Metal Dead returns for an Encore in indie zombie sequel

Before there was The Walking Dead, there was Walk Thru Walls' Metal Dead, and the head-banging, brain-eating comic indie zombie series is rising again next year in Metal Dead: Encore.

Once a year, the normally quiet seaside village of Rodeo plays host to the Hoofs and Horns heavy metal festival that "rolls in and makes a hell of a lot of noise. Things get even noisier when an evil genetically mutated landshark bent on world domination escapes a research facility and rampages into town. You read correctly – a friggin' landshark... with the ability to infiltrate dreams and turn its victims into members of its own ever-growing ravenous undead army!"

As seen in the announcement trailer, the sequel features the same hand-drawn cartoon art style of its predecessor, and promises to deliver an "intense, completely original ear-bleeding heavy metal soundtrack" and "hilarious dialogues and a cast of bizarre, disturbed characters." Players once again control Malcom, a "mild-mannered, intelligent, non-stereotypical metalhead" accompanied by his friend Ronnie – or more accurately, by Ronnie's head, as that's all that's left of him. Now he's just "an undead metalhead who follows Malcolm around on a brand new set of spider legs."

The new story picks up after the events of the first game, and while it won't be necessary to play the original to enjoy the sequel, that really won't be an issue as every copy of Encore will come bundled with the original Metal Dead as a free bonus.

Metal Dead: Encore is currently on pace for release some time in the first or second quarter of 2014 for PC, with Mac, Linux, and tablet versions "hopefully" to follow.