Rigid-Soft Studios recently released the first ever official trailer for the upcoming zombie survival MMO game, Lifeless. Despite the genres massive success in past years (ignoring the scams and unfulfilled promises) it has somewhat stagnated in recent months but with all eyes on Sony Online Entertainment’s H1Z1, nobody has been paying much attention to a talented indie team just waiting to deliver exciting new features and fresh ideas.
Although Lifeless embodies many of the elements that have helped create the massive popularity drive behind the zombie survival MMO, it’s the new take on stale mechanics that makes Lifeless so appealing. The hugely popular fortification feature makes an appearance but instead of the overly complex and time consuming system of Rust, it instead offers a tool to aid with survival, over that of a permanent abode. Random buildings and shacks litter the map and players are able to fortify these buildings using a SIM’s style interface**, placing different traps and defensive items in different locations to help fend off the unending waves of the undead. You can of course choose to remain within the walls of your newly created safe haven, but zombies are generated with random stats and boast a level of intelligence unrivaled in the genre – sometimes making it a safer choice to run for the hills.
An element of Lifeless that I personally find very intriguing is the split focus between both PvE and PvP. Anyone with experience in the likes of DayZ, 7 Days to Die or Rust will be all too familiar with the trigger-happy nature of the community and we’ve all had an epic scavenging run cut short at the end of a rifle seemingly appearing out of nowhere and quickly dispatching of our hard work with a single shot. Instead Lifeless offers features usually only associated with a PvE experience to give players a reason to communicate, a reason to help each other survive. Some of these features include an immersive story with fully voiced NPC characters and missions, evolving quests that change the game world depending on the outcome and social events that could see either an enchanting level of comradery or all-out war as players battle for dwindling supplies.
However if your kill-on-sight finger is already itching and raring to go fear not, PvP is available and will still feature as a prominent element of survival.
For more information on the games features check out the official website. You can check out the official trailer and some disconcerting screenshots of the undead below:
http://youtu.be/wSTn8y_P6is
[ngg_images gallery_ids=”94″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_horizontal_filmstrip”]**Update: The SIMs style approach to fortifications was removed in favor of a more simplistic and streamlined approach
