Prepare for an all-out adrenaline rush as Dazzling Divine, both the developer and publisher, unleashes a relentless zombie-infested thrill ride. In this action-packed survival adventure, you’ll blast through waves of the undead across a beautifully twisted world teeming with danger.

From eerie, abandoned ruins to treacherous depths of mutated swamplands, every step forward is a fight to stay alive. Armed with an arsenal of guns, melee weapons, and explosives, it’s time to dive headfirst into the chaos and see if you’ve got what it takes to survive the carnage. 

If you are used to the zombie survival horror recipe, then you will be used to this game before you even start. You are in the role of a lone survivor navigating a world overrun by a failed experiment that turned everyone into zombies, and you have no recollection of what even happened because you were asleep. You’re left to piece together what happened, navigating from location to location and taking out as many undead as possible.

There’s no strong central storyline or standout twists; it’s a straightforward journey with survival being the only real motivation to keep moving forward, but it lacks any real emotional depth or character development, which keeps you wanting to play this style of game. There was a good variety of weapons you could pick up, from hammers to machetes to guns, but keep in mind that ammo is not everywhere, so you will need to use it carefully. 

The controls were straightforward enough, even for casual PC gamers, with “E” being your main interaction button, which handles everything from opening doors to picking up items off the ground.

You move with W, A, S and D, and left-click to attack. If you are holding a couple of weapons, you flick the scroll wheel and you can quickly cycle between the weapons. There is nothing complex with the controls, so you can jump straight into the action without needing to feel the need to customise them for more comfortable gaming. 

The sound design in Journey Through the Undead is one of the weakest elements. The main character’s voice sounded AI-generated, which gave a flat and painfully generic tone, failing to add any weight or urgency to the situation. The zombies’ noises, while initially creepy, become incredibly repetitive within minutes, with the same few groans and shrieks looping over and over. It got to the point where I turned the master volume down for some peace and quiet.

Combat doesn’t fare much better; attacking zombies triggers the same dull, sloashing sound effect every time, lacking impact or variation. It quickly becomes so monotonous that it encourages me to avoid fights altogether, just to spare myself some audio fatigue and try to speed-run through the various zones. 

The game delivered some truly striking visuals with the eerie yet detailed environments brought to life using Unreal Engine. From the cities to the beachfronts, down to the swamps, you are given a great collection of different environments.

The game shows off impressive lighting and texture work; however, despite the graphics being well-polished, the environments often feel a bit too clean and surprisingly bright for a game centred around a zombie apocalypse.

The vibrant colours and tidy setting undercut the sense of decay and desperation, aligning with the theme of the game. Adding to that, the character models were a letdown; many of the infected looked like regular people in cheap wigs, except some of them showed some cuts and blood, which you have learnt to expect from the undead. It’s a strange construct that makes the visuals feel inconsistent despite the engine’s technical strengths. 

Journey Through the Undead tries to deliver a high-octane, zombie-filled thrill ride. While it gets some things right, like its visually diverse environments and easy-to-learn controls, it ultimately stumbles in areas that matter the most to survival horror fans.

The lack of emotional depth, a forgettable plot and uninspired sound design take away from what could have been a gripping and immersive experience. The repetitive audio, especially during combat and the lifeless character voice work, wears thin quickly, whilst the undead enemies fail to visually sell the threat they’re supposed to represent.

Written by: Hayden Nelson