Want to Try Undying, a New Zombie Survival-Horror Game?

04.12.2023 - 18:43 / ign.com

If you like survival games, and touching stories, I have something for you. To celebrate Undying leaving Early Access and entering 1.0, you can grab a key for this third-person survival horror game on Steam starting on December 7th, 2023 as part of IGN Plus.

Already an IGN Plus member? Get your key here! (Keys are limited, so once the card says, "Closed," all keys have been claimed)

Not an IGN Plus member yet? Try it for $1. Join here .

Undying is a zombie survival horror game which follows the tale of Anling and her son, Cody, as they struggle to survive in a zombie-infested area after Anling has been bitten. Manage your sleep, stress, and health to stave off turning and take every opportunity to teach Cody how to survive.

From fighting off zombies to salvaging survival resources and repairing items, he'll need to know as much as he can to survive and carry more of the burden as Anling fades away. Will you try to shoulder the burden yourself, or give him opportunities in which he can succeed or fail? Will you be able to comfort him in the face of the horrors of the zombie apocalypse? Which explanations will you choose to help him understand betrayal by other survivors? Your choices will shape the person he becomes, and your likelihood of survival.

For this interview, I spoke with Kun and Jin about their survival horror game, Undying. Taking on contract work to keep the studio afloat, balancing Early Access audience expectations with their own artistic instincts, and even Jin getting stuck in Australia due to the pandemic, the team has been on a long journey. What originally started as a gift for Kun's 8-year-old son, inspired by The Walking Dead, has blossomed into an anticipated survival experience which carves out a unique space in the genre.

The team met with Diablo's David Brevik, who suggested the 'stress/fatigue/injury-induced zombie infection progression' system Undying now has, which adds a greatly increased sense of urgency to the game, and the team also included multiple difficulty settings to ensure that people who want to enjoy this survival game more casually can still do so.

I hope you enjoy the game, and this excerpt from our interview. Cheers!

The following are just a few questions from the hour-long interview, and have been edited for clarity.

Brian: What inspired the team to make Undying?

Kun: For over a decade, I always dreamed to make a game like [The Walking Dead]. Like that world. But I thought that if I do make some game like that I'm probably not going to make it look similar like [people] killing zombies, or using like badass weapons, or against other [people]. So I'm thinking something very different, very contradictory. That means the player can be very weak,