Info about UNDYING - "KINGDOM":

Official game description:
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About the Game
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Caught amid the zombie apocalypse and with time running out, Anling will stop at nothing to ensure her son, Cody, gets to safety. Enduring countless perils, including the zombie infection that's beginning to take over her body, not to mention teaching Cody how to survive their harsh new reality.  
As Anling and Cody explore the world they'll come across an ensemble of characters that present unique challenges. How Anling and Cody handle each one determines their fates, some may die, some may live, and some may become staunch allies or even an archnemesis. Will humanity truly prevail?  
**Your Path, Your Choices, Your Story!**
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*   With everyone trying to survive, whether you help others or not can lead to devastating consequences. Everyone has their secrets, which begs the question… Who can you really trust? Every decision you make changes the outcome of your story, what will your ending look like?
**Crafting 1.0 Means of Survival!**
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*   It's not a survival game if there's no crafting and now, with so many things to craft and enhance, it's a wonder if there'll even be enough resources!  
*   How you use the crafting system will determine if you survive or not, and how easy it will be.
**The World is filled with Dungeons, Stories, and loot!**
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*   Did you really think we wouldn't have David Brevik (the godfather of Diablo) help design dungeons and make sure looting felt satisfying?  
*   Each time you start a game of Undying, you'll never know how the map will be laid out before your eyes. The 14 major locations will be spread across the map in a variety of layouts, while the other "Unsafe Areas" are filled with random events that can quickly alter your plans. Will you help an ungrateful survivor; what about a gang surrounded by zombies? You never know who you will encounter on your journey, each with their own tale to tell.
**Major New Features for 1.0 and Others Overhualed (With more coming post-release)**
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*   Want to write a letter to Mom? Use the Comment Wall to share your words (anonymously) with Undying fans from across the globe  
*   Beautiful low poly artistic aesthetic  
*   Find your very own kitten to take care of during the apocalypse  
*   A cast of characters as far as the eye can see, each with their own unique story and ending  
*   Various mini-games to relax with after killing hordes of zombies, so why not take a break?  
*   An impactful and suspenseful soundtrack that sets the tone for Undying from the very start  
*   One emotional story about survival and letting go, be warned, it can be a tear-jerker!  
*   Rogue-lite elements that create unique situations you will have to overcome to survive. After all, zombies don't all mutate the same, do they?  
*   How will you teach Cody to survive? With over a hundred skills to learn, there's no one way to give him the tools needed to find safety

Release date: Dec 7, 2023

Categories: Zombie Survival, Crafting, Resource Management, Base Building, Character Progression, Multiple Endings, Roguelike, Branching Narrative

