Zombie protagonist games like Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, Resident Evil and countless others have offered a single solution for surviving a zombie apocalypse: kill ’em hard and kill ’em fast. What if the key to surviving a world overrun by staggering corpses is to use your brain rather than the biggest gun available?
Undead Labs chief Jeff Strain had this very thought after watching how survivors reacted to zombie invasions in films like Zombieland and the more recent phenomenon of AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead.’ Certain characters approached the dire circumstances in different ways; some would hole up in a camp and try to wait it out, only leaving to find rations. Others would be more aggressive and constantly try to stay on the move.
Jeff and his studio are hoping to successfully translate the concept of mentally outsmarting a zombie apocalypse to the console video game world. To do so, they’ve partnered with Microsoft and will release Class3 (a codename) exclusively on Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade. It’s the truncated version of a much larger third-person perspective MMO world in which players will be dropped into a zombie apocalypse and will have to build camps, find food and strategize a means to survive.
Players dropped into Class3 will quickly and painfully realize that the zombie infestation cannot be gunned down; there are simply too many of them. Players will find strength in numbers and must think their way toward living to the next day, including rescuing those “left behind.”
Undead Labs will be carefully watching players navigate Class3 and reacting to feedback as part of evolving and polishing the full game which will be released at a later date.
Thus far Jeff and his team are saying all the right things in their approach to creating a true zombie survival MMO. Let’s hope their execution backs up the talk.
There will certainly be more to share about Class3 in the months to come. In the meantime, check out the concept art that has appeared over at 1Up.
