Horror based brawler games are quite rare, well, not really scary but using scary things like zombies and half decomposed bodies anyhow. Sure, we had [Night Slashers by Data East (remake released 2 years ago)[( @triverse/night-slashers-getting-a-remake-for-modern-platforms), Splatterhouse 3, and to a lesser extent, Mutation Nation but that was more Sci-Fi than horror. Honestly, this niche in the genre is pretty wide open. Sure, horror style games have infiltrated other genres such as fighting to action adventures, just not many brawlers. Undead looks to add to this anemic sub-category coming to Commodore 64, PC, and apparently also Unreal Engine (potentially all platforms that supports).
Brawlers Are Unique Creatures
The brawler category is a unique category. Many would consider anything using your fists and feet in a scrolling environment a brawler. Those gamers would probably say Splatterhouse is a brawler, while I only feel the third was a brawler. The second was more a retelling of the original than a true sequel let alone a brawler.
I base it on one key aspect to differentiate a brawler from an action game. If you can grab or throw your enemy, then it is a brawler. If you take damage at any touch, then it is an action game.
I do not mean to sound like a snob here, just laying the groundwork of what I consider a brawling game.
Undead Is a Brawler Full of Charm
I like that each of the three versions of Undead shown so far are unique in subtle ways. These are not direct ports of one game over to other platforms. Obviously, the Commodore 64 cannot compete with the PC version. Thankfully, cai24 does not use the C64 version as the base and just recreating it for PC or in Unreal Engine.
While the PC versions have better graphics, mainly animations and slightly different zombies, the Commodore 64 version holds its own quite well. Shoot zombies and their head explodes with a squirting root left before they fall. On the PC fans apparently can expect more fluid animations and better graphics, though again, the C64 version is simply phenomenal looking.
Sadly, there is no demo available at the time of this writing. All that is available to go off of is the media made available on cai24’s YouTube channel. Please show them some support if you are into brawlers or the horror genre. A little bit of support here and there can mean the world to help keep them motivated to keep making amazing games available.