Kerberos Productions, the infamous indie developers of Sword of the Stars and Kaiju-A-Gogo, have resurrected a cult classic just in time for Halloween: Fort Zombie.
Fort Zombie on Steam
Fort Zombie on Gamersgate
Developed in partnership with Paradox Interactive and first released in 2009, Fort Zombie has always been a lightning-rod for both love and hate. Panned by critics and available only on three digital download sites, the notorious indie game nevertheless built a large cult following of streamers, modders and hardcore zombie fans over the years…much to the surprise of its developers.
“In the nine years since it came out, Fort Zombie has developed the largest online fan community of any Kerberos game, including the original Sword of the Stars,” says CEO Martin Cirulis. “It may sound strange, but there are players who really connected with this game. And they have never stopped loving it.”
When the terms of the original publishing contract with Paradox ended a few years ago, Fort Zombie was removed from the download sites where it had been offered for sale, and the devs at Kerberos thought it was dead and gone. “And then the requests started to roll in. Emails, messages, Twitter DM’s…a lot of people were asking how they could get a copy of FZ,” says Kerberos COO Chris Stewart. “We’ve been working on other projects for years, but we decided to see if it was feasible to self-publish it at a low price.”
Fort Zombie has been released on Steam and other download sites with a base price of $3, and a significant launch discount for those who pick it within the first week. For those who want to see what all the shouting was about, the game is a cheap and dirty walk down memory lane, but the developers hasten to say that the nine-year-old legacy code will NOT be updated.
“If we put more work into the Fort Zombie universe, we’ll be working in a new engine,” says Kerberos Tech Lead David Salsman. “The time we’ve spent on Pit of Doom for the last couple of years will go to good use.”