Kickstarter Campaign Wants to Bring Back the Black Plague… Wait, What?

Few periods in European history have been remembered less fondly than the years of the Black Plague.

Few periods in European history have been remembered less fondly than the years of the Black Plague. This painful disease marched across the continent, bringing death and despair everywhere it went. No one was safe – not commoner, not clergy, not gentry, not nobility, not even royalty. And recently, scientists revealed that the disease was not carried by rats, as we’ve long believed, but that it was in fact an airborne germ.

This recent medical discovery makes the announcement of Dead Crusade very interesting indeed.

Dead Crusade invites gamers to return to this less-than-joyful era by offering a fresh spin on the zombie apocalypse. In this alternate reality scenario from Aesthetic Games, Inc., you’ll journey through 14th century Europe in quest of a cure for the bubonic plague. Along the way, you’ll have to cut down legions of “the Plagued,” those who have already fallen victim to its horrors and now roam the world in an undead state.

The game, which runs on Unreal Engine 4, offers a lot of variety for seasoned gamers. Play in first or third person, and watch as the Plagued learn to duck and parry and adjust their movements to your fighting style. Grow accustomed to the different attacks from the different kinds of Plagued, whether they be vomiting up swarms of rats to gnaw at your ankles or pulling off their own limbs and beating you to death with them. Heartwarming family fun at its best!

The standard RPG classes are replaced here by four distinct individuals. Be a soldier and improve your party’s defenses, or go for the offensive as an executioner. Fight from a distance as a ranged skirmisher, or instead of fighting at all, serve as a plague doctor and protect your party from the disease and other medical mishaps. Complete objectives, burn piles of corpses to slow the spread of the plague, and above all else… survive.

Currently the game is planned to be released for PC sometime in Q4 2015, and they hope to also make it available for Mac and Linux. Have you got what it takes to save the world from microbial annihilation? Help bring Dead Crusade to life by contributing to the Kickstarterto fund it. Backers can enjoy access to developer insiders, desktop wallpapers, contributor credits, a digital art book, and more. At the top donation tiers, you’ll even receive your very own forged steel sword! And in the meantime, follow the developers on Facebook, Twitter, and the game’s YouTube channelto keep an eye on what’s coming next.