Description
Dead Static Drive is Grand Theft Cthulhu. An indie survival-horror game following a nightmarish road trip across a 1980s Americana, Dead Static Drive blends weird fiction and uncanny Eldritch themes with a spooky unease underlying this small-town life.
Heavily influenced by the work of weird fiction authors T. E. D. Klein, Gene Wolfe, & Ramsey Campbell, filmmaker David Lynch, and photographer William Eggleston, Dead Static Drive hopes to invoke images of an America now lost, where with the right car and enough gas, anything felt possible.
At its core a survival game, Dead Static Drive sees the player needing to scavenge, fight, sneak, and explore in order to stop the continuing violence of an estranged father, who has fast-spiralled into a paranoid recluse convinced technology will ruin us all.
Prevent the deadly consequences of his delusions. Evade police. Equip yourself and those close to you, and follow your own moral code. Learn how—and who—to trust. And learn it fast, the monsters are gaining on you.
Development History
Mike Blackney began development on Dead Static Drive in 2014, before leaving his role teaching game development to work on the game full time in 2017. Mike continued to bring his vision to life with the help of a small team of superstars including Kalonica Quigley, Trevor Dikes, Troy Ferguson, Gabe Castro, and a bunch of other irritatingly gifted developers. Leena van Deventer came onto the project as Creative Producer in 2019, and now also collaborates with Mike as writer and designer.
Dead Static Drive is made using the Unreal Engine, and our own bespoke narrative engine, Novella. Novella works behind the scenes to schedule and coordinate story scenes simultaneously throughout the game world. We use Novella to stage character behaviour and conversations that are fully interactive, enabling the player to impact branching storylines and change their outcomes.
Reuben Games operates out of Brunswick in Melbourne/Naarm, and acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people as the traditional custodians of the lands and waterways in the area now known as Merri-bek, and pays respect to their Elders past and present, and to all First Nations people and communities. Sovereignty was never ceded, and Reuben Games pledges to donate 1% of income, in perpetuity, to the Pay The Rent movement. We extend our thanks to our friends at House House for encouraging local game developers to join this initiative.
Dead Static Drive is coming to Xbox, Game Pass, and Microsoft Windows in 2024.
Monetization Permission
Team Fanclub Pty Ltd. (trading as Reuben Games) allows for the contents of Dead Static Drive to be published through video broadcasting services for any commercial or non-commercial purposes. Monetization of videos created containing assets from Dead Static Drive is legally & explicitly allowed by Team Fanclub Pty Ltd. (trading as Reuben Games) and its founder.
