Unturned is a 3-D, free-to-play (Kinda), early access zombie survival game by Nelson Sexton, who I should add that when he developed this game was only 17. It’s easily one of my favorite games in my library, with simple, minecraft blocky graphics, music thats utterly beautiful and sticks to the very core of zombie survival: Loot, kill, survive. That, and playing with friends is an incredibly fun experience. Whilst it is still in early access, it has plenty of potential and massive room for expansion.
You start Unturned dumped into a map of your choice, as of this article there are only two: Arena – which is a more pvp scenario map, and PEI (Prince Edward Island) which is where you’ll probably spend most of your time playing. As you spawn, you’ll be as fresh and naked as a newborn baby and assuming you spawn within a town or building, you’ll make a beeline for the building and start searching for gear. Whilst the maps may not be randomly generated, the loot inside buildings is, so one spawn you might be lucky and find a pair of sailor pants, a lumberjack shirt and a baseball bat. Other spawns you might be lucky to find a stick. This presents an interesting panic start to the game, one that you SHOULD feel in a zombie survival scenario. So, all booted up and equipped with Nes’s baseball bat, you’ll probably start to hear groans and grunts and turn around to see a zombie waving at you through the window. This is where the fun starts.
The fun starts when you swing madly at the zombie who will keep chasing you till you die, mixing light and heavy attacks with the left and right mouse button until its just a corpse on the ground, surrounded by pixelated blood and you’re exhausted. You’ll be exhausted because there is a stamina bar, which like most things can be upgraded with the XP you get from senselessly beating up zombies. The pure joy from this melee combat is that every time you connect, blood erupts from the zombie (Or other player) and covers the area. Whilst it might sound gruesome, its slightly satisfying and gives real indication on the damage you’re inflicting, albeit that all attacks make the same amount of blood come out, so there is not real indicator that you’re seriously damaging whatever you’re hitting. The zombies themselves are programmed just right, being stupid enough on their own, much like Static, but in groups they’ll swarm you and eventually overwhelm you.
Speaking of weapons, this game has a plethora available. Melee weapons range from baseball bats to Katanas, which is the most OP at this time, ranged weapons from a simple bow to a crossbow, and guns from a simple 9mm pistol to an Outfield (Most of the named weapons are simple play on original names e.g Outfield = Enfield, Desert Falcon = Desert Eagle). Most of the ranged weapons also have customization options, the system functions very much like Crisis, in that you hold your gun infront of you and you can apply certain additions to certain places. In a game designed as simply as this, its a really nice detailed feature, and makes for an attachment (No pun intended) to the weapons. Also, the weapons use different ammo and clips, adding to the complexity and adding rareness to the best guns. Got a weapon that uses a NATO Clip? Good luck finding them! But thats what keeps me playing this game, hoping to find a NATO clip whilst murdering countless zombies is utterly amusing.
The game also features that old zombie game cliche almost of “Sound attracts zombies”, whilst its not original, it does make firing a rifle in the middle of a town dangerous as you’ll see zombies pour out of every building in site, waving their blocky arms at you like you were Justin Bieber surrounded by adolescent fans. The map PEI is large for an early access game, with three towns, a golf course, military base and three islands with surprises on them. Having an island to explore this big straight away was brilliant, especially when I got friends involved and we fortified a Barn on a farm and began to horde all available supplies. Friends make this game even more special, adding to the charm and quirk that the game already has when you watch one of your friends get mauled by several zombies never gets old.
Unturned also has vehicles. Ranging from simple 2 seater cars to fire trucks, which can carry six of your chums around the place. It makes traversing the island easy, but in this stage of the game, they seem to guzzle down fuel, regardless of what car it is, but I’ll forgive it because smashing into one of your friends- I mean a zombie with your car on the last choke of fuel is hilarious.
I know some of you may be thinking “TD, it’s just dayZ but minecraft! It has crafting and looting, but dayZ is far better!” And I’d 100% disagree with you. I understand that dayZ is built on an old engine, but Unturned was made by a single 17 year old. The gameplay is 100x more enjoyable, and from when I’ve managed to hop onto a random server, the community isn’t infested with shoot on site bandits. But thats just my opinion, guess I’ve already signed my death warrant by putting it on the internet, but meh.
Overall, this game is one you should defiantly check out. Its free-to-play but it has an interesting twist, you can play it in all its glory for free, or pay (At the time of writing) £3.99 for a gold upgrade, which basically gives you more character customization choices and a gamemode with more loot avaliable, I played a significant time before I paid the money and can honestly say its the best way to encourage people to donate to the game.
Unturned is developed by Nelson Sexton. You can find it on Steam for free! Article written for Spirit of the Robot by TD.
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