Zombie apocalypse games are a genre that have been done again and again. Sometimes you play the zombies, sometimes you destroy the zombies, sometimes you are trying to live in a world with them. In Undying, it’s sort of a combination of trying to survive with them, while becoming one.
Undying is a survival game where you play as a mother called Anling, who loves her son, Cody. Zombies have sprung up, due to some sort of virus, and Anling has been bitten. Being bitten in Undying doesn’t mean you become a zombie right away. Instead, it’s a slow process with a limited number of days. Cody is quite young, but still not infected, so it’s up to you to protect him, teach him how to survive, and find safety, so that he can live on without you.
Like most zombie games, Undying has a day and night cycle, places to explore, weapons for defense, crafting and of course, zombies to fight off. Resources and inventory space is limited, but there are camps set up for storage and crafting. As you try and survive each day, you’ll need to manage you and your son’s thirst and hunger. You’ll also need to fight off zombies and treat any sort of damage that happens to each of you. Cody watches a lot of what you are doing at first and can learn from this. Cooking, crafting and combat can be passed down to him through your actions.
But, Cody is still a young child. Your decisions and the way you interact with him will shape your relationship. In Undying, losing your relationship with your son can lead to your untimely death. If Cody is unhappy with you or loses trust, he won’t help in tasks, even when asked. This means that keeping your son happy and holding trust with him is just another task to balance in the apocalypse.
At times, as you become more and more zombie-like, you may need to be inhuman and unforgiving as the desperation to survive a little longer sets in. This can be a dangerous game, especially with your son watching along. Undying contains many small moments of bonding in a world that’s being devastated by deadly creatures. I got the chance to play a bit of Undying at Gamescom and fell in love with the story, the way your relationship works and the lovely, low-poly graphics.
Undying will be released on Steam Early Access at the start of 2020.
