Death Road to Canada (Game)

Death Road to Canada (sometimes abbreviated as DRtC or DR2C) is a game published and developed by Rocketcat Games and Madgarden. It is a Indie Action-RPG with randomization elements within the games atmosphere that allows it to orchestrate events and obstacles for players in the game.

Originally available on PC, the game has since been ported to numerous other platforms. Noodlecake Studios ported the game to the mobile platforms of Android and iOS, while UKIYO Publishing handled its release on the XBOX One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

Setting

"Onward, to Canada!"

The setting takes place somewhere in the present day United States, during which a zombie apocalypse has destroyed most of the country. At the beginning of the game, the player character is said to be lingering around Florida when they hear about how Canada is a safe zone against the zombie apocalypse. With nothing to gain by waiting around in Florida, they decide to take their things and set off onto the Death Road, traveling north in an attempt to reach Canada.

Gameplay

In Death Road to Canada, the player controls a group of up to 4 characters as they attempt to drive across the zombie-infested United States of America. The ultimate goal of the game is to reach Canada, which is apparently safe from zombies.

During the two-week journey, the player must fight zombies, go Looting, and manage their Supplies in order to survive. Each day, the player must also deal with a variety of different Events, which may either help them or hurt them depending on which choices they make.

Characters

Within the game, the player is able to meet, rescue and/or recruit people on the Death Road. Up to four

Some examples of the randomly-generated characters that may be found during the game.

characters can be recruited into the team (counting the player character, the user) to assist in scavenging and fighting zombies. More people in your party means more people to help you during your journey, but it can also cause problems - different characters can have conflicting personalities, and more people means more food is consumed per day.

Rare Characters

In addition to the normal, randomly-generated characters, there are also a number of Rare Characters that can be met and recruited during the journey. Most of these unique characters are based on various professions or stereotypes, or are parodies of characters from other games or pop culture.

Rare Characters will usually have unique Weapons or abilities, which can either help the player or hinder them.

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Custom Characters

In the game, you are able to access the Custom Characters menus when you select "New Game". In this menus, the user is shown a character creator that grants them the ability to make playable characters at will.  

The user can modify physical characteristics, facial characteristics, facial hair and hair-- along with their color, attire, personality (and traits) and their gender. 

Development

The development team for the game set up a Kickstarter campaign for their title Death Road to Canada on August 28th 2013, by Kepa Auwae, Paul Pridham, G.P. Lackey and Joey Grady-- said campaign surpassed their goal due to the vast support from the community. It reached $42,708 in the span of 30 days.

Whilst the campaign was in effect, they also uploaded their game to Steam Greenlight-- which also (like the Kickstarter campaign) succeeded. On July 22nd, 2016 Death Road to Canada was officially released on the Steam platform, and thus far has received regular updates for the users.

Media (Music)

Song list is:

• Canada, Ho! (called "Canada, Schmanada" on the OST page)
• Death Road to Canada
• Frankenstein goes to Jamaica
• Green on Green
• Half-a-Brain Boogie
• I Think He's Dead
• Lootin' (called "Lootin' Away" on the OST page)
• Rigor Mortis Rag
• Rotten Shotgun
• Stop and Smell the Flesh
• Without a Reason
• Zombonita Beach
• Every Step of the Way
• Four Under the Floor
• Horsemann Shuffle
• How Unfortunate
• Nobody Cooled It
• RNG; MEGA CHEESED
• The City of Lost Hope
• They Can't Be Stopped
• What Could Possibly Go Wrong
• One More Road (called "One More Road Song" on the OST page)

OST part 1 (pre-DUODENUM tracks) OST part 2 (tracks added in DUODENUM and GIZZARD)

Reception

On Metacritic, Death Road to Canada received "universal acclaim" reviews on iOS holding a metascore of 91/100. It also received "generally favorable" reviews getting a metascore of 78/100 on PS4, 79/100 on Nintendo Switch, 77/100 on Xbox One, and 73/100 on PC. On whatoplay.com, it receives an aggregate score (playscore) of 8.48 on PC, 8.52 on PS4, 7.72 on Nintendo Switch, 8.09 on Xbox One, and 8.65 on iOS.

Trivia

• DRtC is possibly inspired by Organ Trail: Director's Cut, a zombie-themed survival / traveling game which shares some of its mechanics.
• Before the DUODENUM update, there was another music track in the game called "Theme of the Broken Car". It was a truncated version of "Frankenstein Goes to Jamaica", cutting off the last 20 seconds of the song.