They Are Billions , Part 1: Zombies are Jerks - Early Access Watcher -
0Disclosure: This game copy was bought by the reviewer.
The world has been lost to a zombie apocalypse and the remaining fragments of humanity strive to survive. With the use of lost technology and strict discipline, the remaining colonies manage to get by while the risk of infection continues to lurk. Build up defenses, train hardened gunners and pray that the endless hordes never manage to get past the walls. One zombie is enough to spark another outbreak and once the fire starts, there is no putting it out.
It has been a long time since I played a RTS quite like this. The resource management is not harsh, but requires careful planning as space is the defining factor over limited node gathering. Enemies scatter the map and need to be cleared out to allow more space for expansion, but they slowly begin coming at you and can quickly overwhelm you if they manage to kill off a building. They also manage to add a little bit of RNG passive/building bonuses using a mayor system that unlocks a new perk upon reaching a population quota. It also helps that the look of the game is superb and dripping with Steampunk goodness.
It isn't without it's flaws though. I had an AI issue that forced certain units to just charge out into the unknown without me even noticing (refer to the Rangers who are controllable). Some frame rate dips also happen from time to time as well as some loading issues when first loading into a map variation (happened before this video during pre-testing). Some zombies even disappear after being sited and while it hasn't been too much of a problem, the fact one zombie can destroy you makes the issue critical.
One final note is on the randomness effecting the difficulty. The starting position and resource placement can make or break a survival round. Sometimes you can start next to a zombie infested village or be without stone deposits and find out that you have no natural barriers to protect you. It is also hard to recover from a mistake which means you are going to be forced to sink hours into a round only to be forced to start over. You have no means of saving due to the Ironman nature of the mode.
They really need more units, defensive options and more maps to flesh out the survival mode and the future campaign will be a welcome addition. Right now, the game is a bit pricey for what is on offer, but I am surprised by how much I enjoyed it even with the supreme difficulty. I will post another video once I make it past day 60, but for now I say hold off unless you are dying for a new RTS.