Dopey, slow, and easily eliminated with a swift blow to the head, the power of the zombie lies not within the individual but in the horde. Zombies are a teeming mass, so numerate and uniformly minded they resemble, at the most terrifying of times, a single, gigantic organism, an amorphous ball of flesh that seeks only to consume. With that characterization in mind, meet SCAD, a new roguelike and survival game that blends the lo-fi, grimy visuals of the classic Fallout games with building, crafting, and the bullet hell gameplay of modern roguelikes. This is definitely one to watch.
An evil corporation has been playing around with viruses. They've somehow leaked and infected most of the human population. Earth is now an apocalyptic wasteland occupied almost exclusively by monsters and zombies. So far, so typical survival game. But watch the reveal trailer for just ten seconds and SCAD leaps off the screen.
Like Dead Reckoning from George Romero's Land of the Dead, or the big chainsaw bus from Zack Snyder's remake of Dawn, your focus in SCAD is to build, customize, maintain, and optimize a gigantic zombie-killing vehicle. Find new crew members, add bigger and more powerful weapons, and keep your eye on central systems like the transmission and tires if you want to succeed.
SCAD, as you might have guessed, is an acronym: Survive, Craft, And Destroy. Part roguelike game, whereby every run is different depending on your loadout, part bullet hell, and part bullet heaven, once your vehicle is in top shape, your job is to crush and kill as much of the undead horde as possible. A deep pull, but I also get a sense of The Last Stand and Road of the Dead, two zombie mainstays of the classic Flash game era.
We don't have a release date yet, but SCAD is scheduled to arrive later in 2024. If you want to add it to your wishlist, just head here.
Otherwise, you might want to try some of the other best zombie games, or maybe get a peek at the best upcoming PC games on their way to you.
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