I think perhaps the most plentiful type of game in the entire universe is the humble zombies game. Ever since it became apparent that developing functional AI was becoming more difficult to do and zombies would significantly lighten that burden. Although to be fair I guess that was never a fact that needed to be unearthed, huh? As the popular weave of entertainment culture bleeds from one medium to another, it's only fair that the spate of zombie movies that effect the world start to lead to more zombie games after a while. Although I certainly think at this point the zombie game craze has started to put even the movies to shame. Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, World War Z, The Walking Dead, Dying Light, Project Zomboid, State of Decay, Days Gone, The Last of Us, Day Z, 7 Days to Die, Dead Island, Unturned, Resident Evil, believe or not the list does go on. Which is why it's with some surprise that it was only until literally last year that I heard of the free-to-play Steam zombie 'legend': No More Room in Hell.
Now if you're part of the big Steam community, the kind that dived into the Garry's Mod legends, then there's a very good chance you have heard of this game and are currently wondering how I can be such a square. You have to remember what a separate world PC only games are to the rest of the industry, not only do console players never hear about the cool stuff that happens in the world of PC, but console game developers don't want to swoop in and start getting involved with introducing that world through ports or compatible software apps, because a lot of the cool stuff that the PC community develops is utterly unmonetizable. That's why the very fact that No More Room in Hell started development in 2004 as a Half Life 2 mod pretty much cemented it's life and legacy as a niche product no matter how much acclaim it ended up receiving.
The game was officially 'released' under Steam green light in 2011 and had a follow up beta release a couple of years later; which gives Yandere Dev some hope that he could be on the verge of ever actually releasing his game; he's riding up on about 8 years of development now. The game as it currently exists today, and you can go ahead and look the thing up if you want to, looks nothing like the Half Life 2 that spawned it. In fact, it looks and feels like its very own zombie game with a frightening amount of robustness for a free-to-play community developed game. For I suppose given all that time of development and the several years of sporadic free updates that the game has received, and continues to receive, to this day it would be a surprise if the game didn't feel like it's own thing in the modern age.
Of course, there's no comparison to the way this game plays up against the big AAA titles with their millions into development, but as far as paper budget indie zombie games go, there's actually a fair number of games that No More Room in Hell performs better than. Personally I've only had the chance to play the objective based mode and only by myself despite the fact the game feels like it was built for groups, so I've experienced a lot of the jank that the solo experience offers; but even then there's a solid control scheme, a decent amount of guns, and a totally serviceable palette to make this the solid baseline of zombie playing experiences. If any paid-for game out there can't match that level of play, it isn't worth your money.
It makes for a foundation. One which holds considerable potential to be built upon with a, from scratch, sequel just like the one which is rapidly approaching an early access release window later this very year. Developed and published by Lever Games, No More Room in Hell 2 is a considerably more slick co-op zombie survival game with elements of procedural generation and randomisation strewn into the gameplay formula to make a basis for extreme replayability. According to the previews, you won't just be finding different gear in the same containers; you'll be trying to find your way around small American towns were entire lootable buildings are swapped around, making the very layout of levels unreliable and shifting. Visually the game has had a severe improvement; not to any degree that gives really anything from this generation a run for it's money, but enough to hold it's own as a polished indie project over the original which, admittedly, feels very rough to play nowadays.
There are a lot of cool cues that the devs of this game have taken from their various contemporaries over the years; demonstrating that the decade of development hasn't left them totally out-of-touch with the trends of the day. Dynamic map shifting is already a big step in the modernisation angle, but I also noticed an in-game weapon modding action which looks like something out of 'Escape from Tarkov' (or BF2042; but I guess no one really cares for that comparison, eh.) There is said to be beheading and dismemberment at least considered within the newer engine, and a general greater emphasise on 'survival' through crafting menus. Not that I'm really a fan of every game having a bloody crafting menu but I can't deny the topic appears to be popular for whatever reason.
As with the original game, No More Room in Hell 2 will be looking to release in Early Access as it builds itself to be worthy of a full release and gain all the necessities that the studio believe the game still needs. (As well as perfect the move to Unreal Engine 5 that the game has been in the process of) Although the starting three maps are built to have replayability in them (to different degrees and in different fashions) the team want to build and release more before the end of early access, as well as a progression system and character customisation. All of which makes for a pretty darn ambitious indie project here, but then these aren't no 'first time' 'no experience' devs either; so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here.
Strangely enough, this is the sort of zombie game that would be more my pace than 'Back 4 Blood', with the slower zombies, more deadly atmosphere and greater strain on making every bullet count. I'm a sucker for the Project Zomboid style 'watch the walls slowly fall apart around you' style of play. Of course, all of these improvements over the original are necessities given that this sequel is going to be it's own, priced product. But given that the team manage the product they're promising, I don't see any reason why No More Room in Hell 2 won't be worth it's asking price.
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