The Dead Linger is a first-person game and plays in a similar fashion to other first-person shooters. Players will enter a randomly generated world and must then work to survive in a zombie-infested world.
| Note that all information is based on Pre-Alpha content and is subject to change at any time. |
Realistic Environments
To keep the worlds feeling realistic, The Dead Linger features multiple real world environments and a night and day cycle. Each in-game day takes about 2 hours of real time and the time of day will effect gameplay, with the night being so dark that players will need a flashlight to see.
Additionally, there is numerous different zone types for the player to explore, including cities, suburbs, farms, and forests. Each area will have weather effects that depend on the generated world area and change depending on the zone.
Buildings, such as office buildings and convenience stores in the suburbs and barns and silos in the farm areas, are generated randomly and house all sorts of hidden items. The windows and doors are reactive with enemies and zombies will be able to break through them quite easily.
Character Customization
Currently, there is not character customization available. However, developers have said that this will be a feature when the game is released and include appearance and gear options, as well as a choice of gender.
Surviving
There are many different aspects to surviving in the world of The Dead Linger, from avoiding zombies, getting enough to eat, and staving off infection.
Avoiding zombies is a major aspect of survival. Zombies will attack players, and they can even infect them with the zombie virus. A player will need to find weapons and use them to fight off approaching zombies when they are exploring the world. A player can only carry two weapons at a time, with weapons sets allowing quick change between the two weapons.
The player has three 4 status bars in their inventory: health, hunger, stamina, and infection level.
Health
As a player is attacked, they will lose life and eventually die or become infected.
Hunger
Players must find food for their characters while exploring to avoid hunger and starving to death. Developers plan to have all excessive activity cause the hunger gauge to go down faster.
Stamina
Stamina regenerates over time and is used up when the player exerts themselves by running and attacking.
Infection
As the play is attacked they may become infected and eventually turn into a zombie. Ways of keeping the infection down have not been revealed, but keeping a distance from zombies is a good start.
Barricading
To boost survival, players have the ability to create barricades on any and everything. Note that zombies will be able to damage barricades over time and eventually lead to their destruction.
By using a hammer and wooden planks or sheets, players can barricade windows and doors to keep themselves safe and the zombies at bay. Other options are to equip a sledgehammer and smack planks into the ground to create fences or lift your zombie fortress off the ground.
Weapons & Items
Players can survive through a variety of means. Items around the world can be used as weapons against the zombies, including wrenches, guns, and hammers. Regardless of the weapon, zombies can only be killed by headshots and they will continue to try to move even when dismembered.
Melee weapons can be anything from wrenches to axes. Axes can be used to chop down trees to obtain wood for making barricades, while hammers and sledgehammers can be used as a weapon or used to hammer things together.
Firearms include pistols and sniper rifles. Ammunition is needed to use these weapons and the sound will draw zombies from all over. On the other hand, bows are another long range weapon that will be added to the game and will be much quieter.
Players will eventually be able to craft their own weapons and require repairs. Creating weapons may require the use of different things such as sledgehammers and metal, but details are currently unknown.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer is a big focus of The Dead Linger. The game will feature servers that allow up to 16 players in one world. Players can access multiplayer through Local Area Network (LAN) or online servers. There are currently two multiplayer modes available: Survival Mode and PvP. Survival focuses on players working together to form parties against the zombies. PvP is standard Player versus Player, where the ultimate goal is to kill other players either solo or in a group.
