A Zombie Apocalypse

Well... that was more challenging than expected. Had to retry 3 times just to get past the initial zombie attack (the sneaky End Game Here and rate or comment" did the trick) and now I'm commenting here after my first successful playthrough reaching the score of 275 (well not quite successful as I ended up being eaten by the zombies, but still). After the hell the main protagonist (and I as the reader) went through, the question posed right at the story description section is very fitting: "Can you survive?".

Judging by the title, the reader expects a survival adventure story, with a generic take on zombies and a cliché
protagonist who'll kill zombies along with their ever-growing team of survivors. But the last two couldn't be further from the truth. The generic, pop culture, take on zombies is ridiculed and debunked through an original take, a blend of the writer's imagination and probably inspiration from the Walking Dead (come on, it was way too obvious. A character named Will and his "fascination" with the Walking Dead.), while the main protagonist is a traumatized and depressed young woman who has lost both her parents and joy in life, but it's the adrenaline rush and survival instinct, the strongest in humans, which gives her a new purpose in life. The woman could make a good case study for anyone who likes writing them.

As much as this is a fight for survival against zombies (multiple theories on the relation between the protagonist's immunity and the zombies always seeming to catch up to her, but will save that for later), it was also an exploration of her psyche. She wasn't fighting only zombies, but also her inner demons: PTSD from watching her parents killed and survivor's guilt due to having to run away, leaving her short-time comrades to die again and again.

Aside from the minor annoyance, I absolutely loved the prologue. The names chosen for the city and her place of residence, prior to her first encounter with a zombie, serve as symbolisms for her mental state and the situation she was in. Lost City and Dead End. And the foreshadowing through the Call of Duty (kind of chuckled at the game of choice) passages was awesome. This and the clever usage of her dreams for the backstory exploration, on which I'm not going to expand (neither on other events) due to spoilers.

Grammar-wise, there weren't any noticeable errors, at least I didn't catch any, except for some commas missing at the prologue. It was brilliantly and beautifully written.

As a puzzle storygame, the primary goal is to survive against zombies, keeping your health stat from reaching 0.

Essentially there are three stat categories you need to keep in mind: ammunition, health and score. Similar to El Paso, you need to be very calculative when it comes to types of weapons chosen. Depending on the terrain, the physical build of the zombie, the tactic a mob uses and the type of weapon chosen, you could take health damage, so until you figure it out, the "Go Back" link is your best friend.

As the story progresses, the weapon categories and gear change, reflecting the rise in difficulty, though I'll have to say, the hand-to-hand combat weapons are basically cheat weapons, making it too easy for the player to survive zombies, which explains getting rid of them at the trailer battle.

Generally speaking, the system is balanced and makes the game quite fun to play. It's worth replaying it over and over again, especially for me as I've yet to break the record of score 305.

Overall rating: 7/8

Final stats (just for fun):
ARROWS is 0.
BULLETS is 121.
GRENADES is 3.
HEALTH is 0.
ROCKETS is 4.
SCORE is 275.
SHELLS is 42.
SHOTS is 0.

Good story but very linear

The story is quite well-written, but unfortunately, it’s also extremely linear, with the only real choice being right at the end, and even then only one of the options leads to an epilogue. There were some areas such as the forking of the road where it seemed like there was supposed to be branching, but the author decided to reduce the scope of the story and make the protagonist choose automatically. Additionally, the structure of the story becomes very predictable and repetitive: arrive at a new place, explore by clicking every link, kill zombies and loot, meet new companion, lose old companion, rinse and repeat. There was also no real challenge throughout the story, so it just felt like I was going through the motions. The idea of *spoiler* zombies that become smarter over time was an interesting premise, and I wish it was explored further.

Love the twists and turns with the different partners, and the weapons mechanic! Very compelling read, doesn't take itself too seriously.

Only thing is, that curveball in the beginning had me frustrated for a good minute.

It was one of the best things I've ever read! Entertaining, heart-wrenching, and makes your heart race! Highly recommended!
(I ran out of ammo and couldn't use shells after blowing up the ***** (Can't spoil it, sillies! :D ). Score was 127, I think. I'd like to see how far others can get!)

That was fun!

Well, I was fooled by the first death scene on my first play through, so that might have been a little too convincing before I was invested in the story. But Mizal clued me in and so I went back to try again and really enjoyed it.

The story did not seem to take itself too seriously which made it fun, and the game elements and use of items really added to the story. Really nice work. I will probably go back through it a time or two just to see what different choices I can make.

Overall, I definitely recommend playing this.

I've beaten the game! Oddly satisfying to mow down zombie after zombie