Nintendo Switch: It’s Fun to Die on the Death Road to Canada
One of the gifts I got for my birthday this year (they were all super awesome) was a Nintendo eShop card from my sister. I have a huge list of things I really want to play on my Switch, and a backlog forming, but I’ll never turn down an eShop card!
Death Road to Canada wasn’t really a game on my radar until it released. It just so happened I was looking at reviews of different games while trying to decide what to pick up with my gift card. That’s when I saw that this was a rogue-lite zombie game, similar to Oregon Trail, with a lot of zany RNG story and events.
Oh and it has local two player co-op, which I haven’t tried yet. And it was (is still?) on sale, too!
That checked a lot of boxes for me, so I picked it up. This post contains a lot of pictures since that’s the only way to really express the nature of Death Road to Canada. All the stories you’re about to see are true and really happened.
So far, I haven’t made it to Canada yet… I’ve died to stupid choices, bad RNG, or just zombie swarms for one reason or another. Thankfully, the game has a currency called Zombo points that you earn or find along the way. Using these help you improve character attributes and gear associated with those attributes for your next playthroughs. So even if you die, you still earn things to make your next game a tad easier.
Zany Characters
The biggest feature (for me) had to be the crazy characters who join your party from time to time. I want to talk about a few of these. This section might be a bit of a spoiler (or maybe an incentive to check the game out), depending on your interests.
In my second game, I ran into a fencer named Harrie.
She was a super strong fighter, and would shout things like “Fie! Too slow for me!” as she fought off waves of zombies. I was a little sad to lose that run because I thought I had a good chance with Harrie on my team.
Then, there’s Woof. Someone on the dev team likes dogs (and not cats).
In case you couldn’t tell from the icon (it took me a while squinting at it), that’s a pug dressed in a trench coat smoking a pipe. I’ll not spoil any more of that character’s surprise.
Once, a random Knight joined my team.
She was really powerful… so I was sad she only stuck around for one fight.
Then, finally, there was Stanisla-chan… the Magical Girl. I have a lot to say about this one.
She was super powerful and equip with a wand that shot out magical beams. When my group leader died, I picked her up as the main playable character, and she was tons of fun. She’d shout the usual anime tropes about love and moonlight as she fought.
She also made commentary as we drove.
When she got wounded, though, she eventually started… melting…? Or something..?
It was kinda creepy. In the end, when she died in a pile of zombies, I think she exploded.
Anyhow… those are just a few of the characters I discovered. I know there are tons more I haven’t yet.
Crazy Events
The RNG events can be pretty silly, too. I had a few repeats, but sometimes I got something completely random, or had different options for ones I’d seen before.
They’re worried about a Weegee board in a zombie game. 😀
No more Anime??? Nooooo!
Told you someone on the team doesn’t like cats.
What if I am a nerd, huh? Huh?
Zombie Obama: You’re welcome.
Then finally…
I just so happened to have a tree branch in my inventory. It was pretty useless up until that point, or so I thought… so I decided to give it a try.
The one and only time I WON THE GAME! 😀
And here’s what happens if you open it without a tree branch… which I discovered a few runs later…
Sorry Princess. We needed the food.
Anyhow… I think you get the drift of this game. You can make custom characters (which I haven’t tried yet), and there are several modes to run. I’ve only ever tried Normal Mode, so there’s probably still a ton of stuff I’ve not seen in this game yet.
Going to keep trying until I hit Canada!