How To Survive: Storm Warning Edition Review

As far as narratives go in zombie-orientated media, How to Survive generally follows the same, generic formula you’ve already seen countless times before in films and other videogames. Somehow, you’ve found yourself stranded upon one of several islands infested with the undead and you need to escape before you become one of them. I wish I could give you more to go on, but that’s practically all you get in terms of a premise and aside from some rather wishy-washy characters you’ll interact with on your journey to escape (that fill in a little of the story), your only concern in EKO Software’s world is survival.

Fortunately, it’s what you do day by day on your new home that makes How to Survive so satisfying to play. As you regain consciousness with your face in the sand after a rather cryptic introductory cutscene, you’re not given so much as a rag to wipe your arse with as you’re ushered to move off the idyllic beach you’ve been dozing on. Taking control of your choice of protagonist (there are four different ones all with varying stats), you’re told to go and find some apparently important guy who can help you escape the hellish world you’ve been thrust into.

But there’s always zombies between you and your objectives and defending yourself isn’t easy when anything useful to fend off the undead must be scavenged from your surroundings. You’ll start pretty small too. Wooden sticks, crude, blunt weapons and knives are all you’ll be able to get your hands on initially, but as your options get progressively larger, you’ll need to find more resources. Want a bow so you can silently take down zombies from afar? You’ll need a flexible stick and some string for that. Oh, you need arrows too? You better find some sticks and a sharp object so you can fashion some then.

It’s a customisation system that’s fun to use, if slightly clunky when navigating your inventory, and while it may start off simple, more complicated recipes (which you’ll find scattered around the world) will require a shopping list’s worth of items to make. But having a weapon at hand is by no means your only concern. In addition to a standard health bar to keep an eye on, you also need to babysit your character’s hunger, thirst and sleep levels, all of which need to be kept topped up by finding disused wells, hunting wild animals and, well, sleeping.

And on top of an already expansive list of things you need to be aware of while playing, day and night cycles within the game world are integral to staying alive. Various shacks around the island can be cleaned out of unwanted, undead guests and subsequently fortified to work as shelter during the dark of night: when sight is extremely reduced. These small little hubs are not only locations for you to catch your breath in, but they’re also the only way you can catch a few moments of shuteye and save your progress. Yes, if you die on your journey to a safe house, you’ll lose any progress between saves. It’s a great way of making you cautious and ramping up tension in combat, but the restrictive nature of it can start to grate after a few irritating deaths.

Let’s not forget the main attraction either. All of the above needs to be carefully handled while contending with zombies wanting to eat your pale flesh. Combat is very simple. The tight controls are welcome (and somewhat surprising) and accessible, but on the other hand, makes combat situations not particularly challenging. Projectile weapons are aimed with the right stick while a yank of the right trigger will let off a shot or hack away at dead people if you opt to run with a melee weapon. There’s really not much else to it. Different types of zombie, i.e. fat ones that explode upon death, may make you rethink just running in and slashing away, but it’s superficial depth at best.

The story may be flimsy, but it’ll help to pull you through the game as it becomes increasingly repetitive, throwing new unlocks and skill points at you on a regular basis in an effort to keep you entertained. If even that starts to grate, the boon that is co-op play will undoubtedly help to stave off any doubts of the game having little replay value, and once you do beat the campaign (or get bored of it), there are multiple different minigames, challenges and modes to try out for variety’s sake.

As far as isometric games go, EKO Software’s title is one of the better ones out there. Sure, it may be slightly shallow in certain departments, but what it lacks, it more than makes up for in an excellent co-op mode and an enticing amount of replay value. Definitely one to try out.