How to Survive Review

     Hello everyone and happy Wednesday, been awhile.  Today I will taking a game from the ever growing shelf of the zombie genre, speaking of which, DYING LIGHT CAME OUT THIS WEEK, WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!  Parkour zombie game, open world with cutting edge graphics and a bitching weapons crafting system, sadly since it came out today, I will not be reviewing it for another week or two.  So until then another zombie game off Steam thats fun for a quick run through.  How to Survive is a zombie game developed by 505 Games
set on a chain of islands, as it seems all indie zombie games that came out after Dead Island must follow this standard.  Anyways, you are an immune survivor that survived a storm and now must escape, also the plot of Dead Island.  What this game has that Dead Island doesn't is a poorly voiced Russian guy named Kovac who guides you through parts of the game, teaches you how to survive, and adds some humor to a game with the most erie soundtrack ever.  Meaning they took a violin and smashed it into a organ over and over again.  After you gather your wits and some food, you set off on an adventure of untold propor....., just got beaten to death by twenty zombies.  Okay then lets try again, game puts you back to the intro sequence after hours of exploration and progress, (flip table).  The first problem one will face is poor controls, and when fighting a horde of zombies with a stick, its nice to have an idea whats going on.  Second problem, crappy save system that only allows saves at safe zones and after missions are completed.  I'm the kind of gamer who likes to explore before the game starts to find some gear so I don't get whacked, something that seems to be necessary in recent releases that require you to have good gear to survive the next level, but without telling you need it.  However once you progress a little into the game it becomes quiet enjoyable.  The game utilizes a crafting-survival system that seems to go hand in hand with zombie games these days.  You can mash a stick and a rock together to get a mace or some mechanical parts, an air compressor with a barrel to get a homemade air gun.  Hunger and thirst are also thrown into the mix, you have to kill animals and cook them or scavenge for berries.  Water has to be taken from a well and can be put in bottles to save for later, the player must also sleep when tired to retain stamina and mental health. The combat it decent enough with silly animations that kill enemies in two to three hits depending on the weapon.

Well, shit

  With each new island comes new forms of zombies, some stronger, others are brought back to life from lightning for some reason.  The problem is new zombies equal new glitches with some reanimating after death, not because their zombies, just randomly coming back to life after they've been killed.  Armor can also be made to increase protection to health, and with the use of armor and weapons, stamina is increased along with max health.  Also, your character can be added to the ever growing list of silent protagonists that telepathically communicate with NPCs who speak to you like you speak back leading to some awkward situations.  Co-op is also an included feature that allows you to tackle challenges outside of story mode with friends. Overall I'd call How to Survive pretty good for an independent studio that was worth three bucks and a few hours of my time.  Hope you all enjoyed and I will back next week with more reviews.  This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.

trailer