If there’s one gripe I have with coffee games, it’s this: there isn’t much of an objective to them. Now this is often by design. Games like Coffee Talk are heavier on the talk than the coffee and more recent offerings like Good Coffee Great Coffee have objectives but without any real consequences if you don’t complete them. Which is great if you want your gaming to be low stakes.
But sometimes you want a little something extra out of your coffee video games. Maybe you need a little excitement, something to get your blood pumping just a touch. Maybe you need to be a coffee mascot running for its life from zombies. For that there’s Strange Brew, and it’s out on Steam now.
Strange Brew is described as a “cinematic 3D action platformer with intense chase scenes that feel like a zombie movie.” You play as Joe, the person inside a giant duck costume for mega coffee chain MoonDucks. After the company’s horrible Pumpkin Spice Latte experiment goes completely sideways, turning anyone who drinks it into a zombie, Joe must escape the horde and his only option is to hoof it.
And yes, MoonDucks is a gossamer-thinly veiled version of Starbucks. Moon vs. Stars, Ducks vs. Bucks. Pumpkin spice lattes, the green cups. The fact that both mascots are some land/sea hybrid. And for all the criticism I’ve lobbied at Starbucks over the years, I’ve never once implied they are/will be responsible for the end of humankind. Thus I feel an apology is in order. (Though we did predict the Pumpkin Spicepocalypse.)
In order the escape, Joe must utilize his surroundings in creative ways, either to run away from, distract (by throwing coffee), or the kill the zombie throng. To keep his power up, Joe must find cups of coffee stashed around the maps, which will allow him to run faster and jump higher. Managing your caffeine levels while trying to avoid having your brains consumed only adds to the stress level, which is all part of the fun. Fun in the same way being overcaffeinated is fun.
I’ve yet to play through the entire game so I cannot say for certain whether or not the big bad is a corporate exec named Harold Schitz who tries to subdue Joe by squirting Oleato at him (Oleato is gone but not forgotten). And when do we get a Buzzy and/or Spesh mod? I mean, now there are some coffee mascots who looks like they’d have a good time during a zombie apocalypse.
Strange Brew is currently available on Steam for $14.99, with a 10% discount until February 25th. For more information, visit Strange Brew’s official website.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
