The Con Is Gone: Devil's Dare

Devil's Dare is a realistic depiction of what would happen in the event of an invasion of creatures from horror and sci-fi movies at a games convention. Naturally, a group of gamers fight back against the beasties, which range from the expected (zombies) to the rather more unusual (there's a T-800 in there, if my eyes don't deceive me). The action takes the form of a Streets of Rage style beat 'em up and can be played by up to four people, locally, with unique skillsets for each character. Permadeath is in play and it's the risk/reward scheme surrounding ultimate demise that has me intrigued - run out of coins and you're gone for good, but don't spend cash on upgrades and you'll struggle as the going gets tough.

Developers Secret Base are known for the Tobe series of platformers and Bitejacker, which is a prequel of sorts to Devil's Dare. I say they're 'known' but not to me - perhaps you know of them and perhaps that knowledge lends you reason to be excited about this latest brawler? I'm in it for the monsters and co-op. If the permadeath/spending structure can create tension among the fisticuffs, all the better.

It's like a less gory version of Splatterhouse set at a gaming convention, isn't it? Which is essentially what I see everytime I close my eyes on the last day of Gamescom every year. I really hope there isn't a twist revealing that the protagonists were accidentally pummelling cosplaying horror fans the whole time.

Devil's Dare is out on the 21st.