THE DEAD WE KNEW: Open World Survival Review Summary

It has strong potential with engaging crafting and building plus enjoyable combat and gunplay, but the broken audio, lack of unarmed combat, and current state make it not worth buying yet.

High overall potential: Across many clusters, players repeatedly describe the game as having significant potential, a good concept, and a solid foundation for future development. This is one of the most common positive themes.

Stable performance, no serious bugs: Multiple clusters highlight that the game runs smoothly, with no crashes, stutters, or game-breaking bugs. Performance is often described as solid and optimized.

Engaging crafting and building systems: The crafting and building mechanics are frequently described as fun, well-thought-out, and easy to understand. Many appreciate the simplicity and the ability to create cool bases.

Positive graphics and visuals: Reviewers frequently praise the graphics, calling them great, beautiful, or at least not bad. Specific visual elements like weather effects and fog also receive positive mentions.

Enjoyable combat and gunplay: Combat, including gunplay and melee, is often praised for being fun and satisfying. Headshots, recoil, and hitboxes are mentioned positively.

No unarmed combat: Players cannot punch or defend themselves with their fists, making bare-handed survival impossible. This is a common complaint about the lack of basic melee options.

Game barely playable: Many users report the game is unplayable or in a very raw state. It is described as practically unplayable and far from properly playable.

Items disappear on death: Items stored in chests disappear when the player dies, making chests pointless. Death causes loss of all items and progress.

Zombies clip through doors: Zombies can run through closed doors and move through items as if they are not there. Their behavior is clunky and unrealistic.

Gameplay doesn't match trailer: The actual game does not match the gameplay shown in videos or the store trailer. Players feel misled by the promotional material.

Zombie enemies and combat: Zombies are the primary enemies, attacking players in groups, sneaking up, and chase behavior often fails to catch the player. Combat involves beating them, but their pursuit can be ineffective.

Open-world survival with zombies: The game is an open-world survival title featuring base building, crafting, and zombie hordes. It blends survival mechanics with a post-apocalyptic setting on an island.

Inventory and crafting system: An inventory menu with a gear icon allows management of items and crafting. The crafting system requires manual item dragging and is sometimes bugged.

Core crafting system: Crafting is a fundamental system, though simple and sometimes bugged. It is accessible via the inventory and requires manual item dragging.

Harsh death penalties: Dying causes loss of all equipped items and backpack contents, with respawn often near zombies or far from death location. Players must retrieve their items, adding risk.

Audio system is broken: Multiple audio issues including volume controls not working, sound disappearing, unbalanced levels, and constant sound failures. Some players must restart after adjusting volume.

Poor optimization causes performance issues: General poor optimization leads to lag, frame drops, frequent freezes, and motion sickness, even on high-end hardware. The game may freeze to render when entering new areas.

White or blank screen rendering: Several rendering bugs cause the game to show a white screen on launch or during gameplay, with some cases where only rain is visible. Graphics settings changes do not fix the issue.

Runs smoothly without issues: Some players report smooth performance, no crashes, high FPS, and stable gameplay, even on weaker or bottlenecked hardware.

Stuttering when firing weapons: Players experience momentary stutters or freezes specifically when firing a gun, impacting combat fluidity.

Not worth buying now: Many reviewers state the game is not worth buying in its current state and suggest waiting for major updates. This sentiment is echoed across several clusters.

Do not buy game: Multiple reviewers strongly advise against purchasing the game, often citing scams or better alternatives. This is the most frequent negative feedback.

Refunded or requesting refund: Numerous players have refunded the game or are requesting refunds due to its unfinished state. Some plan to revisit after improvements.

Wait for updates before buying: Reviewers advise waiting for patches and updates before purchasing, with some planning to check back later. This includes wishlisting and waiting for hotfixes.

Better alternatives available: Reviewers recommend playing other games like 7 Days to Die, Sons of the Forest, HumanitZ, or State of Decay instead. Some suggest the game is generic compared to others.

Community fair range: $0.00 - $10.00.

Session length: 4.0h.

This coop survival game can become fun after players push through a thin tutorial and a few deaths, but incomplete onboarding, grinding, and multiplayer blockers delay enjoyment for many.

Friction: Too-short or incomplete tutorial; Basic controls and survival systems left unexplained; Undocumented interactions such as chopping bushes for sticks; Repeated early deaths and lost progress; Tedious, unrewarding material gathering; Multiplayer/LAN and host-pause problems blocking coop sessions.

Unlock drivers: More detailed tutorial and clearer onboarding; Direct Craft button instead of the inventory gear icon; Learning undocumented actions like chopping bushes for sticks; Surviving the first deaths until mechanics click; Fixing multiplayer host-pause and LAN lobby issues.

Open-World Survival Crafting Veteran: Compares mechanics across survival titles, scrutinizes inventory, crafting, balance, and grind. Motivation: Deep, rewarding survival-crafting systems with meaningful progression and exploration. Stance: no buy.

Co-op Survival Hopeful: Plays in multiplayer groups and expects reliable joining, non-blocking host controls, and enough session stability to explore. Motivation: Enjoying a stable shared survival experience with friends. Stance: no buy.

Newcomer Seeking Clear Onboarding: Starts with early-session exploration and trial-and-error play, seeking tutorials, guides, and intuitive UI. Motivation: Learning survival basics and crafting without confusion or guesswork. Stance: no buy.

The higher-VRAM Windows cohorts report substantial stuttering, freezing during combat, and frame drops, while the lowest-VRAM cohort reports smooth performance with minimal or unnoticeable stutter. Overall, performance feedback is split by hardware cohort, with negative reports dominating the 8-15GB VRAM groups and positive reports dominating the under-8GB VRAM group.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: negative. Most reports describe noticeable stuttering, freezing during shooting, and lag that undermines basic combat.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: negative. Reports cite bad performance, frequent frame drops, bugs, clunky movement, and overlapping UI elements, despite one user noting it ran on a CPU-bottlenecked PC.

Windows <8GB VRAM: positive. Users report smooth performance, constant 90 FPS, no bugs, and stutter that is brief or unnoticeable.

Monetization: The reviews accuse the game of being an Early Access cash grab, but they do not provide direct evidence of in-game purchases, paid currency, loot boxes, gacha, paid power, or convenience monetization. The complaints concern base-purchase value and unfinished development rather than a confirmed predatory monetization system.

Unfavorable Forest Comparisons: Multiple clusters compare the game's building and crafting systems to The Forest and Sons of the Forest, often unfavorably, with some alleging copied assets and a worse interface.

Early Access Excuses: A large cluster of feedback notes the game is in Early Access and expects bugs, missing features, and future improvements, though some feel it lacks a decent foundation.

Misleading Trailers and Videos: Reviewers state the game does not match its trailer, screenshots, or store gameplay videos, which make it appear more complete than it is.

DayZ and Forest Mix: The game is described as a mix of DayZ and The Forest, but reviewers feel the combination fails and compare it unfavorably to both.

Localization Displays Japanese Text: Despite Simplified Chinese support, the game's interface and text show Japanese, English, and Chinese mixed, indicating a localization bug.