Broadly speaking, there’s nothing quite so predictable as a KEMCO release. Heck, it’s part of the appeal of the publisher. Like a monthly series of pulpy novels, KEMCO’s RPGs give you a decent-sized chunk of fantasy RPG enjoyment on a semi-frequent basis. Orphaned heroes, mysterious girls with amnesia, wise-cracking sidekicks, and some sort of threat to the peace of the kingdom are part and parcel of the KEMCO experience. But every so often, we get something a little different from the publisher, and one of its upcoming games is a serious break from its usual fare.
One of the two upcoming releases KEMCO featured at its Tokyo Game Show 2022 booth, Zombie of the Dot is a horror-RPG developed by long-time partner Hit-Point. Instead of knights, magic, dragons, and castles, Zombie of the Dot sees you trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. You know, that’s not a topic that gets covered enough in RPGs. Intrigued by the concept, I waited a rather long period of time for the fellow in front of me to finish playing so that I could give it a try. He was somewhat engrossed in the game, but I finally got my chance to play. Luckily, Son of Musgrave was on hand to record it.
You wake up in a hospital bed with no clear idea of how you got there. You hit the button to call the nurse, but no one comes. After a few tries, you decide to get out of bed and try to find someone to help. Rooting around your personal items, you have a badge and a police uniform. Putting them on, you head out into the hallway only to see an absolute scene of carnage. Blood is splattered everywhere, items are strewn about, and there are even some messages written in blood. Even worse, there doesn’t seem to be anyone around. Time to explore!
I didn’t play too far in during the video, mostly because a busy exhibition show floor isn’t a great place to get into a horror game. What I did play, I found rather refreshing for the standards of this publisher. It nails its sound design quite nicely in particular, though the video didn’t do a great job of picking any of that up. It is without a doubt a horror game, and the battles are a bit different from what you would expect too. I didn’t catch one on video, unfortunately.
Zombie of the Dot is scheduled for release on iOS and Android this winter, with a console release following early next year. Its unusual theme doesn’t just make it refreshing for this publisher, but indeed for the genre in general. For that alone, it’s probably worth keeping an eye on. We’ll let you know when this gets closer to release.
