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Treachery in Beatdown City
I’m a notoriously hard sell on Kickstarter projects, and have been vocal about my interest in seeing evidence that a game is on its way toward completion before sharing it with readers. Not only have I seen Treachery in Beatdown City in action, but I got to play it at IndieCade East this weekend.
We last spoke with developer NuChallenger at GDC 2013, and the game has come a long way since then. The 8-bit aesthetics instantly reminded me of playing the NES version of Double Dragon up until I encountered my first enemy. Unlike Double Dragon, Final Fight, and Streets of Rage, Treachery in Beatdown City borrows from RPGs for its combat.
Developer Shawn Alexander Allen called out Bethesda’s Fallout 3 as inspiration. As I approached a foe, I was instructed to open the menu. Queueing up different strikes and grapples pulls from a pool of points, similar to Fallout 3’s VATS system.
Once moves are selected, exiting the menu executes them. As enemies attack, you need to choose whether to spend points on blocking or save them for your next assault. Outside of the menu system, points quickly replenish as you duck, weave, and jockey for position. The systems work well together, and I’m eager to play more.
Prior to breaking out on his own, Allen worked for over four years at Rockstar Games writing dialogue, creating trailers, and handling game analysis for a number of titles. Coder and programmer Manny Marcano also worked for Take-Two on The Darkness, BioShock, and Max Payne 3.
The game is slated for PC and Mac via the $50,000 Kickstarter campaign. The title is also planned for release via PlayStation Mobile, though only an introductory episode will be released at first. You can read more about Treachery in Beatdown City on the Kickstarter page.
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