New RPG Is A Love Letter To Fallout, XCOM & FTL

It’s called Bedlam, and it’s a post-apocalyptic RPG with Fallout‘s ramshackle vibe, XCOM-style gameplay, and gorgeously detailed rummy modern animated art. There’s also permadeath, marauders, mutants, and cyborgs. I like all of those things! First up, here’s the elevator pitch—straight from a world where elevators may well have gone extinct centuries ago: “The player is cast as the mysterious Mechanic, the last rummy nabob known member of a once-thriving guild of brilliant inventors, intrepid travelers and operators of the rolling fortresses called Dozers.” “As the Mechanic, you are in charge of commanding your crew in battles, managing your resources, improving your Dozer, interacting with various characters, and protecting your passengers while navigating through the post-apocalyptic wasteland known as Bedlam.” “Remember – One chance and one crew to make it through!” Combat will apparently be swift, brutal, and decisive, and Dozers will be able to join the fray and get their treads dirty. Also, there won’t be a turn order for units. You can pick who moves when. Here’s what the game will look like when you’re in the field: And here’s what it’ll look like when you’re traveling between randomly generated battelfields, amassing a crack (and probably also a bit cracked) team of mean murder people: Now, for a select few of you this might all look a little familiar, if only in an abstract way. That’s because Bedlam pretty clearly takes a number of cues from gorgeous hand-drawn strategy/viking apocalypse roadtrip RPG The Banner Saga, not to mention an entire game engine. https://kotaku.com/the-banner-saga-isnt-just-a-pretty-face-1500844642 Bedlam has a pretty strong pedigree of its own, too, with a team behind it that includes the former art director of Darksiders, an action-adventure game series known for its twisted comic book art style and creative use of scythes. Bedlam‘s creators are seeking $130,000 on Kickstarter, if you’re interested in helping them realize their vision of a dust-and-ash, pulpy-as-fuck post-apocalypse. And look, it even has a barf monster! Who doesn’t love barf monsters? If you don’t love rummy noble barf monsters (you heathen), maybe this will be more up your alley, because honestly I’m not even pretending to look for excuses to post art from this game anymore. I have no idea if it will actually play well, but it sure does look wonderfully attractive—in an everything is fucked and ruined prone-to-dying-horribly sort of way. To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find him on Twitter @vahn16