DEMO PLAY: Earl vs The Mutants

Wasn't sure what to expect when this demo was offered up to me by dev team Falling State, Indie devs through and through, and the concept seemed relatively mediocre.  But, as I've said before, "there's nothing wrong with doing the same idea, so long as you put your own spin on it".

A game where you're in a car?  In a post-apocalyptic world?  Well, aren't we unique...except yes, 'Earl VS The Mutants' kind of is.

See, pulled a little sneaky on ya.  This is a pretty simplistic idea, with a simple control system and clean but simple looking graphics.  It works.  It works really well.  Edna is basically me, it's lovely.  As is plowing through hundreds of Hills Have Eyes mutants in a souped up truck, guns blasting with great music playing and awesome bladed circles of death swinging around your chassis as you notch up that score.  This has more in common with a wave-fighting game, it's like if Mad Max was a hick and Furiosa was a swearing old biddy with access to weapons and drone support.

The basic premise is thus: you have a time limit before the boss turns up and turns you into an oil-slick.  During that time, your job is two-fold - survive the constant waves of mutants, which get stronger as the clock ticks down and get enough gold and xp to upgrade ready for said boss fight.  Some upgrades help, some help but reduce speed, attack power or healing.  You've got to decide if it's worth the hit and you have to decide fast.  Ten minutes sounds like a lot of time until you realise it's almost already gone and you're nowhere near strong enough for the boss.

So you die quite a bit, but it's okay as 'Earl vs The Mutants' has a second string to it's bow.  It's also an almost roguelite.  You're not losing your character or vehicle and you get to carry on with the base upgrades you've got for them but you're back to square one.  It's a little like Bloodborne - you die, and die, and die again.  Eventually you get enough to win.