—way better than Vampire Survivors, more modern-looking. You use your fists, feet, and anything you can find—brooms, bats, shopping carts—as weapons. Those weapons break after a while, though.
It gets a bit more complex than Vampire Survivors because you’re chaining combos together. As you level up, you pick moves—like an uppercut punch or a roundhouse kick—and some moves are blue or red, which you can combo for more damage.
There’s like five slots for moves, and once you fill them, your character cycles through those attacks on cooldown. You can reorder moves and power them up as you level.
I mean, Vampire Survivors has a lot going on too, but here it’s more close-range combat, so you have to be mindful—you’re definitely gonna take damage if you’re not careful.
That one was really fun. The demo let me play the supermarket level, which lasts about 15 minutes. I survived all 15 minutes and was pumped to play more, but then the demo locked me out.
I’ll be picking that one up for sure.
Nice. The last one I tried was Knights in Tight Spaces. It’s a roguelike, deck-building, grid-based tactical RPG from the creators of Fights in Tight Spaces.
Oh yeah, that’s like a fantasy spin on Fights in Tight Spaces, right?
Exactly. If you know Fights in Tight Spaces, this is similar but you can have a whole party of characters sharing a deck of cards.
I actually prefer the name Tights and Fight Spaces—there’s just so many tight spaces in that game! laughs
I like that. I didn’t finish the demo because I knew I’d get super invested. I played two or three levels and got a good feel for it. It looks like classic roguelike progression—you pick a path, make tactical decisions.
That’s one I’m definitely grabbing when it releases.
I love the art style—almost hand-drawn, sketchy but super clear. Gives you a great sense of what’s going on.
I haven’t played any demos yet, but I have a list of ones I want to try. These are just some highlights I’m eyeing for purchase:
The Rise of the Golden Idol — huge fan of the first one, so naturally excited for the sequel.
Keep Driving
Citizen Sleeper 2 — loved the first game, so hyped for this.
The Stone of Madness
Supernatural Neon Blood
Tenebris Somnia — I played a demo months ago. It’s a point-and-click horror game with FMV cutscenes that look like legit horror movies. Really scary and atmospheric.
Joseph, I know point-and-clicks aren’t your favorite, but if you ever try one, Tenebris Somnia is one I’d recommend.
I’ve been watching the cutscenes on the store page, and yeah—it looks awesome.
You should give it a shot. I think you’d like it.
As for upcoming releases on our radar, you’ve been hyping one in particular for a while…
Streets of Rogue 2 is finally coming out! It’s a procedurally generated sandbox RPG. I loved the first one and can’t wait to mess around with the sequel.
Who are we gonna fight this time? The mayor? The president?
Probably the school principal, honestly.
Also, there’s Telit—not sure if I’m pronouncing that right. It’s an October 24th release, a fast-paced action platformer where you play as a cybernetic rabbit bent on revenge against humanity. Sounds wild, right?
Yeah, fighting humans as a cybernetic rabbit? That’s definitely unique.
Finally, Windblown, also releasing October 24th. It’s Early Access and a roguelike from the creators of Dead Cells—Motion Twin. If you liked Dead Cells, you’re gonna want to check this out.
It’s more isometric than side-scrolling, and you get to play as cute critters—bats, lizards, axolotls, that sort of thing.
Even though it’s Early Access, the devs want player feedback to make it the best game it can be, just like with Dead Cells.
I’m hyped for that one.
Okay, I’ve got just one game I’m keeping an eye on—it’s coming out on Halloween, the ultimate scary night:
Totally Spies: Cyber Mission.
Why, dude?
Here’s the thing—don’t hate on Totally Spies. That cartoon was great. It was a great show.
Why would they release this game on Halloween? Very strange to me.
I have no idea why.
But the game does look kind of cute. I don’t think it’s going to be one of those “can’t wait to get my hands on it” games, but I’m interested to see how it plays.
It’s single-player or co-op, where you play as the spies from the old show going on missions to infiltrate and investigate. Lots of puzzle solving, stealth, that kind of stuff. Something silly, something fun.
I just thought it was interesting. Had no idea they were making this game and then I saw it and was like, “I gotta mention this right now.”
Yeah, and I had no idea, especially on Halloween. It’s not even a Halloween-themed game, so I don’t know why they chose that date.
If anything, it feels more themed around Boba Tea than Halloween, based on how they talk about it. I think there’s a Boba Tea game coming out soon too. Maybe it’ll play into it or be a spiritual successor?
The Call of Boba game is a cozy pixel art adventure about saving a struggling boba tea shop. You play as a cute penguin. Man, I’m all in on that one. I’m adding that to my wishlist right now.
Anyway, moving on—if you want some horror games to play right now, here are some recommendations I’ve played in the past:
The Park—a puzzle-solving walking sim set in a haunted theme park where you play a mother looking for her missing child. Not for the faint of heart, and heads up: it has a bit of a controversial ending.
Among the Sleep—you play as a small child trapped in a shadowy twisted nightmare. Lots of freaky stuff, some jump scares. Really cool atmosphere.
Scanner Sombre—a walking sim where you explore an underground cave system using a LIDAR device to map your surroundings. It’s beautiful and relaxing… until you realize maybe you’re not alone down there. Things definitely start ramping up.
All of those have been available on Steam for a while, so if you want something spooky now, go grab them. I highly recommend them.
If you enjoyed this episode, please do me a favor and share it with someone who loves indie games.
As always, you can catch me playing some of the games we talked about over at patreon.com/nerdsloth, where we have hundreds of hours of bonus content—including a bonus podcast for patrons at the $5 tier.
But that’s game over for us today.
My name’s Chris.
I’m Joseph.
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Indie Game Arcade is your twice-weekly dive into the world of indie games—from hidden gems to headline-grabbers. Hosted by two genre-diverse indie game fans, we review new releases, highlight overlooked titles, and break down what makes these games worth playing.
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