Unturned is a very interesting and unique indie game currently being developed by Nelson Sexton who is a 17 year old game dev working on this game alone. So far Unturned is a lot like DayZ in some aspects but much more simple colored and low poly, and it really works for the games feel. It has a loot system, zombies, crafting, and multiplayer, all things you need in order to develop a game. So let’s get to the aspects of the game. This review is on the version 2.0, Nelson is currently making a 3.0 which will be much better. The game is also free so you are free (pun intended) to try it out as you please, it is on Steam.
Loot System: The loot system is very interesting as it can spawn one thing in each spot per day, this leads to the player having to find out which spots are the ones that have good loot and will have to search through many spots to find things like food, clothes, guns and ammo, water, and medical supplies. As the player progresses, they might find a map, which helps them find where they are and which direction to go to find certain things, say the player was in a town and had plenty of food, he would probably want to go to the military base to make sure he has weapons to fight off the zombies and not just have food.
The Movement: There are multiple types of movement in this game such as cars, walking, running, and sneaking. Now that may not sound very cool but it’s a cool way to go about doing things. Think about what you would do in a situation where there was a ton of zombies coming at you, you wouldn’t sneak away because they already see you, you would probably hop in the nearest car and run over them or get out of there as fast as possible. In a situation where you are trying to get into the military base without zombies noticing you, you would have to sneak past them with a crossbow to take them out or a silenced weapon.
The Combat: The combat in this game is very fun because it feels rewarding when you finally get that one special gun you want and just get to go crazy on all the zombies/players in the area, it is not the most complicated – as it is mostly point and shoot – but it’s still very fun to play around with. The zombies’ pathfinding is pretty good and they will find you once they see you, however you can sneak around them and even take them all out from a distance if you want to, all in all the combat is very fun to experiment with.
Crafting System: The crafting system in this game is absolutely NOT its strong point as it is overcomplicated and makes it very hard to manage your inventory when said inventory is full of 5 stacks of logs and tape. (I might mention that Nelson said in this interview that he will make it easier, as he himself cannot remember how to craft certain things)
The Skills: As you go on your little adventure through the map you might find that you’ve killed a lot of zombies. When you kill these zombies you will gain skill points and with these skill points you can level up your character and make him take less damage, do more damage, sprint farther, sneak better, and chop trees faster. The skill system is your friend in this game, it’s very useful and powerful and you will want to upgrade as much as possible.(Tip: Always upgrade sprint first)
The Stats: When you start your first game you will see these little bars in the bottom. These are the water, food, infection, stamina, and health bars. These are pretty straightforward, i.e., if they go up it means you’re dying. But the one you might not know about is the infection bar. So basically if the bar goes up, your more infected and you need vitamins or antibiotics to help.
Altogether these things make up an amazing game where you can explore, create, and play with friends. Also Nelson if you see this, I hope your glad I didn’t compare it to Minecraft.