🧟‍♂️ Britts Brief Bulletin PART I | Outbreak Epidemic | Review | PS4 | 🧟‍♂️ @deaddropstudios #GameDev #IndieGames

In this edition of BBB, I’ll be revisiting an old favourite from 2013 / 2016 in Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures 1 &2 as they teleport back into my life on console as a deluxe edition, getting hips deep on a new Dreamcast (panic not, it’s also available on Steam and NES. Good) title called Flea! as well as diving into the new Dead Drop Studios LLC console release, Outbreak: Epidemic. 

Game Title: Outbreak Epidemic

Developer: Dead Drop Studios LLC

Platform Reviewed: PS4 (base)

Rating: 5/10 (Melting)

Back in September, I reviewed the previous incarnation of Dead Drop Studios’ ongoing (and aptly titled) Outbreak series. That particular game – Outbreak: The New Nightmare – focused on recreating the mood and style of the original fixed-camera Resident Evil games to very much mixed results, especially on a technical level with the camera placement being a real problem.

In this instalment, however, Dead Drop Studios have moved forwards towards a style similar to Resident Evil 4 with an over-the-shoulder view as you pop zombies in the bonce, picking up items along the way and it makes for a much more involving and less infuriating game.

Bearing in mind that the developer is very much a one-man team, the fundamentals are far more solid here in making an enjoyable gaming experience. 

With a selection of characters and chapters to choose from – as in the previous games – the lore is admirable in how the story flows through the games and there are a surprising amount of options to tweak to your own personal tastes and skill level. 

In single-player mode, the game is at its most robust. Through the simple missions, you make your way past the zombie horde through suitably dark environments, picking up guns, ammo and health along the way, all in a style which will be very familiar to fans of the genre. 

Whilst this is fine, if very much in the shadow of those games, the multiplayer mode throws up problems - some of which existed in the previous game and one of which appears to be new.

The framerate understandably drops in multiplayer and the existing issues of menus pausing the game for both and being a touch fiddly (although less so that in Outbreak: The New Nightmare) there is also a sort of ‘warping’ effect that happens on the edges of the screen, as if the split-screen aspect ratio isn’t entirely natural, it’s quite off-putting and makes it a less comfortable experience. 

I’d definitely recommend this one in single-player, should you pick it up, although the multiplayer is stable, just…not ideal.

That said, I’m impressed with how the game runs better than its predecessor, it’s a marked improvement in several areas and I’ve just been sent the third entry in this game series - Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles – so I’m intrigued where this will go next.

5/10