Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is the third installment of the wildly successful Into the Dead series, created by New Zealand’s largest game development studio, PikPok. However, this game plans to be a bit different from the others in the series, as it’s going to be a side-scrolling shelter survival game.

Imagine that it’s 1980, there’s a major heatwave, a financial crisis is sweeping through Walton City, campaign signs are up all over town for Ronald Reagan for president, and a zombie outbreak occurs. You’re not a soldier or cop; you’re just a normal person trying to survive.

You take control of a small handful of survivors, just ordinary people thrown together by happenstance. You must explore the city, gathering supplies to build small refuges across the city, trying to stay one step ahead of the horde of undead. Stealth is the key to staying alive.

Crafting is of crucial important as you will have to craft tools, weapons, and shelters to provide a moment of comfort before moving on.

The game will focus on creating memorable story lines with tough decisions to make: who will live? Who will die? If you find another survivor, do you invite them to join the group? Trick them and steal their supplies, or just erase them from the equation.

But as you try to maintain your humanity, the developers have decided to go another route, and they say that the zombies are not just mindless eaters; shadows of their former selves are still in there. They want you to connect with the zombies, maybe even feel empathy for them, but remember that they still want to eat you.

All characters, whether playable or zombie, are motion-captured to provide realistic, flowing movement, bringing the struggle to life. While the dynamic urban environment will change over time, every playthrough will be different.

Like This War of Mine, which follows a small group of survivors trying to hold out during a time of war, Into the Dead plans to test the very limits of your humanity.

PikPok is furiously trying to get a demo together, as they will be attending the PAX Australia gaming convention in October and want to share the game with attendees. Currently, there is no release date scheduled, but I’m hoping that after Pax AUS we will be able to get our hands on the demo.

So let me know what you think of the game. Does it grab your attention? Will you be attending Pax AUS?