Welcome to this second news on Dead Maze’s development! Put on your glasses because today we will introduce some background lore, the main storyline, and a couple of our main characters!
Ready for the deep dive? Let’s go!
The dusk of civilization
Six months ago, a gigantic earthquake located on the mid-Atlantic ridge started a chain of events that would destroy the foundations of civilization. This earthquake partially collapsed over eight thousand kilometers of abyssal plains while deploying an energy equivalent to five thousand megatons of TNT through seismic waves. As of now, what could have triggered such a massive disaster remains a mystery.
Spreading to the ocean, the energy created a two hundred meters tall Tsunami which crashed upon the coasts less than an hour later. USA’s East coast, Rio, Lisbon, Dakar, and many more were all instantly wiped out as the wave penetrated up to sixty kilometers into the lands. The people were caught off-guard and had no chance to flee the tides, creating a death toll counted in hundred of millions.
As horrifying as it gets, this was merely the beginning. Something was brought from the abysses to the shores: A poisonous substance turning human beings into mindless and savage infecteds. The bio-hazard quickly spread from host to host as the countries were still mourning the Tsunami’s death toll.
Governments’ containment plans arrived too late and ultimately failed. Within a month after the first wave hit, all hints of civilization and organized responses were rumored to be gone on a worldwide scale. Infecteds were everywhere, effectively annihilating hopes for shelters and safe havens. Only a small amount of the population happened to be innately immune to the turning for reasons yet unknown. But most of those died as well, hunted down by infected hosts. Few months after civilization came to a brutal stop, most of humanity has been wiped out. Most, but not all of it.
The Phenomenon
The story mostly takes place in California where the last known pocket of survivors tries to make a stand in a settlement named Lakeview. They managed to stabilize even through these dark times thanks to incredible sacrifices, cunning, and bravery.
With the player’s help, they will soon realize that something slow but deadly is looming over them, something you cannot escape, fight or wait-out. What they will soon name the “phenomenon” is approaching California, and by the time they realize what this is, it might already be too late.
The main storyline will be supported by short 2D cinematics and a host of carefully crafted characters teaming together to survive. Here’s a sneak peek of some of them:
Chloe Thorn
The fiery Chloe has quite a temper, speaks her mind without filter and acts on instinct. She can be harsh, rude, and falling on her wrong side is poorly advised. However behind the roughness, she hides values of bravery and kindness that she tries to uphold through the apocalypse. A relentless warrior if there is to be one. Since she lost her family and friends, she is haunted by the fear of ending up all alone, but every brave soul has torments of its own.
Jared Crane
He could have been a real hero. He is a capable fighter, a former engineer from the military, has a kind heart and an IQ almost unparalleled among his peers. He had all the key features needed to be the ideal survivor, and a leader for his people. But his mind was crushed when he lost his daughter during the apocalypse.
Ever since his psyché split, he has developed schizophrenic patterns, with notably a dark call to hurt others. So far, he never did, but the call is still there. To avoid problems, he actively makes sure never to be in the position to answer it. But given his unique capabilities, he will have to get out of his comfort zone and risk turning into a monster if he is to prove useful.
Karen Jade
Karen Jade, mostly known as “Madame Jade”, is the ruthless leader of an opportunist organization feeding off despair to make advantageous trades and bargains. Her men wear body armors and automatic weapons, far from being mere survivors, they are mostly composed of lazy former paramilitary and mercenaries.
Karen is kind of an oddball, who in their right mind would wear a cocktail dress and high heels during the apocalypse? She would. “Before” she could have never have afforded those fantasies, now that these vanity items are worthless she couldn’t help but indulge in what she often dreamed about. The thing is, of course she cannot defend herself, but she doesn’t have to: her men do the dirty work. She has the power to make her fantasies come true, and mocking her for her strange habits would be a fatal mistake.
She is not an antagonist per se, nor is she an ally. She’s somewhere in between, in that grey area that harbors the opportunists of her kind.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/667890/Dead_Maze/
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