Are you one of the many gamers who played Dead Island last year and was horribly disappointed? The Dead Linger is a game that is looking to create a true open world first person zombie survival game, a game where you build, defend, scavenge, explore and fight zombies. The map they are creating for this is massive, 25,000 kilometers, which is about 15,000 miles. Sandswept Studios has already been working on the game for about six months, but they have been designing it over the last couple of years and this might be the best chance gamers get to help create a true zombie survival game. It is for PC only and each world will be randomly generated. In each world you may claim and barricade buildings, for yourself or for your group, or  for a clan. Every world can have up to sixteen players in it and you don't have to be cooperative with everyone, you can fight it out in the middle of hordes of zombies. Take a look at their Kickstarter video and then I have a little bit more to say about the project.

 

If you watched the video then maybe you will share some concerns with me. They plan to have the game into a playable alpha/beta within six months and it is a very ambitious project. I've seen so many indie projects with this level ambition turn to dust that I am weary, however Kickstarter has yet to bite us all in the ass and I will remain optimistic about this project, especially since it doesn't have a overly lofty goal and because the developers have an actual plan on how to go about everything. The goal for The Dead Linger is $60,000 in 29 days. It just started and has $3,000 so far, but if you are tired of seeing mediocre open world zombie games and want to get involved in a real one then you may want to take a dive into this one. 

They don't have any gameplay to show off yet, unfortunately, but they do seem to have talented individuals working on the game. One of the most worrisome things for me is the world, merely because of it's size. I inquired with Sandswept Studios about the world generation in particular and their method sounds very similar to how Minecraft works, meaning the world will generate as you go through it and that is a model that could actually work. Over the last six months they have been specifically working on the engine and world generation, but now they are focusing on gameplay and getting the alpha ready. It's still a pretty short period of time they have to get the alpha ready, but it is at least fairly plausible.

The cheapest pledge is $10, but that doesn't get you the game, merely your name as thanks in the credits for supporting them. If you want to actually get into the alpha/beta and pay for the game then you would have to go with the $25 pledge. If you want some more information about the game check out their website below, or the Kickstarter Page. Personally, I'm not going to jump in on this one yet, but it does sound very promising and I will keep my eyes on it. So far, every single Kickstarter, save one, that I have written about here has ended up getting funded, so thanks to everyone who happened to support these developers with great ideas. Thanks for reading and I hope you check it out. 

Main Website: http://www.thedeadlinger.com/

-Written by Sean Cargle