Undying Review (Steam)

For this Undying Review, where Infected by a zombie bite, Anling’s days are numbered. She must now fight to survive, not for herself but for her young son, Cody. Ensure Cody’s survival in this zombie-infested world by protecting him, searching for safety, and teaching him valuable skills, at any cost.

Undying Review Pros:

• Beautiful low poly graphics.
• 1.25GB Download size.
• Steam achievements.
• Full controller support.
• Ten save slots.
• Graphics settings – full screen, resolution, graphics quality, and AMD FSR 1.0.
• Twitch drops integration.
• Can rebind controls for the mouse and keyboard.
• Two characters – Anling, and Codey.
• Character customisation – head, clothing, and suit.
• 3 game difficulties – Tranquil, Adventure, and Fierce.
• Excellent voice work.
• Hand-drawn art cutscenes with basic animation.
• The game takes place during a zombie apocalypse.
• You are immediately gripped by the story and style of the game.
• 3D game world.
• Collect crafting resources and you have a full inventory management system.
• Any interactive parts in the world can be done by you or Cody.
• So you play the mum Ainling and you are with your son Cody.
• Full crafting of materials and items at the correct table.
• Your home is your base of operations, but you need to scavenge for parts to fix it up and unlock new crafting capabilities.
• Store items in a storage box. (can be upgraded to be bigger)
• Food and drink are stored in refrigerators to make them last longer.
• You can track recipes or resources so they show on your Hud.
• Your character has been bitten by a zombie so you have symptoms menu showing your state and if you have any effects or are on the decline.
• Teaching Cody things will improve his stats and make him more reliable and independent so things like teaching him to craft and forage for resources.
• Handy mini-map.
• The world map fills in as you explore, random events can happen when traveling and your distance is determined by fuel and how upgraded your vehicle is.
• Find/learn new tech guides which are basically crafting recipes.
• Handy tutorial menu to recap.
• You have a set of menu shortcuts.
• The right stick is used to give orders to Cody like follow me, stay here, etc.
• At times you need to comfort or chat with Cody in order to get him back in the game.
• Storage is your central place to put supplies and resources.
• Hunger and water meters are at play.
• Over time you rebuild your house which then opens up new features like cooking meals and crafting at the bench.
• Teach Cody anything you do like crafting, repairing, and cooking, he earns EXP and then unlocks the ability to do these actions himself.
• All weapons and tools degrade over time and break.
• You get fed missions over time and when you trigger them.
• After sleeping you get a breakdown of anything that happened in the night and anything that happened to you like healing or getting warm etc.
• Repairing, cooking, and crafting pull resources and materials from the storage.
• Despite the dire depressing atmosphere, the game is a lot of fun and it’s great just to go out scouting and fixing up your home.
• You can break down unwanted items for materials and use them to upgrade items.
• When selecting a place on the map you get a breakdown of what’s going to happen such as time taken, fuel used, etc.
• Full stealth complete with icons over their head to show if they see you.
• A bar shows above things like trees, cars, etc to show how much you can keep getting resources from.
• Use items to open up doors and lock items.
• Meet characters and have multiple-choice encounters and interactions.
• The story changes from your actions and interactions, especially with Cody.
• Combat varies from melee and ranged weapons.
• You can plant food and tend to them.
• A great sense of exploration.
• Time plays into the game flow as you have to be wary about actions taking time off the clock and you both get tired along with a deadline…
• Making noise can attract zombies.
• The game does tell a gripping story.
• Find mementos and memories from your life amd you place them in your house.
• If either of you die then it’s game over.
• Stealth starts to play a big part, especially in built-up areas.

Undying Review Cons:

• Minimal graphics settings.
• Had the controller not work on boot up a fair few times.
• Cannot rebind controls.
• You get fully voiced cutscenes and sequences then the bulk of the game is text with a few noises or the odd word thrown out.
• No auto-scroll for the interactions.
• At times Cody asks to do something so you let him and you just get told he can’t do it yet.
• The tutorial stuff is very sporadic and minimal, I never felt early on like I knew what to do or what the best way to tackle situations was.
• I didn’t even get told about how to navigate the menus properly and it made progress harder than it should have been.
• Despite Steam saying otherwise, the controller does indeed work.
• The camera is set and in a game, like this, it makes seeing things very hard and frustrating in combat/stealth.
• A lot of additional inventory management like having to equip weapons/tools even when you pick them up, it feels like it should be a pickup and equip or have the option.
• Most of the time you are just having Cody watching and learning the whole time.
• It takes ages to teach Cody actions and it just drags on too much.
• The comforting of Cody is fine in places but it honestly feels like a way to add another layer to a simple task.

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Undying:

Official website.

Developer: Vanimals

Publisher: SKYSTONE

Store Links –

Steam