Surviving a zombie apocalypse is a traumatic enough task by itself, but what if it’s not your own health that you’re worried about? In survival game Undying, you play a woman who’s been bitten and is already succumbing to the virus. In her limited time left, you must train her eight-year-old son to take care of himself in a ruined world while dealing with your deteriorating condition. Featuring design work from Diablo co-creator David Brevik, you can grab Undying as a free game right now, but you’ve only got a few days to do so.
Undying is created by developer Vanimals and published by Brevik’s Skystone Games. It’s a personal, tear-jerking twist on the zombie survival game format. Protagonist Anling’s infection puts a unique spin on things by mandating that you use your limited time and energy efficiently. As night falls, your fatigue means you’ll need to rest to ensure your sickness doesn’t accelerate. Every passing day you’ll pick up another symptom of infection, making your life tougher. Some effects can be mitigated with the right medicines, while others might provide you with ‘benefits’ such as being able to eat raw meat for sustenance.
The main priority is ensuring your son Cody is growing and learning, and ideally finding somewhere for him to go when your body finally succumbs to the illness. That means you’ll need to spend time studying with him and having him join you while you scavenge, loot, craft, cook, and eventually fight. You’ll also need to manage his stress levels, however. Each playthrough lays the map out in a random structure filled with events and characters to discover, meaning your adventure won’t be quite the same as someone else’s.
Vanimals also notes that it had Brevik’s help with creating some of the system, saying: “Did you really think we wouldn’t have the godfather of Diablo help design dungeons and make sure looting felt satisfying?” The blend of survival crafting, minigames, and exploration combined with a striking low-poly art style and heart-tugging soundtrack come together to make Undying one of the most distinctive and interesting zombie games out there.
Undying is available to claim as a free game via the Epic Games Store from Thursday January 1 at 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm GMT / 5pm CET through Thursday February 6 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm GMT / 5pm CET. It’s yours to keep once redeemed. Head here to grab a copy for yourself while you can.
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