Pixelsplit and Sidekick Publishing Release Deadly Days: Road Trip in Early Access
– 2 min read
Deadly Days: Roadtrip, developed by Pixelsplit and published by Sidekick, is released in Early Access today. This is the first title from Sidekick Publishing as a full-service publisher.
The indie games publishing division of Instinct3, Sidekick Publishing, and developer Pixelsplit have released Deadly Days: Roadtrip into Early Access for €14.99 with a 35% launch discount. The game is a blend of chaotic zombie survival roguelite and inventory management. Prior to the release of the Early Access version, a demo was made available, receiving over 1,000 user reviews and an overwhelmingly positive response.
The Early Access content includes 55 items (including 16 unique weapons, not counting the backpack tiles), eight bioms for over 16 procedurally generated maps, seven enemy types, five playable characters (including one secret character), six power-ups, three bosses and two special events. They plan to stay in Early Access for six to twelve months, but this could change depending on how the game design develops in response to player feedback. Pixelsplit: "The final version will have more content of everything: playable characters, items, maps, bosses and ways to push your runs to absurd levels. We'll also polish the core loop and add more features and late-game variety based on feedback."
Although Instinct3 has already been involved in co-publishing, including 9 Kings (which sold 500,000 copies in its first six weeks of Early Access) with Hooded Horse, Asgard's Fall: Viking Survivors with Assemble Entertainment and TerraScape with Stray Fawn Publishing, Deadly Days: Roadtrip is its first title as a full-service publisher for indie and A to AA studios. Consequently, the new division will handle all publishing matters relating to Instinct3's existing game portfolio. By establishing Sidekick Publishing, Instinct3 has confirmed its commitment to remaining active in the publishing sector. We spoke to Melvin Frank, co-CEO and co-founder of Sidekick, about their initial experiences, ambitious plans, and what sets them apart in the industry (interview).
Founded in Eschborn near Frankfurt in 2018, Pixelsplit has released Deadly Days (a strategic rogue-lite set in a zombie apocalypse, released in 2019), Indoorlands (an indoor park management simulator, released in 2022), Reveil (a narrative first-person psychological thriller, released with Daedalic in 2024) and Shift 87 (an observation horror game, released with Daedalic in 2024). The five-person team works remotely. Even before the company was founded, Virtual Rides 3 - Funfair Simulator and Tales of the Tiny Planet were launched on the market.
About Deadly Days: Road Trip: "Each trip is a unique adventure into the 2.5D pixel zombie apocalypse, with a new course that you decide. Gain experience and make it further and further. Find new characters, figure out the most insane item combinations, and meticulously puzzle them into your backpack for optimal synergy. (...) Space is limited on your trip. Scavenge for the most ridiculously overpowered loot to cram into your tiny backpack - like any road tripper worth their salt, it’s on you to work packaging magic. Each Weapon and Item takes up blocks in your backpack. Arrange them just right, to have their adjacency effects stack and power up your weapons for ultimate zombie destruction power. Recombine and craft your items into more powerful versions or unknown legendary new ones."
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