Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days
PikPok
Texas, 1980. Walton City has fallen to a zombie outbreak. Lead a band of desperate survivors from refuge to refuge by scavenging, crafting, and fighting in a relentless struggle for survival. Plan wisely, stick together, and — above all — keep moving if you want to make it out alive.
Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days hasn’t been even been fully released yet and we’re already big fans. Straight off the barbwire bat, Into The Dead is uniquely shaped into 2.5D side-scrolling shelter-in-place survival game set during a zombie outbreak where most of the gameplay focus is on our survival group and less on fighting zombies.
Set in 1980 Texas, Walton City is experiencing a zombie outbreak. Most of the remaining population are either zombies or desperate survivors. Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days focuses on the realistic survival aspects of being forced into this scenario. You’re put in control of a group of zombie apocalypse survivors, desperately trying to survive and escape the overrun city.
The game is focused on a group of ordinary people who have somehow managed to survive the initial sudden zombie outbreak. Taking place across Walton City, there’s not much story available in the demo and it does seem to tease a more extensive one though we don’t know much about that. A game like this doesn’t need a detailed story but there’s a lot to uncover here. At the same time, your personal choices while playing the game are a driving narrative force that ensures each playthough feels like a new experience.
In addition to the story, the survivors themselves are important. Each one feels unique with their own personality and story. It’s obvious this side still needs work but, it’s a very promising start. The creators are PikPok who are well known for zombie mobile gaming with the original Into The Dead game releasing in 2012 for mobile so its important to note that Into The Dead: Darkest Days doesn’t feel like a mobile game at all.
Pros
Great atmospheric tension
Every choice feels significant
Love the 1980’s vibes
Fantastic zombie action
Satisfying combat
Cons
Minor early bugs
No difficulty slider
Single save slot
Some shelter aspects feel slow
Would really like co-op
While this style of game has been done before, Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days still feels very unique. Similar to This War of Mine, there’s a lot of emphasis on the shelter aspect but this game takes place across multiple upgradable shelters. The aim is to leave the city which means you’ll need to keep moving shelters to stay ahead of the encroaching zombie horde while protecting it from their relentless attacks. Each shelter will need to be upgraded and barricaded to keep the zombies out and protect yourselves from human threats too.
Not all humans you encounter will be threats, however. There’s the option of being able to convince others to join your group but this could put more of a strain on your resources. While not all of the other survivors are particularly strong fighters, desperate people will do anything to survive and this game highlights that. It puts you in the hot seat of making tough decisions on who will live, who will die, who will be left behind and what you’re willing to do to survive.
Our group has a lot of physical and psychological needs. We need to manage things like hunger, thirst, exhaustion, injuries, despair and more. Members who are less healthy will be less productive and beneficial to the group while still draining resources to stay alive. This also means that stealth is the main focus of the game when it comes to exploring and fighting when outside looking for essential resources. There is the option of fighting in brutal combat, but not all survivors are good fighters and, you’ll need to make or craft weapons. Every encounter with a human or zombie could kill a member of the group.
We’re addicts to anything zombiesc and Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days doesn’t disappoint. Its still early days so we didn’t encounter a few bugs and some super punishing decisions by PikPok that could be seen as good or bad depending on your playstyle but for me a single save slot and no difficult choice was tough to get used to. Despite the rough infected edges, this game has an incredible foundation. I adore the audio, visuals and characters. Looking at their roadmap, there’s plenty more content coming our way. Currently if you have the time and patience to explore, fail, and learn, then its a perfect addition to your zombie survival gaming library!
We’re teaming up with PikPok Games to give you 10 chances of winning your own Steam PC copy of Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days. Head over to our giveaways page to enter away!
Overall Rating
