UNDYING from Skytone Games and Vanimals brings us a new take on the zombie genre. Learn more in our UNDYING review!
UNDYING from Skytone Games and Vanimals brings us a new take on the zombie genre. You’ll be playing as Anling during a zombie outbreak. Even though it’s been four months since the outbreak hit, it certainly feels like a lifetime. To try and keep as many people safe, the military turned subway stations into refugee camps. The original plan was to extract each camp until all people had been rescued and removed from the infected areas. As expected, things didn’t go as planned. While it was your group’s turn to be extracted, the roof collapsed from the pressure of a ton of zombies trying to break in. Anling must now do whatever it takes to protect her young son, Cody, in this new world. Unfortunately, Anling has been bitten! With her days numbered, she must find a way to keep Cody safe while teaching him the skills he’ll need to stay alive, all before you turn. At least you managed to somehow make it back to your house, from where you’ll begin to scavenge for resources to keep your son and yourself alive for as long as possible.
It’s a survival game that can be as punishing and challenging as you want it to be, thanks to the three difficulty settings on offer. The game can be played in the Tranquil, Adventure, and Fierce difficulty settings. If you go with the Tranquil difficulty, then time will pass slowly, and everything and everyone around you will not be as aggressive as you’d expect from a zombie game. Adventure dials up the challenge a bit, pulling back a bit on how many resources are available, so you’ll need to make every item count! If you go with the Fierce difficulty setting, then you’ll have to always be on high alert. Time will race by, and danger lurks around every corner. Will you manage to survive?
Once you’ve chosen your difficulty, you’ll be taking control of Anling with the left analog stick as Cody follows along. Pressing in on the left analog stick will allow you to go into stealth mode. You can interact by pressing the B button. When spotting an item, you can decide if Anling will pick it up or if Cody should pick it up. Anling can attack with the ZR button, and you can lock onto a target by pressing in on the right analog stick. You can use the right analog stick to have Cody stay in place, follow you, or follow and assist you. Hold Cody’s hand by pressing the R button, which can help to soothe him when needed.
You’ll have to keep an eye on your overall status and your attributes so that you can adjust your strategy if things change. Your HP, food, and hydration levels are important, but so are your attack power, damage reduction, overall move speed, attack speed, as well as any attack or defense bonuses you’ve managed to activate. Cody will also have different stat values for HP, food, hydration, and health. You can also switch to the symptoms tab to check what’s going on with Anling’s decline into zombie madness and if there are any additional effects in place that will alter what you can and can’t do in this new world.
While finding resources is all good and well, you’ll also have to find ways to upgrade your equipment so that you can hopefully manage to survive long enough to have Cody learn as many skills as possible for his time alone in the zombie apocalypse. This is why you should find a way to obtain backpack expansions so that you can carry more stuff, get a reinforced backpack so that you can stack more of the same item on a single grid, as well as boost ergonomics so that you can get a movement speed boost of 1% for every empty space in your backpack. While 1% doesn’t sound like much, imagine how big of a boost you can get with a completely upgraded backpack and, say, 14 empty slots! That boost in speed can be the difference between dying out on the field or being able to make it back to base to regroup.
What skills can you teach Cody to help his odds of survival? Cody will gain experience points during your time with Undying, which can then be spent to comprehend an advanced skill. Skills are split into crafting, survival, and combat, and finding a good balance between all three types will be a must. Cody can learn to use the tool bench to craft items. If he gets enough experience and improves, then he’ll be able to help you with crafting while you work on something else. Cody can eventually learn to check out scrap piles and find hidden objects, which will make a big difference. Who knows, you might have enough time to teach Cody how to hunt animals, attack enemies, and destroy breakable objects as needed.
UNDYING brings us a new take on the zombie genre. You’ll be playing as Anling during a zombie outbreak. Even though it’s been four months since the outbreak hit, it certainly feels like a lifetime. To try and keep as many people safe, the military turned subway stations into refugee camps. The original plan was to extract each camp until all people had been rescued and removed from the infected areas. As expected, things didn’t go as planned. While it was your group’s turn to be extracted, the roof collapsed from the pressure of a ton of zombies trying to break in. Anling must now do whatever it takes to protect her young son, Cody, in this new world.
Unfortunately, Anling has been bitten! With her days numbered, she must find a way to keep Cody safe while teaching him the skills he’ll need to stay alive, all before you turn. At least you managed to somehow make it back to your house, from where you’ll begin to scavenge for resources to keep your son and yourself alive for as long as possible. UNDYING is out on Nintendo Switch with a $19.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This UNDYING review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Skystone Games.
