Carmageddon: Rogue Shift – Yet Another Attempt to Monetize Zombie Roadkill
Studio 34BigThings has decided that the gaming world needs another entry in the Carmageddon franchise, announcing the upcoming release of Carmageddon: Rogue Shift. Slated for a February 6 launch, the title doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel, instead banking on nostalgic brand recognition and the seemingly inexhaustible appetite for flattening the undead.
The setting is a predictable 2050, where Earth has been left in shambles following a standard checklist of wars, crises, and disasters. In this particular post-apocalypse, zombies outnumber humans ten thousand to one. The premise is straightforward: get behind the wheel and thin out the crowd while simultaneously ramming fellow "death race" participants. The narrative arc follows a desperate trek toward a spaceport, where a single remaining starship represents the only exit strategy from a dying planet.
As expected, the player’s journey begins in a pathetic excuse for a vehicle—essentially a heap of scrap metal salvaged from a bin with minimal weaponry. Progress is tied to the accumulation of points and currency, which are then fed back into the machine to make it marginally more lethal. While the game offers 15 different vehicles and a variety of gadgets and weapons, the core loop remains the same. To combat the inevitable monotony, the developers have opted for procedurally generated tracks, ensuring that while the scenery changes, the grind stays the same.
Technically, the game is targeting PlayStation 5 and PC users. The price tag is set at 40 dollars—a standard ask for a mid-tier franchise revival in today’s market. Whether Rogue Shift manages to inject any real substance into the series or simply ends up as another footnote in the long history of zombie-themed cash-ins remains to be seen come February.