Feature scans:
- Proton/Linux: score 0; verdict: Works Well; summary: No Linux/Proton compatibility issues were reported in the provided reviews. The single mention of Steam Deck is a subjective opinion without technical details, and no evidence of crashes, performance problems, or required tweaks was found.
- Steam Deck: score 80; verdict: Broken; summary: The game suffers from frequent crashes during key interactions and poor controller support, making it unreliable on Steam Deck despite a Verified badge. Touchscreen use partially mitigates some issues but is not ideal.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $9.99 - $14.99
  - Reasoning: Multiple reviews express dissatisfaction with paying full price and explicitly recommend against buying at full price. One review notes that purchasing the game on sale was a very positive surprise, implying the fair price is significantly lower than the full price. Although the exact full price is not mentioned, typical indie game full prices range from $19.99 to $24.99. The community sentiment suggests that a fair price should be around a 50% discount from full price, leading to an estimated range of $9.99 to $14.99.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 25.0h
  - Story completion: 20.0h
  - Session length: 4.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: 游戏完成度（gameCompletion）从英文评论中提取到“20-25 hours per pass”，法语评论也提到约20小时完成战役，但日语评论提到第一轮花费约40小时，显示因难度或探索程度差异较大，取中间值约25小时。故事/战役完成（storyCompletion）直接对应法语评论的约20小时完成战役，与英文评论的20-25小时范围下限一致。单次游戏时长（sessionLength）从中文评论“不知不觉就体验了将近6个小时”和英文“three hours in a row”推断，典型单次时长为3-6小时，取中间值约4小时。endgame方面，证据中未明确提及具体的终局时长，仅提到后期物资循环重复，故设为null。
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game initially offers a spark of fun through its unique symptom-perk system and story, but quickly devolves into a tedious resource grind with unclear progression and repetitive dialogue, leading many players to lose interest.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: Understanding how to unlock areas and manage resources
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: resource scarcity in early game; need to unlock enough areas; repetitive dialogues; lack of skip option; tedious leveling and crafting; unclear tutorials
  - Unlock drivers: learning to unlock areas; Cody's skill progression; choosing symptoms for perks; the teaching system
  - Conditions: solo play; patient mindset; appreciation for slow pacing; survival genre enjoyment
- Player Archetypes:
  - Story-First Survivor (sale)
    - Motivation: Emotional engagement with the story and characters
    - Playstyle: Plays at a relaxed pace, prioritizes story progression, may use guides to avoid frustrating mechanics
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: narrative seeker; zombie story fan; Chinese indie enthusiast
    - Reference games: The Last of Us; This War of Mine
  - Hardcore Survival Purist (no buy)
    - Motivation: Challenge and mastery of survival mechanics
    - Playstyle: Optimizes resource management, seeks efficiency, restarts after mistakes
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: survival game veteran; challenge seeker; hardcore player
    - Reference games: This War of Mine; Siege Survival: Gloria Victis
  - Immersive Atmosphere Enjoyer (buy)
    - Motivation: Immersive world-building and strategic resource management
    - Playstyle: Methodical, enjoys micro-management, takes time to explore and build
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: atmosphere enthusiast; management lover; patient gamer
    - Reference games: This War of Mine
  - Disappointed Early Access Follower (no buy)
    - Motivation: Hope for game improvement and completion
    - Playstyle: Observational, compares versions, may wait for updates before further play
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: early access veteran; disappointed backer; patient critic
    - Reference games: Undying (early access)


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Unique Mother-Son Survival Concept (weight 0.42): Players consistently highlight the unique and powerful premise of a mother preparing her son for a zombie apocalypse, teaching skills and facing her own turning. The concept is rare and well-received, drawing comparisons to The Walking Dead yet offering a fresh emotional twist.
- Enjoyable and Fun Gameplay Overall (weight 0.36): Most reviews indicate the game is fun, interesting, and enjoyable from start to mid-game, with many enjoying it during early access. However, some note a drop in enjoyment after the police station and prison sections, indicating uneven pacing.
- Engaging Survival and Exploration Mechanics (weight 0.32): Players enjoy the strategic planning involving gathering, crafting, farming, and upgrading. The exploration-forward gameplay offers a satisfying sense of discovery, and the mechanics are well-made, reminiscent of This War of Mine. Base building and Kingdom Mode are also highlighted as great additions.
- Lovely Art Style and Music (weight 0.19): The art style is frequently praised as beautiful, minimalist, and characterful. The main musical motif effectively conveys the game's atmosphere and is highly appreciated.
- Emotional and Rewarding Story (weight 0.19): The narrative, especially the child's growth and character-driven stories, provides strong motivation and emotional payoff. Players find the story interesting and in-depth, with cool moments that deepen engagement.
- Reasonable Price (weight 0.04): The game is considered reasonably priced, adding value to the overall experience.

