UNDYING (PS4) | An In-Depth Review

Unlike most zombie survival games centered purely around visceral weapon combat and survival, "UNDYING" takes it a step further into a heart wrenching story driven experience wherein the relationship between a young boy, and his infected mother see them involved in a dire situation. 

Having tried to evacuate via military assistance in an attempt that failed Angling and her son Cody escape to their house where things begin to escalate. Not only was Angling, the mother of Cody, infected during the ordeal, but now she must work against time to prepare her son for survival in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by the undead.

It is through hands-on doing, and teaching that Angling is able to teach Cody the skills he needs to survive. This is done at their home residence, and abroad via vehicular traversal through the application of looted materials at different work benches and interactions. Angling, and Cody will scavenge for materials to upgrade the benches and their production capabilities as well as find items for nourishment, and medical assistance during daytime and nighttime cycles. Weapons also come into play, but for varying reasons. Not all threats in this war torn hellscape are undead, as you'll find out. Dealing with them will require both the use of Angling's combat skills, and Cody's command based assists. 

Gameplay, in UNDYING, is overall task motivated missions in tedium wherein you will need to pause occasionally to make sure Angling and Cody are doing alright. That they are rested, fed, and given water as well as medical attention if need be. As Angling you'll also be tasked with getting Cody to observe what your are doing until he learns the skills necessary to do the same. Cody, himself, has three skill trees pertaining to crafting, survival, and gathering. He will learn through Angling how to use the workbenches, and tools needed from day to day. He will also learn how to fortify, store items, and use his slingshot as well as follow given commands. 

Often times Angling will need to stop and check on Cody, and to comfort him in scary situations. In doing so, explaining away the gritty details of why she did what she did. Story elements are drip fed through their continued conversations, and are built upon by things like newspaper clippings detailing the zombie apocalypse, and peoples' response to it. 

As Angling, the infected protagonist, you must mind your limited backpack space, and be sure to store and put to use materials at the workbenches as missions come to light. The backpack like the other workbenches can be upgraded as can some of the items within it such as the weapons, food, and medical supplies. Most items have a use limitation that must be minded including weapons like the baseball bat. 

Outside of the survival, tutoring, and gathering you will find that story missions are beholden to completing worldly objectives centered around the human and undead population. That, and things like modes of transportation or finding new tools that will lead to Cody learning new skills through observation. 

In total there are three ways to play this game, three different difficulty settings. There's the tamer easy mode equivalent, normal, and fierce. Each difficulty setting comes with progressively more challenging gameplay experiences, and bonus benefits for Cody, or the lack thereof. Going easy will make the post-apocalypse more doable wherein normal, and fierce add more aggressive elements to the survival portion of the game. 

Making your way from start to finish will not only net you the usual PSN trophies, but will also earn you comic relief cosmetics that will allow for some lighthearted cosplay moments in this otherwise dreary tale. These are the incentives for completing each difficulty.

The Presentation ...

UNDYING is a world of faceless people, and faceless zombies done up in a polygonal art style on an isometric 3D landscape filled with interactive set pieces, and stage transitions. There are dead bodies with gore and blood scattered about as well as the rotten corpses of the walking dead giving the game a more mature appearance. For the most part the color scheme is made of drab greens, and browns, but in the mix are highlights of red. It's as you'd imagine the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse would look like. Sound-wise it's a melancholy, and somber orchestral composition that maintains the mood throughout with escalating hints of heightened tension.

The Verdict ...

While the premise of a zombie survival game centered around the relationship of an infected mother, and her young son is compelling the voice acting, and dialogue does not play enough into the emotional aspect of it. While there is some sense of feelings there the voiced delivery, and textual conversations seem too short lived, and too to the point. 

Outside of that the survival gameplay is par for the course if you don't account for the learning/teaching mechanics and mother/son interactive dynamics. The latter of which are innovative, but do not carry the experience to a peak of greatness. This game could have been so much more impactful had the storytelling been better. That being said, it's not trash or shovelware. It suffices for a zombie survival game with a heart breaking familial relationship twist.