Urban Strife - turn-based zombie survival RPG - now available on Early Access

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Demo when?

 

[Maggot]

Demo when?

 

[Alienman]

Been warming up by listing to random zombie stories and playing some Project Zomboid. Come on DEMO!

 

[Nortar]

How come one of Graywalkers' devs already owns Urban Strife according to Steam?
Is he involved in development?

 

[Infinitron]

Demo is out.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/710230/view/2871598729202428913

Urban Strife is coming to Steam Next Fest!

Come watch the prologue demo played & streamed live by our guest host, BoxMacLeod @ 3 PM PDT (22 GMT), OCT 1

Urban Strife brings together a complete package for the strategy fan: turn-based combat, RPG with character development and post-apocalypse survival. A true “Jagged Alliance meets The Walking Dead” of the modern era.

Built on Unreal Engine, Urban Strife brings turn-based strategy onto a solid platform and makes full use of it with advanced AI systems, realistic ballistics calculations, cover based on material penetration and spectacular scenery with dynamic day/time cycles. But while under the hood everything is brand new, Urban Strife comes with a user interface and battle controls that are trusted and familiar to the old-school gamer and easy to pick up by the new generations.

In Urban Strife you will command a group of quirky, slightly deranged militia and try to ensure the survival of the Urban Shelter, a small community somewhere at the foothills of the Appalachians. While on the field you will have full control over your group’s actions and engage them in exploring, trading, making allies and most important, fighting to stay alive. At home, you will manage supply and logistics, upgrade the base, heal, and train your fighters. It is up to you to organize supply runs to kickstart your shelter industry, upgrade your weapons, deal with the inevitable emergencies, and prepare for the inevitable re-emergence of the undead horde that almost wiped off civilization two years before.

Check out BoxMacLeod's channels here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/BoxMacLeod
boxmacleod

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Downloading...

 

[Zombra]

So to be 100% clear, this is another one of those limited time demo situations? Must play before the 7th?

 

[Maggot]

It's a shame the traits system isn't in yet and intelligence is apparently not working. Only played for about 5 minutes but shooting feels on point and being able to melee with your weapons has already proven useful against zombies.

 

[Nortar]

Looks very promising.

A few bugs right of the bat:
1. All stats got reset back to 70.
2. The character portrait disregards clothes selected at character creation.
3. I looted every single container on the highway only to find out that all the stuff was lost after the tutorial.
4. Not a bug, but it would be handy to have numbered hotkeys for dialog options.
5. Naming a saved game XEWQ123 does nothing!

 

[jackofshadows]

- Why is there "bodytype" option instead of gender? Is this game really tries what I think it tries?
- Things at the beginning looks too raw (examples by the poster above) even for a demo so far but all in all seems promising enough, will play more tomorrow.
- What exactly difficulty levels do? I set hardcore but so far it doesn't feel that way, will see (maybe it alse reset after the tutorial?)
- I can't figure out how to get stealth crit melee chance bonus yet since any zombie has at least 1 "red" tile nearby so even when you start combat yourself zombie changes his status before your attack.

 

[markec]

Why is there "bodytype" option instead of gender? Is this game really tries what I think it tries?
.

Hopefully it's just a demo thing since I was really interested in this game, it would be shame if I had to drop it.

 

[Infinitron]

Cool trailer:

 

[Alienman]

Not played too much since I'm tired, but I managed to get into a cool firefight. Was pinned down behind a car and it just felt right - popping up and down taking shots, while the enemy was slowly moving in. Managed to shoot a guy through a fence too, felt pretty damn good. Bit curious why I could see him though? I mean I knew he was behind there, but say in Silent Storm I think he would turn to a shadow figure or just disappear. Also I do wish I could go prone, for some reason my guy was showing a tiny bit of his head behind the car, and that was enough for him to get downed eventually. All and all the combat felt really good and satisfying, sneaking felt fine too from what I have tried. The writing though, I'm not sure. Everything goes so fast - hey you, yeah you are a sheriff now, hey you, we are the badass military, ah, sure just hang around our base. And Caesars legion, really? Is that for the demo only?

The dialogue feels a bit like ATOM RPG. Getting that same feeling I got from that game. I know people love that game here, but it didn't really do it for me.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Difficulty levels change the number of enemies you'll be facing.
If you manage to sneak to 1 tile distance you're basically guaranteed a kill, just aim for the head.

There's a lot of dialogue at start, we know, mostly because the other lore resources aren't ready yet (journal, quest details, etc).
Some like the RPG aspect, some don't, the game works for both types of players. Combat will get a lot more interesting as you progress.

 

[Jrpgfan]

Have they improved the piñata zombies spreading red confetti all over the place when shot?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

It's a shame the traits system isn't in yet and intelligence is apparently not working. Only played for about 5 minutes but shooting feels on point and being able to melee with your weapons has already proven useful against zombies.

Perks are a bonus level and they need the rest of the mechanics to be mature before you implement them, otherwise it's just an way to complicate the balancing. Intelligence will be linked to how fast you gain experience (for perks).

