When a game prides itself on taking its inspiration from Prison Architect, Oxygen Not Included and Dungeon Keeper, but also targeting players from Timberborn and Two Point Hospital, inevitably, my heart starts beating and I feel concerned! Developed by Thera Bytes and published by Aerosoft, Zombie Cure Lab is a base and resource management game that places the player right in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. But, contrary to custom when it comes to our dear walkers, the objective here is not to make a massacre. On the contrary, you have to manage a research laboratory to cure the zombies.
I had the opportunity to access a playable demo, allowing to have a good overview of the title before its launch in early access scheduled for the end of the year. The functionalities are still limited, with in particular the impossibility of saving your game, which prevents you from advancing much (even if cheat codes have been provided to me). But the whole is no less promising!
Simple buildings are to be placed in order to, for example, harvest resources or store food. They have an area of effect, but look like all harvesting stations in games with resource management. Others offer more freedom, with an unimposed shape and size, complemented by furniture. Thus, the kitchen accommodates tables, the dormitory beds or the research room a console. The "Two Point Hospital" touch is strong here, with a fairly significant start of possibilities for decorating rooms with objects with no other purpose than to look pretty. Electricity management involves setting up pylons all over the place, their area of effect being quite limited, but they also don't cost too much, so this is only a relatively minor aspect of management.
The game is based on a day/night cycle which directly impacts the gameplay. During the day, the world is safe, workers can wander away from the base and search for wood, stone or food. It's time to collect what to survive and prepare to spend the dangerous nights, when the zombies arrive. The monsters come in waves, always from the same place, and throw themselves on what they cross on the way: walls, humans or buildings. As the last two are fragile, and their destruction / death could lead to defeat, it will be necessary to favor a solid fence around the installations. This is all the more true as it makes it possible to "control" the incoming flow of zombies, and to ensure maximum capture.
The catching of zombie is done thanks to the gel, a large ice cube that a human must hurry to support, or else the snow melts, and the zombie resumes service. Once transformed, all is not rosy for the former walking dead who does not become a human in full possession of his faculties. He must train before regaining control of his body (therefore leading to having to create training rooms) and continue to feed on fresh flesh (forcing him to manage a second line of food distinct from that of humans). Hombies, as they are called, these creatures not quite men, not quite zombies, are nonetheless useful because they prove capable of performing simple tasks. At first, it is limited to carrying things. Thereafter, thanks to an iron discipline, they evolve and even become capable of apprehending more complex problems, bringing their daily help to the humans of the base.
A final aspect concerns the scientific development of the base, because after all our little fellows are scientists in white coats! By assigning them to a console, they generate research points that can be spent on new technologies. As a result, new rooms and machines to better manage human survival or better deal with zombies.
Due to the inability to make saves and a limited number of features in the current version, Zombie Cure Lab is unfortunately a bit slow and repetitive. It must be said that I had to do the beginning 4 times and, even if I shamefully cheated, the fact remains that my base has always remained quite small... But what is revealed behind is promising, very promising indeed. Here's what's planned for the coming months:
The game is trying to do something a little different, and I can't wait to see what the developer does as the team adds more bricks. And I saved the best for last, my own character:
I invite you to follow the Steam page so as not to miss the opportunity to test the game when the opportunity arises:
