Who doesn’t like a game with a bit of atmosphere? Deadeus (pronounced “deddyoos”) is an indie horror title for the original Game Boy – or emulators thereof – and has it in spades. The game has been available as a named download at your own price for a while, but it’s about to get a physical release on a suitable jet black cartridge, with pre-orders closing next Monday. If you’re a fan of the retro games or genre you should definitely play it, and if you have the required hardware it should fit into any great collection.
Don’t be fooled by DeadeusPokémon-like graphics and playstyle. This game has a dark undertone and is all the more delightful. The contrast between the Nintendo trees and ’90s wooden fences with the themes of cult, ritual and murder couldn’t be greater, but it feels totally fitting. You wouldn’t know it by playing it, but most of the game is made by one person and is a great showcase for Chris Maltby’s GB Studio development tool.
Like most good horror stories do, Deadeus starts with a nightmare. An angry god comes to our protagonist at night with a hunger for meat. Soothe that hunger, and he could spare the village, but there’s a catch – you only have three days to figure out how, and with 11 endings on offer, every decision matters.
“The idea for the game that came largely from a comic that I’ve been writing for ages, I had a little piece that I could call a story that could be put into this Game Boy game. […] it is all derived from that, all art is my own and everything is based on that story. Adam Birch, Deadeusthe maker said to Engadget.
This makes a lot more sense when you know that Birch is an artist by trade. He works in UI design for British game developer Coatsink, doing his own suitably macabre side-by-side designs. One scan of his original pieces is all you need to know that every game he made would always have dark accents – the cutscenes in particular take you out of the cozy RPG atmosphere and the rotten underbelly of whatever weirdness there is. continues in this godforsaken city you inhabit.
Adam Birch
About that city; it is where you will spend all your time. That is, this is not a vast landscape with warp stations and rival villages. You can navigate the playing field very quickly, but it doesn’t feel too limited. DeadeusTime mechanic means that every new day brings new things to find and discover and also neatly adds a layer of strategy depending on the story you’re following. No spoilers here, but there are definitely things you can miss on day one that will keep you from finding some of those 11 endings.
Birch admits that while time mechanics allows the relatively small world to expand in other ways, it has also introduced some challenges. GB Studio makes game development much easier, with almost no code, but with a project like Deadeus, it also introduces the potential for a lot of bugs – characters that appear on day two that shouldn’t be there anymore, for example. These were all ironed out, of course, but added some unexpected challenges.
Of course, there are much greater limitations in creating something for a decades-old platform. Especially if art is your thing. “With a Game Boy screen, there is a limit to the number of unique tiles of eight by eight that you can place on the screen. You can’t just draw an entire image, whatever you want. So it was almost like a puzzle putting everything together, ”added Birch. You can see below how some of his designs had to be cracked to work on the itty bitty display.
Adam Birch
Birch’s decision to use GB Studio also helped him find a partner for the physical release. Some publishers had contacted him about making cartridge versions of Deadeus, but it was Spacebot he eventually went with. The team had already made a name for itself with it Dragonborne, an RPG also created with GB Studio.
But why bother to release a game on a cartridge that requires special hardware to play? Especially if that same game is effectively available for free? “I just wanted to put the thing I made there for people to play, and with the smallest barrier to entry. So that’s free. Birch said. “I wish everyone could play it, and that was kind of important to me.” But a physical release was always something he considered, “it was one of the things I was always thinking about, I just didn’t know how it would happen. ”Spacebot was the answer.
Indie game development, especially in the retro realm, is easy to see as a quirk. But its appeal is also easy to explain. The limitations of the platforms make it more manageable for individuals and small teams to work with. In addition, the catalog of titles to draw from is vast and varied. And, of course, there’s the enticing appeal of nostalgia – even decades later, it still feels magical to watch a game played on a real Game Boy (or modern physical emulation hardware).
Adam Birch
Back in our nightmare-drenched village, things quickly start to get weird. City residents are starting to report that this is not the first time an angry deity has threatened the city. People close to you trust that strange things have happened and they too have had the same nightmare. As with the genre, inconsistent statements often hide vital clues. But sometimes they are just inconsistent statements. The pleasure is to predict what that is.
Don’t expect endless hours of playtime, though. Even with 11 endings to discover, you can get to a full ending in less than two hours. By then you should have enough clues to go back and find the other stories relatively easily. But you’ll love doing this, and at least one storyline is advanced enough to really make you think about timing and strategy to avoid a very easy dead end. I have yet to complete this one in particular.
As for Birch, he says he still feels a bit of an outsider when it comes to the whole indie game developer, but he’s already working on his sequel title, which sounds even more elaborate. “Probably my favorite Game Boy game Super Mario Land 2. And that’s like the biggest source of inspiration [for it], ”But of course Birch wants to add his own cadaverous accents. “So what if we did that, but a lot darker and a lot more story-based?” Super Mario Land 2 with Metroidvania aspects and globs of moody atmosphere? Sign me up.
You can download Deadeus here or pre-order the physical release here.