The opening cinematic did a nice job of setting the tone of the game. It's the summer of 1980 in Texas, and you're in charge of a pair of survivors trying to make it through a zombie apocalypse. Your goal is to manage your safe house, scavenge for supplies and complete "leads" quests which seem mostly to be environmental storytelling moments. The gameplay alternates between day and night, where you queue up tasks for your survivors to perform.
Scavenging is a key part of the game, and while it's engaging, it can feel a bit limiting. For example, I was specifically hunting for cloth to build a medical station, but I kept coming up empty. Because of this all my survivors were low health and I had no way of actually healing them.
The reason they were low health is because the combat is not very enjoyable or interesting. You can sneak up on a zombie and insta-kill (insta-re-kill?) them but if you're facing one, you just hit 'm a few times until they are down, while they get some hits on you. Weapons would also break way too soon, so you're constantly at risk of having no weapon. Some balancing is definitely required, still.
Back at the shelter, you tend to your characters by cooking meals, repairing barricades, and giving them time to rest and relax. All to make sure they are healthy and sane enough to go on another scavenge run and keep on surviving.
The game heavily reminds me of This War of Mine, which is a game where you have to survive in a war-torn environment, both in mechanics, UI and general vibes. Into the Dead is a bit more combat heavy and it doesn't have the same emotional impact. (Sidenote: if you've never played TWoM, go pick it up. Games are art, and TWoM is one of those).
Where it is different is mostly the combat and exploration mechanics, and I am unsure if those differences are actually interesting enough to keep playing. All things considered, it mostly just made me want to play This War of Mine again.