Common complaints:
- Overall experience is tedious and frustrating (weight 0.96): The game feels like a chore with constant resource grind, repetitive tasks, and no sense of reward. Many players describe it as boring, stressful, and lacking fun. The survival loop becomes a time sink without emotional payoff, and the game feels unfinished or 60 percent complete.
- Shallow story and low replay value (weight 0.66): The narrative is thin, with predictable twists and flat dialogue, failing to deliver the promised emotional mother-son drama. There is no new game plus or endless mode, and achievements require multiple playthroughs. The story quickly loses emotional impact and feels incomplete.
- Resource acquisition is unbalanced (weight 0.64): Players struggle to find basic resources like food, water, wood, and metal. Many mechanics are not intuitive, such as being unable to fill water from rivers, charcoal requiring wood chips, and certain resources never respawning. The scarcity forces repetitive farming and impedes progression.
- Inadequate guidance and tutorials (weight 0.6): The game fails to explain core mechanics, such as how to increase child skills, read books, or complete key quests. Tutorials use white squares instead of button prompts, and quest markers are often buggy. Critical information is hidden in obscure notes or not tracked at all.
- Frequent technical issues and crashes (weight 0.6): Players experience crashes every 5-20 minutes, corrupted save files, endless loading screens, and game-breaking bugs. Simple actions like moving on the world map can trigger crashes. The constant technical problems interrupt gameplay and can erase progress, making the game feel unstable.
- Enemy difficulty is poorly balanced (weight 0.56): Enemies have too much health and appear in overwhelming numbers early on. Zombie hordes block progression, respawn quickly, and combat is reduced to hit-and-run tactics. Strong enemies placed at the start make the early game unplayable for many.
- Poor controls and key binding (weight 0.49): Players report that key binds cannot be customized, the binding menu auto-closes, and gamepad support is incomplete. Common issues include missing command keys for the child character, clunky analog stick lock-on, and inability to reconfigure buttons. These problems severely affect gameplay flow and accessibility.
- Terrible translation quality (weight 0.41): Multiple languages (English, Russian, Korean, Japanese, German) suffer from machine translation, garbled text, or incomplete localization. Dialogue feels unnatural, item descriptions are unclear, and some translations were promised to be fixed but remain broken. This damages immersion and understanding of the game.
- Child AI is frustrating and a burden (weight 0.41): The child character frequently expresses fear and requires constant soothing, but the option often disappears. The AI is unhelpful: it wastes ammunition, cowers instead of running, and can be easily killed. Learning does not happen automatically, and commands are unclear. The child system adds stress rather than depth.
- Poor developer support and updates (weight 0.4): Critical bugs have remained unfixed for months or over a year. Updates have introduced new game-blocking issues rather than fixes. The developer has gone silent on promised features, ignored player feedback, and failed to deliver on localization updates. This creates a feeling of abandonment.
- Unreasonable time pressure (weight 0.32): Time passes too quickly: a short drive takes to afternoon, players must sleep before 11:30 PM to avoid turning into a zombie, and days are too short for meaningful exploration. End-game time limits are harsh and remove player agency. Easy mode still retains the clock pressure, ruining enjoyment.
- Tedious forced daily tasks (weight 0.28): The police station and prison require repetitive cooking and garbage collection tasks daily, which feel like MMO chores and ruin the survival atmosphere. Base management becomes frantic, and many fetch quests waste time and resources for no meaningful gain. These systems add unnecessary busywork.
- Weapons break too quickly (weight 0.24): Weapons like crowbars and slingshots break after about 20 hits, forcing constant repairs that consume scarce resources. This makes combat feel wasteful and discourages engaging with enemies. The low durability leads to tedious grinding for materials to maintain gear.

