Surviving Romero’s Aftermath
As someone who does horror journalism for what some Brazilian slum-spawn would call a “mediocre wage,” I have been forced to play a staggering amount of zombie survival games. To date, I can’t really pinpoint what it is that makes one “better” than the other. I can understand when one draws a particularly large amount of ire for early releases, developer abandonment, and general pay-to-win greed, but it’s hard for me to tell qualitatively which is superior. While I of course see the appeal in a game so difficult and immersive that you can lick the dew off of your car hood in the early morning for moisture if you are willing to take the decreased vitality and rust poisoning, I prefer my games to be fun. I generally make it to my third bullshit death before throwing up my hands and going back to some casual game with a more forgiving death system like Dark Souls.
Suffice it to say, I was about 2% excited when I saw this come across my “to-do” list. This was further curtailed by the association of the studio with The War Z/Infestation: Survivor Stories, a game of almost comical mismanagement that deserves an article all its own. I seriously considered just not replying to their email, writing it off as another attempt from a corrupt studio to trick us all into playing the same game all over again. I was going to write some article titled “The War Z Rises Again” and trash it, but journalistic integrity got the better of me, and I agreed to their interview.
GOD NO PLEASE NOT ANOTHER ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GAME!
PART 1: THE INTERVIEW
So on the sunny and swelteringly hot afternoon of Tuesday the 22nd of September, I dropped into the game for the first time with my tour guide, Adam Skidmore. Lead designer on the project, he is better known by his streaming handle, Artemis Knives. I was pretty shocked to find that he was the lead designer, as his legacy is dual The War Z streamer and one of the biggest critics of the game. He gained popularity as someone who both enjoyed the game and was not afraid to criticize its flaws and, as I learned was actually asked by the developers to help them improve the game. During our time together, he recounted his frustration working with the studio, friendship with the devs, and eventual split to create their own title. Not at all shy about their previous work, there was an earnest desire to separate Aftermath from The War Z/Infestation. This is a new studio staffed by experienced devs, so don’t assume that it’s all just the same bullshit.
I have no stock in making sure this game does well, so don’t assume that think this is some kind of propaganda. Given that Steam and the general internet community as a whole has decided that lambasting this game is what all the cool kids are doing, I’m not going to win any favors by just saying I kind of liked the game. As someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy these kinds of games, Romero’s Aftermath hits some good notes for me. It isn’t perfect, and I can’t ignore the numerous cash shop boosters, but mechanically the game did a lot to bridge the gap between the hardcore zombie game and the more casual gamer.
Unless the gap is between you and your friend, huddling on top of a car for protection, and a dude across the street with an assault rifle and 500 rounds. Then that gap is bridged with your dead body.
So after spawning, I was teleported by Adam to a serene lakeside house, programmed free of zombies and perfect to get me acquainted with the basics. Walking me through the menus, I was pleased to find something other than the typical overwhelming sprawl I had become used to. It doesn’t seem a compliment these days to call a crafting system rudimentary, but the hundred selection deep menus of many crafting survival games have put me in the mood for something a bit more manageable. Fires can be used to heal and cook food, bottles store water, etc., and it all boils down to a very simple resource system. Every item breaks down into one of 10 crafting components, and every craftable item is made up of those components. So you don’t have to worry about finding duct tape, a pair of scissors, a cloth, and some string to make a scissor shank, and are free to break everything down when you find it and not clutter up your limited inventory with hoards of vaguely useful stuff.
Pictured Here: stuff being made into stuff
After getting through the basics, Adam tossed me some guns and warped me to one of the PVE “Liberations.” A zone filled with an exceptional amount of zombies, players can clear it out after activating a generator with a filled gas can. Once cleared out, airdrops will begin delivering high quality loot. Loot tables within these zones are also boosted, making them compelling objectives. A difficulty tier system allows for a raid-like progression, where players gear up at lower tier Liberations before facing the end game ones. What’s really cool about these zones is that there is generally one or more “hidden” lootable areas, accessed through either a jumping puzzle or some clever exploration. As someone who spends many an intoxicated night just dicking around and looking for new stuff in the games I play, this really appeals to me.