 

[Alienman]

Difficulty levels change the number of enemies you'll be facing.
If you manage to sneak to 1 tile distance you're basically guaranteed a kill, just aim for the head.

There's a lot of dialogue at start, we know, mostly because the other lore resources aren't ready yet (journal, quest details, etc).
Some like the RPG aspect, some don't, the game works for both types of players. Combat will get a lot more interesting as you progress.

The amount of dialogue is no problem, and I do like RPGs but was just surprised how fast the story progressed. Like I was made sheriff within 3 minutes after meeting the survivors, and after 5 minutes I'm killing other people - I mean I'm coming from a coma and I know nothing about the world? And I didn't really get why the military dudes would let me roam their base.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Given the limited scope of the prologue we did need to compact everything. But... there's actually a very plausible explanation for the strangely quick adoption (sorry, revealing it would be a major story spoiler). And no, it's not only about your resistance to the virus. But it might be a bit too abrupt, we'll see what the overall feeling is.

What "military" you're referring to? Legion or Army base in Port? We've debated a lot what zones to restrict, but considering the risk of the unaware players entering combat because they didn't understand they shouldn't enter a zone we decided to let the things in the demo be more lax than normal. There's still work to be done in that area.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh yeah, this game was quietly delayed to 2022 ten days ago: https://steamdb.info/app/710230/history/?changeid=U:25697465

Changed Store Release Date – Q3 2021 › 2022

Unsurprising.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

If game development would be an exact science games would come packed in a tin can and would be sold at your local grocery.

 

[Alienman]

What "military" you're referring to? Legion or Army base in Port? We've debated a lot what zones to restrict, but considering the risk of the unaware players entering combat because they didn't understand they shouldn't enter a zone we decided to let the things in the demo be more lax than normal. There's still work to be done in that area.

The army base in the port.

Gonna play some more now, you guys have really nailed the combat.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Well, try firing a gun in there and see if they keep being nice.

 

[Maggot]

Finished the demo. Combat was great but the dialogue towards the end was full of typos and strange English. The comparison to Atom RPG's writing seems fitting and personally I would change "Caesar's Legion" to something a little bit more creative, like Pontius' Platoon or Cohort or something a little bit less overt.

 

[Alienman]

Finished the demo myself. First off I just want to say that I really warmed up to the story and dialogue, played it more much more focused now that I wasn't tired. I really like the whole aspect of being a sheriff - a new sheriff in town brining order to this forsaken land. The combat is excellent and I feel the damage is just right. All the weapons I got to try felt powerful, both in my own hands and when the enemy used them. It was actually scary when the enemy got their turn! One of the legion men pulverized one my guys with one strong hit. He was there one second, and in the next instant he was dead. I liked the overwatch system too, and that melee is included in that system. Had a blast setting up ambushes for zombies and bandits alike. Watching a bandit round a corner just for your man to step out and blast him in the face felt right. The animations are smooth and look great, so impressive work there!

The military guys letting you roam around now made more sense too, since I actually found a private needing help. And after helping him the officer even let me enter the quarantine zone with no hassle.

As a final thing, I just want to say that the combat plays out like a 3D version of Jagged Alliance 2, which to me is just fantastic. A real achievement to you guys. Also the AI seems pretty damn smart, using cover and height advantage to get the drop on my men. Now the hard wait for next year begins I guess!

 

[Zombra]

Very random feedback USG_Mucifikatorul

Who tucks their flannel shirt into their jeans?

I want to hold MMB to rotate camera.

"I've got the perfect job lined up for him."
Pronoun substitution would be nice, but if not, edit for gender-nonspecific language. "I've got the perfect job lined up" would have been fine.

I wish I could zoom out more. And zoom in more.

I like the character Lu Xi. The broken English foreigner was a risky choice in current year. I completely approve, not being sarcastic.

I want to be able to click on the little number that shows "Billy Bo sees 3 opponents" to see where those opponents are. Better yet, select character and press hotkey to cycle targets. My character saw an enemy a block away but *I* had no idea where they were.

I want to be able to change characters with the Tab key in inventory, not just on the main game field.

I want to be able to select individual party members with function keys instead of clicking on them. Both in game field and in inventory.

I definitely want to be able to rotate the camera during the enemy turn. Since I'm just watching the show anyway, let me get a good angle.

I became immediately lost on the first adventure map. It's not clear where these mini-objectives are. "My friend the priest lives over there, now the camera will scroll briefly to a dirty house, you memorized where that was right?"
Nope. New plan: walk around completely at random. There's not even a compass?

Unclear how overwatch works. Do I just save AP like in Jagged Alliance? I never interrupted anybody.

Note to self: if you're crouching, right click will bring up the "crawl/walk/run" menu. If you're standing up, right click means "run straight there immediately like a lunatic".

I like how you can't loot an empty container. Thank fucking god, I don't need to check every corpse and cupboard 6 or 7 times before I truly believe I got everything. Little things like this show the devs respect my time.

I couldn't see a way to do called shots e.g. headshot, arm shot. Do my characters need a special skill for that?

Alienman is right - combat is so fucking good. Congratulations!