Gameplay feedback:
- Narrative-driven with choices and endings (weight 0.22): The game is story-based with multiple endings influenced by dialogue choices. Choices affect character mood and stats, and events are tied to progression.
- Exploration and world map movement (weight 0.2): Exploration is forward-focused with a world map for traveling between locations. Players discover various areas and manage resources during travel.
- Survival with hunger, thirst, and zombies (weight 0.17): Players must manage real-time hunger and thirst meters while fending off zombie hordes. Survival requires balancing resource gathering and combat.
- Comprehensive crafting system (weight 0.16): The game features a comprehensive crafting system including smelting, metal processing, and disassembly. Crafting is essential for survival and progression.
- Time management mechanics (weight 0.16): The game includes time pressure, day/night cycles, activity time limits, and weight limits. Managing time effectively is crucial.
- Difficulty modes affect time and stats (weight 0.12): Three difficulty modes adjust the daily time limit and enemy health/damage. Easy mode (Tranquil) slows time, offering a more relaxed experience.
- Skill training system (weight 0.09): Characters can train skills such as migration experience. Training improves abilities over time.
- Stealth mechanics present (weight 0.08): The game includes stealth mechanics allowing players to avoid detection. This adds a tactical layer to survival gameplay.
- Fishing system with nets and bait (weight 0.08): Players can fish using nets and bait to gather food. Fishing provides a renewable food source.
- Strategic planning across tasks (weight 0.06): Players must plan their actions carefully, gathering resources, crafting items, farming herbs, and upgrading weapons. This requires prioritizing tasks within time limits.
- Mother zombification and son skills (weight 0.05): The mother gradually becomes zombified, limiting her actions while the son learns skills through practice. This creates a sense of urgency and character progression.
- Inspired by This War of Mine (weight 0.05): The gameplay and tone are similar to This War of Mine. Players manage resources and make tough moral decisions.
- Weapon durability system (weight 0.05): Weapons have durability and will break after use, requiring repairs or replacements. This adds resource management pressure.
- Variety of locations and side quests (weight 0.05): There are multiple locations to explore and side quests to complete. This adds depth and replayability beyond the main story.
- Fetch quests present (weight 0.05): The game includes fetch quests that require collecting specific items. These tasks provide structure but can feel repetitive.
- Weather affects damage (weight 0.05): Weather conditions affect the damage players take. This environment factor influences exploration and survival strategies.
- Point-and-click gameplay (weight 0.04): The game features point-and-click controls for interaction. This style suits the inventory and dialogue systems.
- Backpack upgrade through inventory (weight 0.04): Players can upgrade their backpack's capacity through the inventory menu. This expands carrying ability for resource management.
- Item storage with tabs (weight 0.04): Items are stored in a categorized tab system for easy organization. This helps manage the growing inventory.
- Farming dependent on rain (weight 0.04): Farming allows growing potatoes, but growth depends on rain. This adds a weather-based challenge to food production.
- Base repair and upgrade (weight 0.04): Players can repair and upgrade their base. This protects against threats and improves living conditions.
- Combat as simple accent to grind (weight 0.04): Combat is simple and serves as an accent to the grinding gameplay. It is not the primary focus.
- Progression via child's tasks (weight 0.04): Progression is tied to completing tasks assigned to the child, such as filling water bottles 24 times. This drives the gameplay loop.
- Resource gathering from trees and fences (weight 0.04): Specific resources can be gathered from trees and fences. This provides materials for crafting and building.
- Autosave after location change (weight 0.04): The game autosaves after every location change, ensuring progress is not lost. This reduces frustration from unexpected deaths.
- Cody's commands via right stick (weight 0.04): Cody's commands are given using the right analog stick. This control scheme is simple but effective for companion management.
- Endless mode available (weight 0.04): An endless mode is available for continuous play after the main story. This mode focuses on survival without narrative goals.
- Assist work tasks (weight 0.03): Players can perform assist work tasks. These provide additional resources or benefits.

Performance notes:
- Frequent game crashes (weight 0.17): The game crashes very often, with some players reporting crashes every 5 to 20 minutes. Crashes also occur frequently on the world map and during loading screens, along with freezes. This is a major stability issue that severely disrupts gameplay.
- Long loading times between floors (weight 0.05): Players experience long loading times when moving between floors, which is an optimization problem. This issue slows down the game progression and frustrates users, though it is less critical than the crashes.