Combat wise, it’s all pretty simple. Shoot zombies in the head and they die. They gave me a bunch of guns and melee weapons to play around with, and ran me through the weapon skin system. Counter-Strike style loot chests can be found randomly in the world, and more commonly at high level liberations. Opening them requires a key, which extremely rarely can be found in the world, but realistically you will have to buy. A roulette wheel spins through the available skins and rewards you with one. The skins all looked pretty cool, and if that’s your thing, have at it. I have to be absurdly into a game to pay money for cosmetics, but as far as I could tell, it’s a run-of-the-mill cosmetics system in an F2P game.
Clearly a better investment than hats.
Mechanically, I liked a lot of it. Sprinting and attacks don’t consume stamina, because heaven forbid I want to get from point A to point B and kill stuff without resource management. Nighttimes are never dark enough to require a torch or flashlight, because maybe I want to be able to play my game without having take breaks to cower in a corner and wait. Sniper rifles are extremely rare and have a negative damage modifier at close range, because sniper rifles are to zombie survival games what AIDS was to the casual sex community: everyone experienced has it, and it’s killing it for people that just want to try it out. There are dedicated PVE servers, letting me just explore around without fear of being headshotted from the single mountain a mile away I forgot to check. The base building and crafting are simple, removing much of the disconnect between resource management and good ol’ zombie/people slaying.
I mean, at least I can be within viewing distance of the major cities without being sniped. That’s a plus, right?
PART 2: FRESH RUN
Two days later, I drop into the game alone. Naked, I confidently look out into the waste, assured that my skills will prove sufficient to tackle the problems of the waste. No recipes, no guns, no magical teleporting genie at my side. I open the ample map, pick a scavenging site, and head out. I hadn’t really realized how large and diverse the map was before. Adam had mentioned that there was a ton to see and experience on the map, with each zone offering varied loot tables. Incentive to explore is high, but I set my sights on the modest closer target. I sprint to the target, loot it dry, break down the components, and move on to the next camp.
With objectives ranging from “Worthless and Abandoned” to “Murder Traps”
This next prize proves more troublesome. There are a few zombies here, and I tentatively bait one at a time into a game of fisticuffs. I’m surprised to find that they are far easier to kill than I anticipated, being permanently stunned when I chain whack them in the jaw. A couple minute of circle strafing later, the camp is clear, and I loot my prize. Unfortunately, my inventory is now full, making every pick up a tedious game of grab, open inventory, disassemble, repeat. I find my first blueprint, a schematic for a makeshift silencer, which goes oh so well with my no gun and zero bullets. I figure that a nearby farm will have better loot, and head out.
I should mention at this point that I am playing on a PVE server with about 80 people. I haven’t run into anyone yet, and upon reaching the farm I find out why. A good half dozen players are all here, running from item spawn point to item spawn point, playing a Ring Around the Rosie of trying to beat everyone else to the loot. I decide to forgo joining in the daisy chain in favor of checking out a nearby gas station, hoping that this one will be more sparsely populated.
Much to my surprise, it is almost abandoned. The houses are full of several loot drops each, and the gas station itself provides me a smorgasbord of loot. I find a crowbar to replace my ineffectual fists, a plethora of crafting resources, a new backpack, and even a handgun. I still have no bullets yet, but I’m on my way towards being ready for the big boy servers. Even with my new pack, my inventory is near full. I’m running out of water at this point, and am a bit letdown to find that nothing but bottles will function as water containers. Empty juice boxes and cans don’t function as makeshift water bottles, and I still haven’t found the recipe for a bottle. I decide that now is the time to head to town and maybe trade for one.
While some of the gas stations are just that, others are attached to small towns. You’ll have to explore to figure out which ones are the prime locations.
Upon arriving to town, I find it almost empty. This seems strange on a PVE server, as I imagined these safe zones would prove bustling hubs of jolly cooperation. I go to the item shop, but so far only have $72, which isn’t enough to buy a water bottle. I also find that I can’t access the global inventory, which I suspect is the reason behind the town’s deserted state. I messaged the devs about this, and found that this was intentional. The logic is that they don’t want people just hoarding supplies on the low stakes PVE servers and transferring gobs of stuff onto the PVP servers. You can take what you can carry, and that’s it. Nothing is stopping you from depositing those resources into your bank once you transfer to PVP, but since spawns are random there’s always the risk of getting gunned down before you can make it to base.
After looting a few more bases, I finally find a water bottle and some pistol ammo. I find crafting recipes for a barricade, a rifle, and a chocolate shake. I still can’t make rifle ammo, so the rifle recipe at this point is dead in my inventory. With my limited pack capacity, there isn’t much more I can do here, so I decide it’s time to test my luck on the PVP servers.
