There’s no denying that the world of video games is overflowing with zombie titles of every kind. Yet somehow, they continue to capture our interest and consistently serve as a solid backdrop for engaging storytelling. Over the years, zombie games have proven time and again that they can provide thrilling gameplay mechanics, and Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is no exception.

It’s worth noting that our impressions are based on an Early Access version of the game, so we’ll be revisiting it later on to assess the full release and any meaningful updates that come with it.

While many elements in Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days might feel familiar, they’re blended in a way that creates a compelling zombie survival experience—one that may not surprise you, but certainly gets the job done. With tight gameplay, crisp visuals, and a strong focus on survival, the game delivers more depth than it initially lets on.

The game takes the form of a 2D side-scroller where you manage a small group of survivors who become the foundation of a slowly expanding colony. Set in the fictional town of Walton, Texas—completely shut off after a zombie outbreak—it’s your responsibility to keep your base running, take care of the survivors’ basic needs, and venture into the city to scavenge for resources, locate weapons, and maintain some semblance of living, all while searching for a way to escape.

At the start, you only choose two survivors. Typically, one stays at the base to rest, reinforce defenses, or handle upgrades, while the other heads out to explore and loot different parts of Walton from a growing map of locations. Visually, Into the Dead is surprisingly detailed—whether it’s the faint beam of a flashlight cutting through the darkness of an abandoned gas station or the eerie dust floating in the air as a zombie stirs on the floor above, the game works hard to immerse you in its world—and it succeeds.

Gameplay-wise, it features mechanics you’ve likely seen before, but they’re executed well. There’s a basic but effective stealth system that lets you perform silent kills in specific situations. A simple crafting mechanic limits your inventory space, forcing tough choices about what to bring back, but these materials feed into meaningful upgrades for your base. Combat is straightforward—mostly timed swings with whatever blunt object you find, whether it’s a bat or a guitar—but it carries enough weight to feel tense, especially since your characters can die permanently.

That said, despite how well each system works individually, the repetition begins to creep in fairly quickly. The 2D layout and base-building are reminiscent of This War of Mine, the high-stakes consequences of survivor choices bring to mind State of Decay, and the overall zombie apocalypse theme is so familiar that there's little room left for genuine novelty. While your options do expand as more survivors join your group, and PikPok deserves credit for their subtle, open-ended approach to unlocking the path out of Walton, the loop can still feel thin. Each time Hector rebuilds the barricades and you manage to scrape together enough duct tape, planks, and screws to make it one more day, it becomes clear that the Early Access version doesn’t offer a whole lot beyond that.

It’s not that the game lacks content—it’s that the loop, as it currently stands, exposes you to its core mechanics so directly that the fatigue sets in faster than expected. Still, with the combat, progression system, and survival elements all feeling solid and responsive, there’s plenty here to recommend to fans of the genre. It’s a well-crafted experience overall. But without a stronger narrative thread to guide you—beyond the ones you create yourself—it’s easy to feel a bit lost, which accelerates the sense of repetition and detracts from what is otherwise an enjoyable game.

At this stage, Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days offers a strong foundation for PikPok to build on. While the gameplay loop did start to wear thin for me—especially without a clearer story to follow—I still have a lot of respect for what the developers are trying to achieve here.

-DenzelTheShire