Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days – Zombi igra s prostorom za napredak

• DEVELOPER: PikPok
• IZDAVAČ: PikPok, Boltray Games
• PLATFORME: PC
• ŽANR: Survival
• DATUM IZLASKA: 9. travnja 2025.
• POČETNA CIJENA: 24,99€
• RECENZIRANA VERZIJA: PC

Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is a 2.5D side-scrolling survival horror game released in Early Access, with a planned full release in 2026 after 12-18 months of development. Set in Walton City, Texas, in 1980, it casts you as the leader of a group of survivors navigating a zombie apocalypse, scavenging resources, managing shelters, and making life-or-death choices to escape the city.

Departing from the endless-runner roots of Into the Dead (2012) and Into the Dead 2 (2017), this installment blends strategic resource management, stealth, and light combat, drawing inspiration from This War of Mine and State of Decay. The Early Access build offers two escape routes to a successful ending, multiple characters, and a variety of locations, weapons, and crafting options, with a 10-20 hour playtime depending on permadeath and choices.

Survivor Management and Gameplay Mechanics

You begin by selecting from five pairs of starting survivors, each with unique backstories and traits: two positive and one negative. For example, Daphne’s first aid and cooking skills boost medical and food crafting, but her pacifism reduces combat damage. Additionally, traits like Iron Stomach or Quiet Step enhance survival, while negatives like Heavy Drinker complicate resource management or combat.

Another key aspect is tracking essential survivor stats such as health, hunger, exhaustion, and mental health (despair) using bars, where neglect can lead to depression or death and even injuries. Each day, you assign tasks during day and night phases, like cooking, sleeping, crafting, or strengthening barricades, but with only one task per cycle per survivor, it’s a constant balancing act.

Scavenging missions are the game’s core, sending survivors to points of interest like fire station or a neon arcade to gather food, medicine, weapons, or base resources, rated by availability dots on the map. The game requires you to move to a new safehouse once you’ve cleared an area’s resources, so it’s crucial to thoroughly explore before relocating. Each building you explore has a telescope for spotting new locations, and every new safehouse offers unique benefits, like extra beds, a garden for growing food, or rainwater collection.

Zombies are slow but deadly in groups, and detection triggers fight-or-flight scenarios. Stealth kills are possible and advisable, but combat is risky due to limited weapons that break quickly. The combat also feels very clunky. It’s odd that stealth kills let you take out zombies instantly (with each weapon producing distinct sound levels), yet a massive hammer can’t crush a zombie’s skull in one hit when you fight them head on. They do have stagger moments, but they can still strike super fast even when you’re hitting and interrupting them, making real combat feel tedious. Also, there are no dodging mechanics.

“Scavenging missions are the game’s core.”

There’s Room for Improvement

Into the Dead has too many unfair moments that can get frustrating the longer you play. While the combat is generally solid and rewards stealth approaches, stealth isn’t always an option. The main issue is that once a zombie spots you, it will always find you, even if you escape and hide, often alerting others in the mean time. I understand zombies might have heightened senses, but it’s frustrating when you hide behind a couch hoping to do a sneak stealth-attack, only for the zombie to instantly find you.

Avoid using guns in large areas, as they attract zombies from far away, even outside. Zombies only notice you if you’re in their line of sight, not if you’re in the same room, though sounds can draw them in. My biggest issue is the overly restrictive inventory. It makes sense to limit heavy items like planks to four per stack, but capping small items like tapes and screws feels too punishing.

Fortunately, upgrades like reinforced barricades or cooking stations persist across safe houses, softening the nomadic vibe. Crafting is simple but useful, letting you make medkits or ammo from resources like wood or screws. The shelter system, inspired by This War of Mine, adds depth, but limited task slots per cycle make balancing needs feel restrictive. Into the Dead needs slightly better balancing to make some stages less tedious. You can explore multiple buildings in a day, but with weapons breaking quickly and the need for lockpicks or tools to remove chains, more balanced mechanics would be welcome.

While permadeath and randomized points of interest create diverse playthroughs, with dynamic environments and survivor traits pushing new strategies, the linear structure and repetitive runs (resetting bases after death) can feel tedious. Progression comes from scavenging better gear and upgrading shelters, though the lack of lasting base progress may annoy some. Thankfully, the roadmap includes new survivors, combat modes, and scenarios, which could fix the repetition.

“Into the Dead has too many unfair moments.”

Stunning 2.5D Graphics Meet Underdeveloped Storytelling

My favorite part of the game is the graphics. The 2.5D perspective creates detailed settings, from crumbling suburban streets to dimly lit arcades and police stations, with moody lighting and dust effects heightening tension. Character designs capture 1980s style, with survivors in era-specific clothes and zombies ranging from shambling corpses to grotesque hordes. Smooth animations, like zombie lunges or survivor crafting, stand out, though some textures look rough and combat animations need polish.

While the graphics are strong, the game feels emotionally flat. Characters lack depth, share no stories, and come across as soulless. If you’re focused on gameplay, you’ll enjoy it, but if you want a meaningful story, this falls short. Currently, it’s missing weather effects, shelter events, traders, advanced firearm parts, and enemy variety (just zombies, big zombies, and humans once).

If you love surviving and battling zombies, you’ll likely enjoy this game. Some may find it too punishing, while others thrive on its high-stakes decisions. With gameplay still in development and blueprints teased, it’s a solid game with strong core mechanics that can only get better. I can see it shining in multiplayer, but it needs better balancing for now.

“While the graphics are strong, the game feels emotionally flat.”

Recenzentski primjerak ustupio izdavač

3.8