Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘Second Death’

Review Fix chats with Evan Wagstaff, the developer behind the upcoming noir adventure for Mac and PC “Second Death.” Breaking down the development process and his goals for the title, Wagstaff lets us know exactly what makes the game a special one.

For more on the game, click here. 

Review Fix: What inspired the game?

Evan Wagstaff: I was browsing Reddit about 3 years ago and someone in /r/AskReddit came up with the premise of being stuck on an island and you had to choose your tools to survive. I thought that was a fun idea, so I wanted to give players that experience in a deeper way.

As for the mechanics, games like Borderlands and Diablo-inspired the randomized loot system. My time playing Fruit Ninja definitely influenced parts of the battle system.

Review Fix: What’s the story like?

Wagstaff: The story is a mix of mob noir and island adventure. At each of seven stages, the player sees a flashback of the protagonist’s life as a detective or his brother’s life as a mob enforcer.

Review Fix: What has the development cycle been like?

Wagstaff: It’s accelerated in the last few months. I’ve been getting much more comfortable with the engine, Game Maker Studio.

Review Fix: What games did you play as a kid?

Wagstaff: As a kid, I was a big fan of the early Final Fantasy games. Second Death has a similar turn-based battle system. But I don’t think I’ve ever played a game like this. It’s a synthesis of several concepts that I like.

Review Fix: What inspired the battle system?

Wagstaff: Games like Paper Mario popularized the critical attack mechanic, and you’ll notice some similarities to Fruit Ninja when defending against enemy attacks. I wanted both attacking and defending to engage the player instead of relying on random critical or miss percentages.

Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy this game the most?

Wagstaff: I think this game will be a hit with someone who appreciates the battle system as a fun challenge all its own, but also wants to unravel the story.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the game?

Wagstaff: I think it’s the hope of any game developer — I want the players who pick up the game to enjoy it. I’ve added some hard-to-find secrets and events, so that when you find one, I hope it feels really special.

Review Fix: How do you want this game to be remembered?

Wagstaff: If this game changes anything, I’d hope it makes other developers rethink the ‘press A to attack’ battle rut. It made sense when all players had was an NES controller, but now we can do so much more to engage our audience.

Review Fix: Any updates planned?

Wagstaff: I’m working on getting the full game into app stores and Steam first, but I’m sure I’ll roll out some fun updates once the ball is rolling.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Wagstaff: The next steps are to finalize Second Death and distribute as widely as I can.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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