Death Trash

Developed By: Crafting Legends

Published By: Crafting Legends

Price: £15.49 / $19.99

Action, Adventure, RPG

So there I was, walking along the desolate ruins of the city of Tauris when I came across a cyborg body. As I examined it, I saw that I could fix it, but I needed some organic material. To right this, I vomited upon command and used my puke as a replacement for organic material. Automatically, the cyborg came to life thanks to my bodily fluids. It asked me to take its head, as its body was not in working form. Yet, in taking its head, it could still experience the world with me. 

So I ripped off his head and put it in my quest inventory. Upon thinking of the places I could take my new decapitated friend, I figured out the best person to introduce him to: a fleshy abomination known as the Fleshkraken. When I brought him to the Fleshkraken’s domain, the Fleshkraken asked me to feed them his head. Of course, I made sure the head was okay with it. He was. So, with the head’s consent, I delivered unto the Fleshkraken the cyborg’s head. With their curiosity satisfied, the Fleshkraken gave me the power to commune with the flesh. 

This is an actual thing that happened to me in a game called Death Trash. I guess you would expect weird things to happen in a game called Death Trash, but it’s hard to predict exactly what will happen. Each minute I spent in the game offered new, strange occurrences that only heightened the oddity of the game’s title. 

And that’s what this little preview is for. 

You see, Death Trash released recently in early access after six years of development. It’s not complete, and it’s not perfect, but what has been offered so far definitely gives a lot to hope for. This article will mostly work as a primer for those who are curious to try it out. So let’s begin. 

I Am The Death Trash

Death Trash takes place on a planet known as Nexus, where something unearthed by arriving colonists forced them to flee underground. Your created character (mine is named Mildred) was a member of one of these colonies, until a mysterious infection forced you to be cast out. Now you wander the wastelands, grabbing meat off the ground and eating it. The five-second rule does not apply here. 

You can tell by the title of the game that this isn’t exactly a post-apocalypse that is taken too seriously. Despite that, it still manages to create a bleak and depressing environment that is only offset by some of the sillier dialogue or aspects of the world. It’s a delicate balance, and thus should be taken with caution. However, I’d say that this game has done a great job walking that tightrope, as I never felt like the tone was just whipping me around enough to snap my neck. 

I would like to say that the world is, and yes this is intentional, fleshed out. You ask a question, you’ll get an answer that’s chock full of lore… or personality. Most people don’t care about your questions, but those that do provide good answers. Alongside this, there’s good info to find in the environment as well as whatever documents you find. 

A Meaty Welcome

Anyway, the first ten minutes of Death Trash get you ready for the world you are about to experience, putting you through rigorous training and teaching you how to use the many items you will be acquiring throughout the game, including augmentations that you can add to your person. 

But before you do that, you have to create your character. As I’ve said before, I chose Mildred, one of a few who have differing names and looks, which you can customize certain parts of. You’ll also choose your starting stats, so you might just screw yourself over if you pick the wrong ones. Probably not, but who knows? 

Most of the stats are your average fare: Hardiness, Strength, Finesse, Occultism, Cybertech, and Empathy. The only ones that don’t fit with the rest are Occultism and Cybertech, which allow you points with efficiency in working with either. Occultism works with occultists and meaty things, while Cybertech works with techy stuff and augmentations. Of course, there are skill checks, so you’ll have to worry about which ones you care about the most. It’s an RPG, you have to make decisions eventually. 

Take Advantages

Augmentations, as you could probably guess, augment your character to better survive these disgusting wastelands. The first one you get is a stealth module that keeps you invisible for as long as your battery lasts, which only loses charge after moving. However, you’ll gain more as you go through the game, either through exploration or purchase. 

These are what you’ll rely on, as you might not be the best at combat, and you most likely aren’t great at taking on more than one enemy. Your combat comes in two varieties: melee and ranged. You can only equip one of each, so choose wisely between the differing types of melee and the variety of guns. To do well in combat, you’ll need to be well equipped for it. Weapons will not be the only thing you need in the wasteland, but equipment as well. So, there are armors and headpieces to wear in order to protect yourself, or just increase stats. 

