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I try to avoid reviewing early access games here, but honestly.. SurrounDead speaks to me.

I’m not a massive fan of survival games, but I have been known to enjoy them. So, when I was browsing for something new to occupy my time until A Plague Tale: Requiem comes out, I stumbled upon SurrounDead.

SurrounDead is a singleplayer survival game featuring zombies, hunger/thirst/radiation mechanics, and a fun art style that works well for it.

I should add a caveat that, from what I understand, SurrounDead relies heavily on stock assets, but given this is a small indie game I see nothing wrong with that.

Humble beginnings in a humble world

Anyway, given this is early access, you’ll probably understand when I say there isn’t much to do just yet. You’re thrust into the world with just a knife and a goal of surviving.

You’ll spawn in a random location, have a character randomly generated for you, and basically get to make your own fun.

You’ll hunt down food, weapons, materials and tools to aid you in your survival. Some of these are going to be pretty important, but it’s all random as to whether you’ll find them in a reasonable time (such as a backpack, GPS, flashlight or sleeping bag).

Your starter knife works fine against the basic horde

Once you find a handful of basics, you’ll start playing inventory Tetris until you realize you should probably set up a “base camp”, where you’ll store loot you don’t need to carry 24/7.

As you explore you’ll find vehicles to repair & refuel, as well as more challenging encounters beyond the standard (easily defeated alone) zombies. You’ll also find other NPC survivors to hang out with and trade, should you desire.

Though hard to see at night, there is a very big bad up there

Despite a lack of real guidance here, I’ve found SurrounDead to be a fun departure.. And I’m honestly not even bothered with the idea of starting over given the random nature of each play through.

I’d hate to give up my Humvee though..

SurrounDead has plans to add more areas outside it’s already large map, a skill system, and more. It does have a rudimentary stealth system, and I found the fact that it’s so rudimentary refreshing. Line of sight, crouched vs. not, and noise are your main factors here.. And it’s perfect. No need to get fancy here to sneak past a group of zombies.

You can get SurrounDead early access on Steam here.