Recommendations:
- Strongly avoid purchasing (weight 0.33): Many players explicitly state not to buy the game, with some requesting refunds. The consensus is overwhelmingly negative, advising against any purchase.
- Unplayable in current state (weight 0.27): Players report the game is not playable or recommendable in its current form due to technical issues, design flaws, and translation problems. Many express that they cannot recommend it until significant updates are made.
- Not for casual or story-seeking players (weight 0.12): The game is not recommended for players looking to relieve stress, enjoy a deep story, or require easy challenges. It appeals only to those who enjoy strict survival planning and problem-solving under pressure.
- Poor translation and localization (weight 0.09): The translation is criticized as terrible, and the Korean localization is misleading. Players suggest purchasing on alternative platforms like Stove instead of Steam, or avoiding the game altogether based on localization claims.
- Alternate game recommended (weight 0.04): One player specifically recommends 'This War of Mine' as a superior alternative, implying the current game fails to deliver a comparable experience.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.38): Frustration is driven by numerous technical issues including frequent crashes, bugs, broken mechanics, corrupted saves, and missing features like Kingdom Mode on console. Gameplay problems such as resource scarcity, tedious crafting loops, unclear progression, harsh time pressure, and repetitive scavenging compound the stress. Additionally, poor localization, lack of key binding options, and unskippable dialogue worsen the experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.27): Disappointment stems from the game failing to deliver on its promising premise due to poor technical execution, such as bugs, crashes, and translation regressions. The removal of features, unsatisfying endings, and lack of emotional narrative further let down players. Many users expected more from the concept but found the execution grind-heavy, time-limited, and ultimately unrewarding.
- Anger (weight 0.07): Anger is primarily caused by the developer's broken promise of Korean localization, with players reporting no proper translation despite official pledges. Game-breaking bugs, such as clean water killing the player and rain causing damage, ruin immersion. The inability to even send bug reports exacerbates the sense of betrayal.
- Confusion (weight 0.04): Confusion arises from unclear objectives, arbitrary design decisions, and illogical game mechanics. Players repeatedly question 'WHY' certain mechanics exist, and ineffective skills add to the lack of understanding. The game fails to provide proper guidance or intuitive systems.
- Annoyance (weight 0.03): Annoyance is fueled by repetitive elements like clown animations and repeated voice lines, along with unnecessary prompts. Forced save overwriting, unskippable dialogues, tool durability issues, and long loading screens disrupt gameplay flow and frustrate players.
- Boredom (weight 0.02): Boredom stems from repetitive clicking, grinding, and slow pacing. The resource grind feels monotonous and lacks variety, making the game feel tedious rather than engaging.
- Hopelessness (weight 0.02): Hopelessness is driven by a dead-end feeling due to limited options, especially in combat where fighting is nearly impossible and players can only hide and run. This creates a sense of futility and lack of progress.
- Sadness (weight 0.02): Sadness is caused by the game breaking after what seemed like a promising update, and by loading screens that interrupt the beautiful main theme. The disappointment of a broken experience tarnishes the emotional impact.
- Initial enjoyment (weight 0.01): Initial enjoyment comes from the early part of the game being fun, suggesting a strong start that unfortunately does not carry through to later sections.
- Regret (weight 0.01): Regret is expressed through feeling that money was wasted even on a discount, and players wish they could refund the game after experiencing its issues.
- Feeling scammed (weight 0.01): Feeling scammed results from purchasing the game again specifically for Kingdom Mode on console, which never arrived despite promises.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.01): Enjoyment is derived from the game's unique style and cool mechanics, which still manage to appeal to some players despite broader issues.
- Touching (weight 0.01): Touching moments come from watching the child grow from helpless to capable, providing an emotional payoff that resonates with players.
- Interest (weight 0.01): Interest is sparked by the concept and progression mechanics, which players find appealing despite the execution problems.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust is triggered by forced daily quests that resemble MMO chores, feeling out of place in a survival game and breaking immersion.
- Feeling deceived (weight 0.01): Feeling deceived occurs because advertising images were edited to look different from the actual game, leading to false expectations.
- Stress (weight 0.01): Stress is caused by constant resource pressure and time limits, making every action feel urgent and leaving no room for relaxation.
- Overwhelmed (weight 0.01): Overwhelmed players cite increasing restrictions and a heavy resource grind that pile on complexity without adequate easing.
- Exhaustion (weight 0.01): Exhaustion stems from the constant pressure to manage the base and gather resources, making the game feel like a chore. The persistent debuffs and burdens leave players drained rather than challenged.
- Amusement (bitter) (weight 0.01): Amusement (bitter) arises from the serious story moment of Cody's return being handled so poorly that it becomes laughable, highlighting the game's tonal missteps.}