In addition to that, you can equip things called memories, which will give you a stat boost or an extra ability. That ability to commune with the meat I mentioned before was one of those memories. 

There’s also memories that… don’t do anything. But they’re there. 

Pounding Meat

As for the combat itself, it controls pretty well. It’s mostly just clicking to swing and holding down aim to point your gun in every direction to shoot. Your augmentations come into play of course, but those are just separate buttons. All of it feels pretty good for what they are offering. Each hit really does feel impactful, and every shot of whatever boomstick you’re holding does it’s job. 

In fact, I’d say the sound design is a high point in this game for me, for better or for worse. As you could tell, this game is disgusting. Very disgusting. So it makes sure you hear every disgusting part of it, and it works way too well. I am disgusted, but it doesn’t exactly turn me off of the game. While a majority of sounds will be disgusting, I can’t help but appreciate what doesn’t include meat. The sound of the wind in your ear, the silence of the desolate wastes, or the mechanical noises you’ll hear around you as you explore abandoned labs. 

Exploring Nexus

Exploration is one of the more fun parts of this game, as the environments are really nice to look at. The game is in a sort of isometric view, so you get a wide look at the world around you, which they’ve done well to fill with things to look at. The combination of nature, meat, and machinery creates some of the oddest sights I’ve seen, but ones I can’t stop looking at. And they are so unique that they can be fantastic landmarks for when you are navigating around, making travel easier.

Most travel will not be free-form navigation though. The game is made up of several maps that you move between via an overworld map, which is covered in a thick fog of war. You can go almost anywhere on that map, and as you continue to explore it further, you’ll learn more about it. The more you learn about it, the more you discover new places, the more it will expand out. 

Be careful on the map, however, as even enemies can ambush you and pull you out of it to attack. I’ve had it happen once, but I was able to just leave, so… maybe it’s not that bad. They should do something to make it more active and threatening. 

Interesting Experiences

Most of the time, you’ll learn of new places through quests, where they usually tell you to go there. This game isn’t here to take up your time, and the quests go to show that, as there aren’t a whole lot so far. What they do have is well worth the time finding them. While there’s always going to be the occasional “go there and get this”, they at least try to layer on as much lore or interesting dialogue to not make it so bland. 

For example, one time, two people were having a vomiting contest to see who could vomit the most, of course. One of them was always losing, so they needed something that would assist in their attempts to expel their stomach fluids. So he tasked me with acquiring this item known as “Glibber”. This was so disgusting it got him to win the competition. If I was in that competition, I would win. Just saying. 

But you see, when there’s a quest, they try to at least make it interesting. This is something I fully admire of the devs. There hasn’t been a single quest that I was hesitant to take, as I knew I’d get something out of it, be it some items or a nice chuckle. 

Still Fresh

Those are mostly the main points I wanted to talk about. I could get into other aspects, but the game is still in its first steps and needs room to grow. The story isn’t even fully finished and stops at some point to tell you that you have to wait for the rest. 

The game doesn’t have many problems. In fact, it’s almost really well polished. My biggest complaint might be that the difficulty is a bit much. I mostly attribute that to my lack of fully exploring environments to get the best stuff; that’s on me. There were not many, if any, bugs and glitches that I encountered, so all I can say is keep up the great work. 

As a title in early access, Death Trash is promising a hell of a lot with its world that’s filled to the brim with questions waiting to be answered. That, and the amount you can expand within the gameplay parameters leaves me curious as well. There are a lot of directions they can go, and I only hope they pick the best one. Which one that would be, I don’t know. However, I fully trust the developers on this, as they’ve been dedicated to this game for six years. I can only hope that time spent bears fruit. 

When the game is fully finished, I intend to do a full review.

I’m excited to see where this goes. 

Did you enjoy this preview? Make sure to check out our reviews elsewhere on this site, like The Chameleon and Black Skylands. Do you enjoy what we do? Check out our Ko-Fi, and consider dropping us a coffee! If you want to do what we do, we’re looking for new writers and editors! Fill out the form here if you’re interested. Thanks!

Previewed by Freelance7. Game provided by Crafting Legends.