Developer: Pixeye Games
Publisher: Pixeye Games
Platform: PC
Tested On: PC
Until We Die – Review
When we got our hands on Until We Die it was a pre-launch title that was almost finished. Until We Die is a game when you are playing it, hours melt away and you feel like a king when surviving multiple nights without too many losses. The developers made the bad decision of holding out the save function until full release, only to find out that there is a critical bug in the system that keeps the function from working. Because a full playthrough will take you anywhere between six to eight hours, many people decided to skip buying this title before this bug was fixed. So, after all this riffraff you might wonder how great the game really is, and believe us, you will get sucked into the game and leave with an addictive feeling to make it until the end. After nearly a month, the developers finally added the option to save.
Story
The story in Until We Die is a bit vague at first, but as you find fragments scattered around the metro you find yourself in, it will be added to your journal. It all starts when a strange meteorite storm comes down on Earth and strange spores emanate from these meteorite pieces. After a short moment, mutants and plants grew from the spores and started attacking the population. As a result, many died and those who survived retreated to the underground metro tunnels. Having to build a base and survive, the team needs to survive 28 days before being able to move to another location. For the time being, there is only one location and story fragments are rare. These fragments only give short segments about a few known facts, like what the spores are, how they are spreading, and what scientists have found out in the short time between the outbreak and sheltering. The progression is based on when you find the story segments and in what order. Luckily, you can just check these in your journal.
Graphics
Until We Die uses retro-inspired pixel graphics and high-quality animations to bring the player a true feast for the eyes. The tunnels in the metro are dark, creepy, and overgrown by alien invaders. You can easily see who is hurt, with characters becoming bloodier as their health drops. Weapons that are being used leave shells behind, and the bodies of fallen comrades will stay for a while so you can mourn your fallen allies. The tunnels are in a serious state of disrepair and many places need some cleaning up first, revealing the Soviet architecture and the shelters of other survivors.
Sound
The sounds and music in the game are amazing, from the great sound effects such as the frequent fights, defeating mutants, guns firing, doors opening to the typical Soviet war songs being sung by the trolley driver. When traveling through the tunnels, you will have a variety of soft background music playing, depending on where you are, and if there is danger nearby.
Gameplay
Until We Die is a side-scrolling strategy game and has elements from a roguelike game. You will have to manage your base while gathering resources and scavenging for survivors in a tunnel that is rapidly filling with mutants ready to feast on your flesh. The game starts by choosing a commander to lead the survivors in the metro. Each commander has a unique weapon and ability, and while their health is the same, they are best picked based on your playstyle. You and three civilians are brought to a tunnel by trolley, and your comrade promises to bring you scrap and civilians each day as long as you give him some food to take with him. Your main activity in the metro will be to scavenge for spare parts and food while building and improving your base and micromanaging the survivors living within your walls.
The tunnels are dangerous and exploring them is never safe. Your day is split into three segments, daylight, thickening mist, and nighttime. During daylight, you are pretty safe but can still be ambushed by mutants roaming the tunnels. After a while the fog will thicken, announcing that nighttime is coming. In the fog, it is hard to see when you are getting attacked, yet you have a bit of time to retreat to your base. Luckily, the allies’ A.I. is smart enough to retreat behind cover when the mist is coming. Building and assigning workers to the walls will keep them safe for a while, but you must invest in your base if you want to make it until the end. In your base, you’ll certainly need an engineer and versatile shovel soldiers. An engineer can quickly build structures and fix them while shovel soldiers are the Swiss pocket knives of survival. They will need to clear rubble and destroy overgrowth, so it doesn’t spawn extra mutants by night. Keep in mind, it takes a whole day for a workshop to spawn a new unit, so be careful not to lose anyone.
Exploring the metro will become available as you research new improvements with found science and an engineer working in the laboratory. Controlling the game is really easy and can be done with one hand, as you only need to move and use two commands to instruct your followers to do tasks or to follow you. We can go on and on about everything in the game, but as the gameplay is rather short, it’s better for you to discover the things on your own. Before the save function was fixed you had to complete the game in one sitting. Now the game saves at the start of every day; and when you decide to quit, it records the exact place where you are and saves your progress on the spot.
Conclusion
Until We Die would have gotten an immensely high score if the save function would have worked on its full release. The graphics and sounds are of such a high quality that you want to keep playing thanks to the addictive gameplay. Managing your team and scavenging for resources is fun, and we are glad the save function has finally been added to the game. Otherwise, it was nearly impossible to clear the game in one sitting. While overall the game is somewhat of a bite-sized snack for in-between bigger releases, it has more replay value and content than you might think at first glance.
No Comments