RetroRealms: Ash vs Evil Dead

[Kain]

Boss Team Games and WayForward have announced a 16-bit side scrolling Ash vs Evil Dead game coming October 18th! In cooperation with Compass International Pictures, Forward Front, Lionsgate, and STARZ, the game will be sold individually for $24.99 and part of a RetroRealms double feature bundle distributed by Nighthawk Interactive for $49.99 that includes a 16-bit Halloween side scrolling game. The games will be available PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC (Steam).

“Everyone at Boss Team Games are huge fans of horror and getting to work with these legendary properties is a dream come true,” said Boss Team Games CEO Steve Harris in a press release. “It has been an amazing experience collaborating with WayForward, and our licensors to create not one, but two, fast-paced 90s arcade style games while remaining true to the original Halloween film and Ash vs Evil Dead series. The trailer dropping today gives fans a taste of the gore-filled gameplay and fast-paced action and we can’t wait to show more!”

“Taking a modern horror franchise and creating the kind of retro gameplay that WayForward excels at has allowed us to create something that we know fans of pixel art games, Halloween and Ash vs Evil Dead alike will enjoy. We’ve designed a whole new kind of gameplay that is unique to the RetroRealms titles and highlights the over-the-top gore and special abilities of these characters.”

 

[DyD]

Absolutely love the style and graphics, absolutely hate that it's based on Ash vs. Evil Dead. Still looks fun, though. Might give it a try.

The Halloween one is weird, since it feels wrong seeing Michael Myers doing that stuff... But in a way I guess it kinda fits the nostalgic vibe they're going for, since licensed games from the 16 bit era would quite often put the movie characters in random situations that had nothing to do with the movies and doing things that went against their characterization. It was always gameplay before faithfulness to the source material in those games.

 

[MCT28]

The official website has a bit more information and a few exclusive images:

There's a Cronenberg-like world called The Dark Realm, where "Power-up to enter an overlapping world filled with gruesome creations to change your path through each level!"

ELI CONFIRMED!

Kelly (and Laurie Strode) have their own unique stories and levels.

Kelly in The Dark Realm.

Ashy Slashy?

 

[MCT28]

Character artwork taken from the official website:

(I like the white dress S1 Ruby costume way more than I like the white suit S3 costume, so it's nice to see it get some love)

 

[MCT28]

Some "rare" screenshots, found on the different pre-order sites (Amazon, Target, Best Buy). Not just locations from the show, but it seems like some new places (some kind of run-down amusement park?)

 

[MaidOfKandar]

It looks like it could be fun and I'm a sucker for platfomers, so I might give it a spin.

 

[MCT28]

Audio interview with RetroRealms director Michael Herbster.
Key points from the interview:
1) Details about all the different mechanics of all four characters (Ash, Kelly, Michael, and Laurie)
2) The Dark Realm can be accessed at any time and serves as a much harder version of the current level. Enemies are tougher, but there's plenty of rewards and paths that can help navigate the normal version of the level (if players encounter an obstacle in the normal level, they can switch to The Dark Realm and said obstacle may not be there).
3) The "story within the story" is that the RetroRealms arcade (the game's hub) is being haunted by demons that are infecting the games, prompting the characters in the arcade games themselves to save their respective worlds.
4) Players can explore the arcade hub and unlock "museums" based on whatever version of the game they have (ex. you can only explore the AvED museum if you only have that game, or you can explore both AvED and Halloween if you have both), where they can examine 3D models of objects and weapons they find in each respective game. There's also behind the scenes interviews that can also be unlocked.
5) Kris from Hail To The Deadites asked if there was a possibility of getting content based on the AvED Season 3 finale/the Season 4 concept art. Herbster refrained from answering due to potential spoilers...

 

[MCT28]

Trophies for the PlayStation 4 version leaked. Nothing for the main AvED game, but there's a lot for the main museum/gallery mode and Kelly's DLC. The big take-aways from this are: 1) Kelly has a "pogo" ability to jump onto enemies. All the characters seemingly have this "pogo" ability, not just Kelly. 2) The Kandarian Dagger will be a weapon in the game.
EDIT: AvED trophies have popped up, too.

