Zeboyd Games will release the final installment of the Penny Arcade game series this spring.  The franchise began with Hothead Games’ 2008 release of On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1 and went on hiatus for several years after the third game was cancelled by Hothead; after which, Zeboyd stepped in and released Rain-Slick 3 on Windows PC and XBOX Live Indie Games (XBLIG) in 2012.  The third installment of the franchise was a departure from Hothead’s two Penny Arcade releases featuring “retro” art and gameplay styles.

Zeboyd worked with an outline for their first Penny Arcade game and were creatively limited with what they could do regarding narrative.  For Penny Arcade On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4, Zeboyd conferred with Jerry Holkins to develop a narrative where the developer had more creative freedom.

Another change to this installment in the franchise is more freedom for the players.  Zeboyd’s Robert Boyd said, “[F]ans complained that they felt that the third game was too linear…. [W]e’ve added more optional areas in the fourth game and… more secrets and secondary routes….”  The overworld of Rain-Slick 4 will be freely explorable, the dungeons feature multiple paths, and the gameplay has been tweaked to encourage more diversity in gameplay so that players don’t stick with a single strategy.

Penny Arcade On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4 begins after “the world has been destroyed” and players are “thrust into the last pocket of existence – the Underhell.”  Players will be able to experience the end of this saga on PC or XBLIG when the game releases this spring for $4.99 (400 MSP).

Source:  IGN