Humanity Needs A Smart Savior In Death By Game Show

The Minneapolis-based Developer Oointah has just announced the release date for its upcoming pop culture-inspired tower-defense game, Death By Game Show. The title will bring fast-paced strategy mixed with a sharp sense of humour to PC in January next year.

Death By Game Show stars U.H. Wutt as the last moderately intelligent man left on Earth in the 26th century, with the rest of civilization falling victim to chronic stupidity. The reason for this pandemic of lowered IQ is not clear, but I’m guessing it’s got something to do with too much time spent watching TV and movies.

It turns out that the robots who now reign supreme aren’t too pleased with the idea of a human who can think for himself and sentence the chubby, blonde hero to—you guessed it—Death By Game Show. Chained to the Game Show Intimidation Masheen Of Pwnage (The G.I.M.P), U.H. Wutt must fight to survive against an army of machines who are intent on making sure the world stays dumb.

The developer cites the 2006 film Idiocracy, a satirical comedy written and directed by Mike Judge (Office Space, Beavis and Butthead), as a predominant influence, featuring a very similar premise.

Oointah founder Malcolm Michaels spoke more about the ideas and influences fuelling the game in a recent statement:

We set out to make a frenetic arcade game coupled with a quickfire strategy element—essentially a game covered in Elvis dust that we’d want to play. During development, the team was inspired by middle-out algorithm and a shared affection for Idiocracy, and thus Death by Game Show’s story has unintentionally become a love letter to writer/director Mike Judge’s brilliant movies and TV shows.

Just like Judge’s work, you can expect to see some biting social satire worked into the game as it parodies numerous movies and TV shows with its hectic, twitch-action gameplay. Features at launch will include fifty explosive challenges, ten different battle droids to spawn, ten upgradable defensive weapons and buildings, and customization options that allow you to edit the text, skins, and levels. Oointah is also working on a spring 2016 update that will include “at least thirty new challenges.”

Death By Game Show will be released on Steam for $14.99 on January 22nd, 2016. It will be available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.