I honestly can't believe that I'm writing this, but yes, the figure responsible for nearly half a dozen broken, unfinished, and ethically dubious games is at it yet again with, can you believe it, another zombie survival game.
Developed by Free Reign Entertainment and helmed by none other than the infamous Sergey Titov, Outbreak: New Dawn is being positioned as a spiritual successor to the highly controversial The World Z (which went on to be renamed to Infestation: Survivor Stories), and will likely look familiar to anyone who has been following the studio's work for the last 8 years or so.
The game is being built on Free Reign's proprietary Nightshade Engine, because of course it is, and will without a doubt be set in a vaguely Eastern European post-apocalypse. In a recent interview with PCGamer, Titov himself confirmed that Outbreak is currently made up of roughly 60% of the assets from a previous, albeit identical title - Shattered Skies - which was itself a rehash of The War Z. Point being, if you've ever played a title that has Titov's name attached to it, you already know what you're going to get with Outbreak: New Dawn.
It shouldn't be surprising that the gameplay is also identical to that of its predecessors. Players will be trekking the same forests and rummaging through the same decrepit buildings in search of weapons and supplies. The only discernible change to the formula is that - and take this with a boulder-sized grain of salt - the number of on-screen zombies is going to be upped significantly to create more horde-like scenarios for survivors to overcome. As described on the game's official website, a new AI system will allow for "hundreds of zombies [to be] on screen at [the] same time without breaking a sweat."
Although Outbreak: New Dawn is only in alpha, the price of admission is a little steep even if you somehow dismiss the developer's not-so-stellar track record when it comes to sticking by their products for the long term. The game can be purchased in one of three tiers that each include varying incentives to become an early adopter, with the lowest being $29.99, and the highest being a staggering $99.99.
Were the game being released on Steam, it would join a myriad of titles developed by Titov that, at best, achieved Mixed reviews before being abandoned. However, the decision to self-publish Outbreak: New Dawn was likely made to avoid any undesirable connections to those. That said, Titov tells PCGamer that a Steam release is planned for the game's full release, but we all know that day is never coming.
