Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days is an interesting change to the game’s newest addition to the series.
Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is a gripping 2.5D side-scrolling survival experience developed by PikPok, one of New Zealand’s top game studios. Known for mobile titles like the Rival Stars series and Clusterduck, PikPok returns with the third installment in the Into the Dead series. This time, however, they’ve taken a bold new direction. Departing from the first-person shooter style of previous entries, Our Darkest Days blends strategic gameplay and shelter management with horror elements, all wrapped in a beautifully designed 2.5D world.
Published by PikPok and Boltray Games, Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is set in 1980s Texas, in the fictional Walton City. Once thriving, the city is now overrun by a relentless zombie outbreak. You take on the role of the leader of a small, desperate band of survivors trying to escape the chaos. Survival is your top priority as you lead your group from one safehouse to another, scavenge for crucial supplies, craft life-saving tools, and fend off waves of the undead.
Every decision you make matters. The game emphasizes strategic planning, strong team coordination, and constant movement. Staying in one place too long or making the wrong call could lead to the death of one or all of your group.
The core gameplay loop revolves around scavenging missions, during which players must carefully plan each move while balancing the physical and mental well-being of their survivors. The ultimate goal? Escape the city.
The current version of the game offers two unique escape plans that lead to a successful ending, giving players different paths to explore and replay. At Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days’ outset, players choose from five different survivor groups, each with distinct pros and cons. You begin with just two survivors, each carrying two positive traits and one negative trait.
This system adds layers of complexity and encourages players to tailor their strategies to their team’s strengths and weaknesses. Take Daphne, for example. She’s skilled at both first aid training and cooking, which allows her to craft more efficiently in the medical area. Her recipes generate more food at the cooking station.
However, for every good trait, the game balances it out with one bad, such as she is a pacifist, which in turn means that her damage is a lot less than that of her companion. Penny, her partner, is a “Blade Expert” and has a better time being “sneaky,” meaning she has increased damage when using any bladed weapons and passively makes a lot less noise when out scavenging. Her downside is the “Haunted” trait, which may trigger a trauma state when attacked by the undead.
Each survivor’s combination of abilities forces players to think critically and on their toes about resource allocation and team composition. The inclusion of a dismantling station helps alleviate some limitations, but it’s clear that every decision has consequences, especially when supplies are low or a mission goes wrong.
Survivors must manage three core needs: hunger, rest, and morale. Food is required to stave off hunger, sleep helps avoid fatigue, and morale affects their willingness to fight and cooperate. As your team grows, keeping up with all three needs becomes increasingly complex, making this game feel like a crash course in crisis management. Sometimes, hard choices must be made, and sacrifices may be necessary to ensure the group’s survival.
One of the more important mechanics is scavenging. Scavenging is a vital, albeit dangerous, part of Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days. At each location, players can acquire four main types of resources: base resources, weapons, medical supplies, and food.
These are essential for crafting tools, healing injuries, and keeping everyone alive. Survivors can suffer physical wounds like broken ribs or psychological traumas such as nightmares and grief. Each of these conditions impacts performance, and ignoring them can lead to devastating consequences.
Noise is a major factor during scavenging missions. Zombies are drawn to sound, so stealth and vigilance are key. Locations don’t respawn loot once cleared, so you must constantly move to new areas, increasing the danger as the game progresses. Missions are turn-based, split between Day and Night phases, each with five segments for action. Actions like dismantling or upgrading cost segments, and players must use them wisely.
A scavenging run ends only when survivors safely return to the shelter, so players are under constant time pressure. Strategic planning is essential, especially when venturing into zombie-infested zones with limited supplies and fragile morale.
When it comes to facilities and shelter management, survival isn’t just about fighting zombies; it’s also about building and maintaining your shelter. The game features five critical workstations: the workbench, weapons bench, medical area, cooking area, and communal area.
The workbench is where players start and serves as the hub for crafting basic tools and upgrading other facilities. The Weapons Bench allows for stronger weapons, necessary due to the limited durability of found gear. The medical area creates healing items essential for treating the numerous injuries your survivors will face.
The cooking area helps produce meals that reduce hunger more effectively, and the Communal Area boosts morale. Although the communal area doesn’t unlock new recipes, it plays a pivotal role in managing the mental health of your survivors.
Upgrades also extend to shelter features like portable beds, which are crucial for allowing rest in less-than-ideal conditions. Barricades help strengthen safehouses against increasingly brutal nighttime zombie assaults. Meanwhile, the Dismantling Station allows players to break down scavenged items into valuable resources, crucial for long-term survival and resource recycling.
Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days’ control scheme is simple and intuitive, allowing players to quickly grasp the mechanics. However, while the controls are beginner-friendly, the true challenge lies in mastering its deep strategy and resource management systems. Each scavenging run is unique, and not all end well, but that’s part of the experience. Every failure offers a chance to learn, adapt, and approach things differently next time.
Because players can choose different starting survivors, each with their own traits, replayability is high. Experimenting with new strategies and combinations keeps gameplay fresh. And with Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days still in early access, there’s potential for expanded content, new survivors, and added strategic elements that will make the game even more compelling.
One of the most standout features of Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is its great sound and atmosphere design. From the eerie ambiance to the subtle audio cues of approaching danger, the game creates an immersive soundscape that intensifies the horror atmosphere.
The soundtrack for Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is well crafted and doesn’t grow tiresome even after extended gameplay sessions. Voice acting is minimal but impactful, adding emotional depth to the characters without overshadowing the gameplay. Overall, the sound design helps elevate the entire experience, making every moment tense and immersive, especially in locations overrun with zombies.
Visually, Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is nothing short of stunning. The 2.5D graphics style is meticulously crafted, showcasing a retro-1980s horror aesthetic. The game draws inspiration from punk and new wave culture, which is evident in everything from character designs to environment details. PikPok’s unique visual direction brings this decaying world to life in a way that’s both haunting and captivating.
Atmospheric lighting and richly detailed backgrounds further enhance immersion. Whether you’re exploring crumbling suburban streets or navigating dimly lit interiors, the visuals keep you on edge and emotionally invested.
Final Verdict of Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days delivers a powerful blend of strategy, horror, and emotional storytelling. By moving away from its action-focused roots, the series now explores deeper, more engaging gameplay that challenges players to think critically, plan ahead, and make difficult choices. With its accessible controls, rich survivor dynamics, immersive audio-visual presentation, and deep strategic layers, it stands as one of the more compelling entries in the survival genre.
Whether you’re fortifying your shelter, scavenging for vital supplies, or making the tough call on who gets to rest and who goes hungry, every choice in this game carries weight. If you’re a fan of survival games with strong narrative hooks and meaningful consequences, Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is a must-play and one to keep an eye on as it continues to grow in early access.
