Dead Crusade is a medieval survival horror RPG (playable in 1st person or 3rd person view) that will take you to Medieval Europe in a time of great upheaval and strife as an unstoppable plague tears the world apart. Travel through the cities, countryside, and cemeteries of Medieval Europe across multiple expansive campaigns as you battle hordes of the undead, and avoid becoming infected with the plague yourself.

The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. The people who gathered on the docks to greet the ships were met with a horrifying surprise: Most of the sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those who were still alive were gravely ill. They were overcome with fever, unable to keep food down and delirious from pain. Strangest of all, they were covered in mysterious black boilsthat oozed blood and pusand gave their illness its name: the “Black Death.” The Sicilian authorities hastily ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it was too late: Over the next five years, the mysterious Black Death would kill more than 200 million people in Medieval Europe.

Dead Crusade is a fictional take on this real world event, and assumes the virus took on a more sinister nature, turning its host into rabid flesh eating abominations with one goal, to spread and infect everything in its path. As a Survivor in the outbreak, you attempt to find refugee and alliance with those still alive and kill anything standing in your way.

Aesthetic Games has launched a kickstarter campaign, looking for $250,000 in funding to complete development of Dead Crusade. If you are interested in supporting the team, head on over to the kickstarter page and pledge your support.

What would a Medieval game be without character development and customization? Your character in Dead Crusade will have STATS (Damage, Armor, Life, Endurance, Movement), PERKS (Disease resistance, increased weapon type damage, special bonuses), and SKILLS (special combat moves, passive abilities, or varying advantages). Conditions change as you become injured, exhausted, etc. Stats and skills will increase when you use them. Skills can be unlocked or learned. Perks and conditions can be temporarily or permanently modified through leveling and supplies.

Objectives are a tool used in Dead Crusade to avoid putting players in a position where they only perform a repetitive action such as killing creatures. Players may be performing this activity in order to gain new skills and progress to new areas, or acquire new items such as weapons and supplies.

Dead Crusade follows a Hybrid Objective System that adds depth and complexity as you fight your way through Campaigns. Think of it like going through your favorite MMO instance dungeons and learning the tactics of each to strategize and formulate a plan to overcome the puzzles, all while surviving hordes of the plague and other enemy types.

Key Features:

• Not another generic fantasy: In the Late Middle Ages, Europe experienced the most deadly disease outbreak in human history when the Black Death, the infamous pandemic of bubonic plague, hit in 1347, killing a third of the human population. Every campaign is inspired by real world locations as they stood in this time of strife, from the great Minster Cathedral of York, England to the ancient streets of Venice, Italy.  
• Fight a new kind of Zombie: The `Plagued` can duck, parry, charge, and counter your blows as they adapt to your fighting style and exploit your weakness. Dynamic behavior system gives each enemy unique personality traits from the cowardly peasant zombie who retreats when overwhelmed, to the fearless soldier zombie who motivates the horde to fight harder.
•  Unique Enemy Types and Bosses: The Plagued are not the only foes you will face! Special enemy types with unique behaviors and attack patterns face you as well.The verminous Abomination will vomit  swarms of hungry rats. The Wench will go into a rampage, using her own limbs to destroy you at all costs. Tread carefully through environments, as packs of ravens will attack from above.
• Class system that fits your play-style:  As the SOLDIER, plant banners that increase your party's defense or taunts to prevent your party from being overwhelmed. Play as the fast and deadly EXECUTIONER, a master at delivering quick and fatal blows.  Become a master of ranged combat with the SKIRMISHER as you use traps and piercing body arrows to quickly thin out the horde. Heal your allies as the PLAGUE DOCTOR, providing medical support and increasing disease resistance. 
• Dynamic Objective system: Complete both Primary and Optional Objectives as you traverse the world. Defend the barricades from waves of the Plagued, Escort priests to safety from a burning church, Destroy corpse piles to slow the spread of infection and unlock hidden paths that may contain supplies and gear.  
• Risk in gameplay: A lot of modern games play it safe- you know you'll defeat the evil and save the day. In Dead Crusade you can't take anything for granted. Death looms around every corner and the greatest threat of all is the plague itself. Become infected with different strains of the plague, each one drastically changing the way the game is played.  
• Play online: Every campaign can be played in single-player, though multi-player is our focus. Dead Crusade provides a deep multiplayer game; build a unique party of characters and battle with friends and complete objectives. Upgrade your party over time and devise new strategies to defeat the Plague.  
• Built using Unreal Engine 4: Using the power of Unreal Engine 4 technology, not only will the graphics be amazing, but the game will be easier to create. With ground breaking tools such as Blueprint Visual Scripting, adding features and implementing complex design systems has never been easier!