I couldn’t quite remember why Strange Brew was called that, as it was a zombie runner (which I never heard of), and unless the townsfolk were drinking a Slurm variant, it made no sense. Then I played the tutorial and realised that the protagonist really is reliant on caffeine, and the literal fuel to the game. Also, while I never heard of it, I’m glad I’ve had the chance to play it.
The idea of simply running away from the undead while dressed as a mascot was appealing. The trailer looked good, and the concept sounded amusing, though I didn’t expect it to look this good in practice, or how much more in-depth it would be. Ages ago, I wrote about Corridor Z, which was essentially the same thing, but from a fixed camera perspective.
In Strange Brew, a game from Electric Monk Media, you’re viewing the action from a chase cam, where your ‘hero’ has to make their way through a horde of zombies, reaching a final destination, which is a coffee shop. Between the starting point and the end point, our hero collects coffee cups to keep them going and maintain a depleting caffeine gauge. Run out of juice, and it’s game over. Additionally, if you get caught? Game over.
Though I never played it, the concept reminds me of Subway Surfers, where instead of running from the police, it’s zombies. Instead of coins, you’re collecting cups of coffee. By default, you’re perpetually running away, but there’s a sprint option available. Alas, you can’t sprint all the time – not because there’s an additional stamina bar to watch, but instead, it utilises the same caffeine gauge. In theory, you simply need to use your ‘nitro boost’ sparingly.
Aside from the regular coffee cups, you can also collect takeaway cups, which you can carry whilst running. Using one as a consumable fills the gauge again and keeps you going like the Energiser bunny. How Strange Brew differs from other runners is the basic parkour elements of jumping over obstacles, crouching through crawl spaces, and triggering traps to kill off zombies.
These environmental traps primarily boost scores for each run (getting to the coffee shop in the fastest time is the main objective), as well as locating secrets and whatnot. Where I see these traps as more beneficial is crowd control. Zombies won’t follow you all the way to the end, but when in close vicinity, they’ll hang around and attack you when you’re just a nob’s length away from the finish line.
The threshold for the coffee shop isn’t simply walking through the doorway: you have to lift the shutter first. Weirdly, during this animation, your hero doesn’t take any damage. However, once the shutters are up, you can effectively take a handful of hits and then have to start the run all over again without any checkpoints. This should be frustrating, but repeat runs not only lead to potential secrets but also help you rinse the environment around you.
After repeated attempts in a Strange Brew run, I now knew when a set piece would kick in and how to maximise zombie kills based on my racing line. I now knew where all the coffee cups were to efficiently use my sprint option without redlining, and for what it’s worth, my times started to improve. With that all in context, Strange Brew is still quite challenging.
There aren’t any features from the start other than adjusting the visuals to ‘Fantastic’, and this really is a nice-looking game. Costumes are up for grabs from the beginning, mostly variants of the main duck costume. These are purely cosmetic, but you know how it is: a change of face or underwear can sometimes improve the experience. Or the illusion of it.
For a simple idea and series of mechanics, Strange Brew can be fun but seriously challenging in places. Some of the runs feel quite unforgiving and seem to take an age. One sight mistake, getting stuck behind an object or the camera angle changing can really throw you off, and as mentioned, it takes you back to the beginning without any checkpoints. I started to lose count of the times I’d be so close to the finish and then lose it at the last minute with a misplaced coffee refill, or, as touched upon, getting stuck behind something like a crate and then being hit by a zombie with oversized digits.
If you don’t mind that challenge, then give this a look as it’s one of the better runner games out there and certainly looks the part. Just be mindful of a few of those flaws, where some runs can feel very punishing. Like a rogue-like without any gains other than familiarity of paths you can take. I’d suggest watching some gameplay footage and reading some other opinions, or best of all, give the demo a look if one presents itself. Steam store link below.
