Dread, tension, and tough choices abound in stealthy zombie survival game Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days

Personally I prefer slow zombies to fast zombies—and not just because I have bad knees and can't outrun a toddler, let alone a ravenous member of the rotting undead. To me, the fear of zombies in games in movies is more effective when it's built around a creeping dread instead of outright horror, a slow-burning tension that gradually ratchets up as more zombies close in from all sides.

That's why Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days looks so darn good in a new trailer revealed at the PC Gaming Show today. The 2.5D sidescroller from developer PikPok is utterly oozing with atmosphere and tension. Sure, there are zombies bursting through windows and clawing at survivors, but they're the slow, shambling zombie types that give you just enough time to kick one away before you scurry up a ladder to safety. Those are my kinda zombies.

Set in 1980 in Walton City, Texas, the outbreak has overwhelmed the town and fighting off the zombies is just one of the challenges that lies ahead. Lead a group of survivors to a safehouse and manage their needs, both physical and psychological. Upgrade your shelter to protect your crew for as long as you can, with the understanding that zombies will eventually break through your defenses and you'll have to move on to new areas of the city to stay ahead of the horde.

As you can see in the trailer, you'll be able to complete missions like finding fuel and batteries, perform stealthy and dangerous scavenging and recon missions, and scout out new shelters before the zeds completely swarm your last one. Craft tools and weapons and put 'em to use, like the trusty ol' Baseball Bat With A Buncha Nails Through It, a zombie-smashing classic. And this is the US, so there are plenty of guns lying around to put to use, too.

And as usually happens during the apocalypse, you'll have to contend with other human survivors as well. Will you become the real monster by gunning down strangers and taking their supplies for yourself, or invite newcomers into your pack and try to survive together? You can find out for yourself in October, when the demo for Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days comes out on Steam.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.