 

[Swofty]

It looks like it could be fun and I'm a sucker for platfomers, so I might give it a spin.

I hope it's as good as the 80's arcade platformer Splatterhouse.

 

[Nick el Ass]

Absolutely love the style and graphics, absolutely hate that it's based on Ash vs. Evil Dead. Still looks fun, though. Might give it a try.

Finding it hard to get hyped about a game made by any company that has ties to Evil Dead: The Game, but love the old school arcade look of this game... and that it is based on Ash vs Evil Dead since they would have less of a fight on their hands to include items related to it by dealing solely with Starz. Bonus points if they include Evil Ruby and/or Ash's finale outfit.

 

[MCT28]

Hands-on gameplay footage of RetroRealms just dropped. SPOILERS AHEAD:

Interesting that they have to call Pink Fuck "Pink F", but Kelly can blatantly call the main baddie "a pussy" no problem...
EDIT: Also, the dev guy mentioned "skins" early into the video, so that will be interesting to see who gets what costumes...

 

[Kain]

Looks awesome.

 

[Nick el Ass]

Interesting that they have to call Pink Fuck "Pink F", but Kelly can blatantly call the main baddie "a pussy" no problem...
EDIT: Also, the dev guy mentioned "skins" early into the video, so that will be interesting to see who gets what costumes...

Evil Dead: The Game called it Pink F too, and avoided any comments that Ketamine was a main ingredient.... but they also made Shemps a healing item more like a can of pop/soda instead of a beer. Now having watched more of the video it sounded like you could play characters from either game in the other if you chose to own both, and I'm all for separating them since (1) it should theoretically make it cheaper to own the Ash vs Evil Dead game and (2) I'm not a fan of the Halloween movies at all. So I don't want to pay a dime for a game I won't play much.

 

[MCT28]

Now having watched more of the video it sounded like you could play characters from either game in the other if you chose to own both, and I'm all for separating them since (1) it should theoretically make it cheaper to own the Ash vs Evil Dead game and (2) I'm not a fan of the Halloween movies at all. So I don't want to pay a dime for a game I won't play much.

From the way the video showed it, it seems like you can start the game with the option to play with characters from the other franchises. I'm not a Halloween fan either, so I'll more than likely go through that game as Ash or Kelly (since apparently they have unique dialogue, too).

 

[MCT28]

Review from PAX West. Nothing we haven't seen in the footage or heard in that Twitter Q&A, but one detail that everybody has overlooked in all this was that the enemies of the Halloween game will have glowing eyes to indicate they're possessed by Deadites if players go through it as Ash vs Evil Dead characters, since those characters don't kill normal people.

 

[Nick el Ass]

Review from PAX West. Nothing we haven't seen in the footage or heard in that Twitter Q&A, but one detail that everybody has overlooked in all this was that the enemies of the Halloween game will have glowing eyes to indicate they're possessed by Deadites if players go through it as Ash vs Evil Dead characters, since those characters don't kill normal people.

Weird idea to make it work, and I guess the license holders for Halloween are ok with this bit of news even though the chances of them getting any special Halloween related for the Evil Dead side is slim.

 

[MCT28]

Here's a high-resolution poster and banner for the game.

 

[Kain]

Whoever the artist is can't seem to get Ash's likeness right. He looks kind of like Gavin Newsom.

 

[MCT28]

Whoever the artist is can't seem to get Ash's likeness right. He looks kind of like Gavin Newsom.

Someone on Reddit found the source image, and it is based on a screencap from the episode Home. It's in the uncanny valley because the artist went in and tried to do the same expression... just from a slightly different angle.

They would have been much better off using this photo of Bruce as a reference.

 

[Nick el Ass]

Here's a high-resolution poster and banner for the game.

Looks more like Stephen Colbert, heh... and reminds me of those Ash 4 President posters from 2016.