Like most things that rise from the dead, the Penny Arcade Adventures series is a very different creature from what it once was. But for the creators of the popular gaming webcomic and new cohorts Zeboyd Games (the two-man indie studio tapped to complete the once-doomed episodic series), it's good to see their creation finally walking within the realm of the living.

Showcasing the off-kilter humor, clever writing, kooky characters, and artistic style of PA co-creators Mike "Gabe" Krahulik and Jerry "Tycho" Holkins, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness made a strong adventure-RPG gaming debut in 2008 on Xbox Live Arcade with two episodic installments developed by Hothead Games. However, Episode 2's sales fell short of expectations, and after a lengthy spell of silence, the grim announcement came during PAX East 2010 that there wouldn't be an Episode 3. At that point, Hothead had shifted its focus to work on Deathspank, and Krahulik eventually published the narrative for the phantom episode online. That might have been the end of the line for the series, if it were not for a single fateful post on the Penny Arcade forum.

Fans did not react well to news of Episode 3's cancellation, and many took to the PA forums to voice their disappointment. One commenter started a thread suggesting the small studio responsible for the humorous retro RPGs Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves The World would be a perfect pick to resurrect the series on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel. Zeboyd's Robert Boyd responded to the post with interest but assumed such a collaboration wouldn't pan out. The post caught the attention of Penny Arcade's business guru Robert Khoo.

"Robert grabbed [Zeboyd’s] games off XBLIG and loved them, and came in to ask me if I'd be willing to go that route again," recalls Holkins. "The answer was yes, and very quickly. I could never really get away from it: I wrote the story out, chapter by chapter, on the site, but only as a kind of Last Rites. I had come to terms with the fact that it would never actually be made."

Boyd and his dev partner Bill Stiernberg were completely shocked when Penny Arcade contacted them shortly afterwards to ask if they'd make Episode 3, and they eagerly accepted. "It's a great feeling to be carrying the torch, so to speak," says Stiernberg. "Robert and I've both been Penny Arcade fans for a long time, and we in fact got to know each other initially through the Penny Arcade forums." Stiernberg always felt it would be more fun and interesting to see the rest of the Rain-Slick series' story play out in game form, but he never imagined he'd be part of the team to eventually bring it back to life.

Shedding the 3D gameplay and hand-drawn comic vibe of the first two installments, Episode 3's 16-bit style and 2D adventure hearken back to the glory days of early Final Fantasy games. "The first two Rain-Slick games are very different from the style of RPGs we usually make," Boyd notes. "We ended up looking more at the original source material — the Penny Arcade comics — for inspiration and tried to fit as many fun references to it as we could in Rain-Slick 3." Stiernberg actually went through every single PA comic strip for ideas on classic gags, references, and ideas to weave into the new game.

"The main thing I'm excited about is that we were able to make it at all," says Holkins, who worked closely with Zeboyd on the project, adapting elements of the online story with fresh twists not found in the original text. "But honestly, the 'retro RPG'  [format] fits the characters and story very well — I was surprised how well."

Having a small, flexible team and a fairly informal creative process made for a fun atmosphere in working on Episode 3, says Stiernberg, who feels this really comes through in the finished game. Collaborating with Holkins and PA's Jeff Kalles has been awesome, he adds. "It's been smooth working with Jerry on the script and game. He has actually provided a lot of really cool, quirky ideas for the game that we think really help take it up a notch in those small, polished ways," he says. "So while he's obviously provided the game's world and characters and story and dialogue, there are other little touches that came from ideas of his that were absolutely a blast to incorporate." An example? The story recap section in the menu is called "Help-Yu," and it's told entirely in haiku format.

Beyond wrapping up and launching Episode 3, Zeboyd is currently in the early stages of planning the fourth and final installment in the Rain-Slick series, which is slated for a late 2013 release on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel. "It's a matter of flexibility," says Boyd on the decision to launch both games on the indie channel, "and given how we wanted to approach [Episode 3], XBLIG seemed a good choice." Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Ep. 3 is now available on the Xbox Live Indie Games Channel for 400 Microsoft Points ($5).

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