Judging people can be tricky, who are we to place our values on someone else? Who are we to say, looking at someone in a difficult situation, that they were wrong to choose what they did? Who among us hasn’t at one time or another run an pharmaceutical company whose illegal unethical experiments have threatened to unleash a zombie apocalypse? That’s why I will never choose to judge the medical company managers in the newly released Undead Inc.
That’s because sometimes those managers are me. In Undead Inc., a roguelike resource management game out now, you’ll take over a branch of Endswell Medical, a corporation that definitely does nothing wrong and anyone who says otherwise is lying, ok? Build your facility, recruit staff, and work to make a tidy profit for the overarching company. See? Nothing’s going wrong. It’s all fine.
Unfortunately in Undead Inc. your bosses are voracious for money, so in order to keep your business afloat you’ll most likely be tempted to dip a toe into illegal waters. By developing bioweapons, performing deeply unethical medical experiments, and creating horrible bio-engineered monsters, you’ll be soon be raking in the cash and keeping your corporate overlords happy.
From here begins a slow slide into chaos and an ever-increasing crossing of the Rubicon. Keeping your facility running nicely while you’re managing staff suspicion, keeping the cops out of your hair, and ensuring that your creations don’t get out and start some sort of Walking Dead-esque event, will take all your efforts. In Undead Inc. the promise is that the end will definitely come, it’s not a case of ‘if’. The zombies will get out, the politicians will shut you down, your staff will rise up and you will see your precious research facility come down in flames.
Which is where the roguelike part comes in, because in Undead Inc. the end of one medical company isn’t the end of the game. You’ll be able to grab some cash, research, and whatever staff you still trust and begin again in a new area, facing new challenges.
Undead Inc. contains a fascinating mish-mash of ideas around its core. Balancing the books while keeping an eye on an ever-encroaching series of catastrophes while also trying to keep suspicion off your back is a perilous, if intoxicating, mix.
Undead Inc. is out now on Steam and you can head over to the game page to grab it for yourself. If you’d like to check out other entries in the genre, our guide to the best roguelike games will get you what need. Should you want to seek out your next big gaming surprise, why not take a look at our best indie games guide.
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