Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion veteran Ron Gilbert shows his next game, Death by Scrolling
The vertically-scrolling roguelike is being published by MicroProse
Acclaimed game designer Ron Gilbert has shown the first trailer for his next game, Death by Scrolling.
Gilbert – who created Mania Mansion and was writer-director on The Secret of Monkey Island – first revealed the game on his blog earlier this year, but information on it has been minimal.
This changed during Gamescom‘s Opening Night Live showcase, when the first trailer for Death by Scrolling was revealed.
The game, which will be published by MicroProse, is described as “a chaotic rogue-like vertically scrolling RPG” which “takes players into the bizarre depths of Purgatory –now under new management”.
Players have to escape the afterlife by battling through endless levels and taking on underworld monsters in an attempt to collect 10,000 gold, enough to pay the Ferryman and cross the river.
The game’s main twist is that the screen is constantly scrolling upwards, meaning players don’t have time to rest and consider their next move.
Death by Scrolling promises “a tongue-in-cheek take on afterlife bureaucracy, with cheeky dialogues and playful narration”, with multiple playable characters, each offering distinct abilities and perks.
“I started working on this game back in 2019,” Gilbert recalled on his blog earlier this year. “It started out great and everybody I showed it to loved it, but it was simple. Everyone asked for progression and “game” stuff and over the next six months I proceeded to ruin it.
“Then a little game called Return to Monkey Island came along and I took the next two years to build that with Dave Grossman and a wonderful team.”
After working on an open world RPG codenamed RPGTBD for a while, Gilbert decided it was too ambitious for the small team he had, and was never going to be completed.
“Then I remembered Death By Scrolling,” he says. “I shared the prototype with [designer] Elissa and she really liked it. There is something about the game that I could never let go of.
“I rebuilt the whole project, stripping out all the stupid stuff and returned it to the core of the game back when it was fun. Over the next 3 months Elissa and I added back pieces bit-by-bit with a nice progression system, story, quests and challenges.
“It’s not going to be everybody’s cup of tea, but Elissa and I get lost in playing it when we should be testing a new feature, so I guess that’s good.”
