The Death Goat rocks out on Xbox Live Indie Games

Gaming and heavy metal, two great tastes that go great together. Now add a goat-man and a heaping helping of blood-drenched, twin stick shooting action and you’ve really got something.

The first offering out of developer Nocturnal Studio, Death Goat, saw release today on Xbox Live Indie Games and it looks to be quite the treat for fans of Metal and insane twin stick shooters. Interestingly, and according to the trailer, the game was developed in the “bowels of Hell” and “play tested by Satan”. Now, I realize those statements might not be 100% accurate, but from the looks of this trailer…

And while you may have taken note from the video, we’ll confirm it for you that Death Goat features a pretty rich soundtrack of Heavy Metal faves like Between The Buried And Me, God Forbid, Holy Grail, Vanisher, Konkeror, Immortal Guardian, Lorelei and Ovid’s Withering. That’s a pretty awesome soundtrack for a larger scale release, let alone an Indie title.

Speaking of the music, Metal has loads of fans all around the globe and continues to be a huge draw for those who like their tunes with a harder (and sharpened) edge. Your typical ‘music game’ usually falls into rhythm territory though, so why develop a very mature-looking hardcore shooter ‘based’ on Metal? Well, according to Brian Ferrara of Nocturnal Studio, music and games are both cut from the same cloth, and there’s plenty of great Heavy Metal out there that fans have yet to experience.

“Music has always been an important part of the gaming experience for us” says Brian Ferrara, Creative Director for Nocturnal Studio. “We assembled a mix of both signed and unsigned artists for this game with the intention of introducing some amazing music in an addictive arcade game to new fans.”

It’s really cool to see a developer actually use music in games as part of the subject matter and not just tack it on as an afterthought… other than Brutal Legend from Double Fine, I can’t think of another title that melds the two and it’s such a neat idea. Personally, I think a solid soundtrack adds a ton to the play experience too, and way too many games take the easy way out with it. I’d rather come out of a game talking about the total package, than not remember anything of the score that accompanied the gameplay.

If you’d like to rock out and give Death Goat a spin, (and it looks absolutely insane, so you might want to) click here to grab it on Xbox Live Indies. It’ll cost you 240 mspts.