Back in April Rocketcat Games announced that Death Road to Canada was finally coming to Android. After a 6-month wait, it would appear that it's officially landed on the Play Store with a price tag of $9.99, a whole $5 cheaper than its PC counterpart. You can expect all of the same pixel-based zombie killing gameplay where you are tasked with managing a car full of jerks as they venture forward to the zombie-free Great White North.

Now I know some may scoff at the $9.99 price tag, but let me just say right now that the price is worth it. This is a full-fledged game, not some free-to-play grind fest. The campaign should last the average player around 9 hours, which works out to $1.11 per hour of gameplay. It is also nice to see that Android TV is fully supported along with HID controls. And when you factor in the amount of replayability thanks to each playthrough panning out in many different ways, there are quite a lot of reasons to be content with the current price point.

As far as gameplay is concerned, there is actually quite a lot of content to play through with an enormous amount of options at your fingertips. You start out simply enough by creating your character where they will initially be joined by one NPC once you are dropped into the game world. As you are both riding along in your car, you can choose where to stop once something of note is presented to you through the game's text-based narrative. Maybe you will take a quick look around a convenience store searching for gas and supplies, or maybe you will rummage through the houses that make up a small town looking for more powerful weapons to equip your team with. Either way, the choices are yours. Of course, some decisions may not pan out as you expect, which is half the fun.

Rest assured, you will die in this game, and you will die a lot. Anyone that does not enjoy roguelike style gameplay will probably be turned off by how difficult this game can be. Luck most definitely needs to be on your side thanks to the amount of RNG found in this title. While it can be frustrating, I find that it is best to sit back, relax, and just let your choices unfold as they will. Sure, you are probably not going to make it to Canada on your first or even second playthrough, but once you do the victory will be that much sweeter.

Honestly, if I were to sum up Death Road to Canada I would say it is a competent mix of the action found in the majority of zombie survival games and some extremely varied choices that resemble many of the elements found in the text-based adventure game Oregon Trail. When you are in town beating down zombies, the gameplay takes its cues from some of the better action RPGs out there. And once your team is driving along in their car you will see how many of your stop location options resemble the many choices you would find in an Oregon Trail-like adventure game.

The adventure game roots bring me to my next point. Death Road to Canada's writing is extremely witty. There are a ton of puns and jokes scattered throughout the text and the numerous random events you happen across often have an amusing snark to them that gives the often severe situations you find yourself in a lighthearted mood. The banter between party members as you are traveling is usually pretty great as well.

Another high point of this release is its soundtrack. The chiptune-backed rockabilly music fits quite well with the theme of a zombie-filled post-apocalyptic road trip. To say it is infectious is an understatement.

Now, I have seen a few users complaining about the touchscreen controls in this port, but in my opinion, they are not that bad. Sure they may take some getting used to if you have played this title on PC, but even if that is the case, the inclusion of HID controller support is an easy fix for this scenario. Considering that each player has the choice to use their preferred control method I am not going to hold the slight inaccuracy caused by touchscreen controls against the game.

If you are looking for a new survival game to dive into that offers a ton of options and plenty of replay value, I wholeheartedly recommend checking out Death Road to Canada. Sure the asking price may be higher than most of the releases found on Android, but so is the production value. And yes, the difficulty can be a burden and the RNG elements can make for plenty of short playthroughs, but for anyone looking for a console quality experience that can be enjoyed at home on Android TV or out and about on your phone, Death Road to Canada is most definitely an excellent choice.

Death Road to Canada Developer: Noodlecake
Price: 9.99
4.3
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