Sup bro, welcome to PVP! I’ll be your first enemy, Mr. Plays This Game Like A Job. I’ll be taking your stuff now.
I actually make it all the way to base after loading in, depositing my meager earnings into a dozen of my 100 global bank slots. This server is only medium population, with about 50 people, so I decide it is safe to check out the nearby military base. Armed with my pistol, a dozen rounds, a crowbar, and my cherished bottle of water, I head out.
Before I am swiftly dispatched with extreme prejudice, I find that the loot tables here have been upgraded. More ammo, bottles, weapons, and backpacks litter the various camps and bases, focusing more on the PVP aspect. I stopped at a couple small camps on the way without incident, and was about halfway through the military base before I encounter my first player. I’m no scrub, I know how these games go, so I ready my pistol and take aim. After firing a few rounds, I am quickly mowed down by his liberal shotgun blasts. Goodbye pistol, water bottle, and level 3 backpack.
I respawn a few more times here, and the tale is much the same every time. I spawn in, run to a base, and get mowed down by the same makeshift shotgun or assault rifle every time. It is fucking maddening. I wind up having to go back to the PVE server to farm up, try my best to get something resembling a fighting chance, before getting mowed down again and again by the same makeshift guns. How the fuck does everyone have a gun but me?
PART 3: THE ISSUE
Well, it all comes down to that linchpin of F2P games: the cash shop. For a nominal fee, you can buy the crafting recipes that you occasionally find in the wild. There are several “packs” of recipes, focused towards base building, weapons, survival, etc. For 10 bucks, you can just buy access to the starting guns and ammo recipes, and for a few more dollars per spawn you can just go to the store and buy them outright. You can also buy randomized resource cases, which further up your early game survivability by not being removed from your inventory on death. Drop another 10 bucks on some cases, and you’re set to respawn with a decently full inventory for the next few lives.
Pictured Here: everyone else’s starting inventory
It is incredibly aggravating for new players to run into this barrier, and monetizes the worst part of the game. No one wants to be the scrub who can’t find a gun, and for a nominal fee, you can not be that scrub! It’s a free to play game, so they have to make money, but what they essentially have set up is a system where players that buy in can have their fill slaughtering the hapless players that decide not to buy in. They made the game pay-to-win at this most crucial stage.
I talked to Adam about this, and he essentially said two main things. The first is that the high end items can only be found scavenging, making the long term experience much more balanced between F2P and P2P players. The game has no upfront cost, so if they don’t offer some kind of incentive to pay, they won’t be able to keep the lights on. As a starving artist myself, it’s an argument that I can understand. As a gamer, it just feels kind of slimy.
Just to be clear, I am totally fine with charging idiots to have glowing aliens on their chest.
I have seen both sides of this game. Seeing the endgame in the interview, the potential for this game is inspiring. Everyone dreams of building a base with their friends and having to fight over control of Liberation zones against hordes of both zombies and other players. The focus on scavenging and PVE content makes establishing a settlement with a group of allies more rewarding than just having a place to hang out. Going out to find high end gear to expand your group’s arsenal can be done solo, while larger raids can be tackled in groups. The weapon specialization means players can take up roles, instead of each player functioning as a one man army.
I fuckin’ DARE you to touch my radishes
It’s a shame that the game will likely never grow to that point, since the early game is so detrimental to this playstyle. Players that want this kind of long term, slow growth experience are not the same who just want to buy guns and shoot unarmed noobs. The impatient and wealthy will buy the crafting packs and hundreds of loot boxes, and proceed to dominate those that spawn with nothing but their fists and gumption. They will eventually tire of this and move onto the next flavor of the month, but by then the damage will be done. Genuinely interested and dedicated players will tire of being curb stomped, and move on to a game with an upfront cost and no advantages.
I don’t want to scare players off from Aftermath, as there’s stuff here that I’m sure people will like. With no cost to give it a shot, I can see people having a pretty good time with the PVE servers. I hope that the devs will make the game more accessible to new players, which would require almost entirely removing the ability to buy into the tier 1 and 2 gear. I don’t know how likely this is to happen. I’ll probably keep playing for a bit, just to see how it changes in months to come. Hopefully I’ll have a less somber report then, but as it stands now I can’t tell how well this is going to pan out. There’s a lot to polish and a lot to change. Give it a try, and see if you think the potential is worth the flaws.
Categorized:Editorials Horror Gaming News
