Skip to main content
PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
UK EditionUK US EditionUS CA EditionCanada AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
  • Hardware
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Video
  • Forum
  • More
    • PC Gaming Show
    • Software
    • Movies & TV
    • Codes
    • Coupons
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
    • Affiliate links
    • Meet the team
    • Community guidelines
    • About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$32.49
Subscribe now
Don't miss these
Popular
  • GOTY Awards
  • PC Gaming Show
  • Best PC gear
  • Arc Raiders
  • Quizzes
  1. Games
  2. Action

Surviving the post-apocalypse now in Survival: Postapocalypse Now

Features
By Christopher Livingston published 22 April 2015

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Welcome to the time after the apocalypse

Welcome to the time after the apocalypse

Survival: Postapocalypse Now is not messing around. It's crammed as many important words into its title as it can, not even stopping long enough to use a hyphen. If it included "Early Access" and "Probably Has Crafting" in the title too, you probably wouldn't have to even play it!

Actually, you don't have to play it. I did, though, because it's only five dollars! I just can't resist the temptation of inexpensive unfinished survival games. Here's how I spent my first hour.

Page 1 of 13
Page 1 of 13
Don't cry, wolf

Don't cry, wolf

I begin my post-apocalypse shirtless, with a baseball bat, standing on a road in a wooded area. A wolf that barks like a small-to-midsize lapdog charges me from the bushes. He's very cute, but clearly angry, so I whomp him a few times with my bat. He gets in one good bite, and my character screams ear-splittingly. I win, though, and the wolf-dog lies in a weird jiggly pile. I eat part of him.

Page 2 of 13
Page 2 of 13
I'll trade you that shirt for a bag of advice

I'll trade you that shirt for a bag of advice

I find a downed chopper with some food, supplies, and a revolver. While trying to figure out how to load it, I examine my inventory, which is now filled with ammo clips and... advice? Maybe advice is the currency here in the post-apocalypse. My advice: bring a shirt.

Page 3 of 13
Page 3 of 13
A friend indeed

A friend indeed

While looting an apartment block, I encounter another player. "Hello!" he says. "I'm friendly. Do you have a mic?" I do, but I don't know what key activates it and I can't access the options menu while playing. I hop up and down and crouch, hoping my body language will signify I'm also friendly. He seems to understand. We start looting together.

Page 4 of 13
Page 4 of 13
The protector

The protector

My new friend grows very protective of me. When we hear gunshots outside, he suggests I wait while he goes to check it out. "Don't worry... I have a gun," he says dramatically. I do to, though I haven't shown it to him, because I don't want to appear threatening, and also because I'm thinking about maybe shooting him at some point. He has a cool coat.

Page 5 of 13
Page 5 of 13
Spectator: Postapocalypse Now

Spectator: Postapocalypse Now

Eventually I become stuck in a doorway, and after several minutes of trying to free myself, I click the helpful "suicide" button on the menu. While dead, there's a 60 second respawn timer, and I discover I can cycle through the other players, which is fun. I watch a tattooed player rifle through some drawers in his drawers.

Page 6 of 13
Page 6 of 13
Sliding drawers

Sliding drawers

Speaking of drawers, all the individual drawers in the game can be open and closed when you're looting. I find this more fun than DayZ, where stuff is just sitting on surfaces, and H1Z1 where you're simply shown a timer while searching cabinets. It's the little things that make the post-apocalypse worth surviving.

Page 7 of 13
Page 7 of 13
Bat man

Bat man

While in a house, I hear footsteps outside. Still unsure of how to communicate, I decide to let my bat do the talking. We trade blows, both of us comically shrieking when we get hit. I win and he flops weirdly to the ground. I encounter another guy outside and beat him to death too. I think I'm winning, a rarity in any game.

Page 8 of 13
Page 8 of 13
Slaking my thrist

Slaking my thrist

I find some food and drink, which is good because my status was "LowHungry" and "LowThristy," a dangerous state (I think?) for any half-naked man in the post-apocalypse. I also realize I have no actual evidence that this really is the post-apocalypse. As far as I can tell, we're just a group of assholes running around murdering each other.

Page 9 of 13
Page 9 of 13
Backshot

Backshot

Opening and closing drawers has led me to a shotgun and some shells. I come across a man who's killed a wolf-dog, and blast him in the back. I eat the dead dog and scour another building, finding a revolver and a few rounds. I'm definitely winning.

Page 10 of 13
Page 10 of 13
Unstoppable

Unstoppable

Another survivor invades the building I'm looting, and I pump a few rounds into him. My last few rounds, as it turns out. I fumble around with my inventory, trying to unload clips and find bullets for my guns. No luck. I'm back to bats.

Page 11 of 13
Page 11 of 13
Stoppable

Stoppable

Finally, I run into a more skilled batsman, and I die. While I wait to respawn I stare down at my precious collection of ammo, weapons, and advice scattered near my twisted body. No one loots it, but when I respawn I'm nowhere near my corpse. It's really not a lie when I say I've done better at this game than pretty much any other survival game, ever.

Page 12 of 13
Page 12 of 13
The end times

The end times

Well, Survival: Postapocalypse Now obviously isn't much to look at, even with the settings turned up to "Fantastic." It's a bit buggy, being Early Access and all, but it runs really well, it's a definite bargain at $5, and I had a good time being the biggest survival jerk I've ever been.

Page 13 of 13
Page 13 of 13
Christopher Livingston
Christopher Livingston
Social Links Navigation
Senior Editor

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.

Share by:
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Whatsapp
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Latest in Action
Snake Logan shoots a purple blob while stood between a police car and a crashed propeller plane.
Over 30 years since release, this classic PC platformer built with the tech that led to Doom just got a remaster
 
 
Text reminds you to press W + SHIFT to run above a screenshot of a ledge leading across a gap toward a rooftop
Great moments in PC gaming: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic's rooftop chase
 
 
Ark 2 Vin Diesel
Ark 2 is now set to come out in 2028, and it may not have as much Vin Diesel as we were expecting: After years of delays, his involvement is 'an open question'
 
 
Dave the Diver and his friends
Dave the Diver's next DLC really changes things up: you can freely explore the new village in real time, complete quests to win over locals, and your restaurant doesn't serve sushi
 
 
Dead girl from Dead Island
Dead Island 3 is aiming for release in 2028, which means it'll take 7 years less to make than Dead Island 2
 
 
Stellar Blade salute
Stellar Blade boss receives presidential commendation for his contributions to the Korean videogame industry
 
 
Latest in Features
A German Shepherd sits in the passenger seat of a car
Five new Steam games you probably missed (December 22, 2025)
 
 
A hive scum with a mohawk, goggles, tatttoos, and a metal chinstrap holds two automatic weapons
Darktide asked if we want to be scum, and I was the person who said, 'actually, yes'
 
 
It clown holding a wanted poster
2025 was a monster year for Stephen King movie and TV adaptations… so where are all the games?
 
 
Silent Hill f personal pick
Silent Hill f didn't just give us a superb SH game in the year of our lord 2025, but it offered up one of the best in the series
 
 
Krile from Final Fantasy 14 looks ponderous, deep in thought.
Final Fantasy 14's latest patch has me hopeful for the MMO's story again—even though Square Enix still has a lot of good will to recover
 
 
Inzoi - A Zoi made to look like Timothée Chalamet holding a money gun and surrounded by falling money
It's more important than ever to call out developers for egregious AI usage next year if we want videogames to remain interesting
 
 
  1. MSI and Asus gaming monitors on a green background with the PC Gamer recommended logo in the top right
    1
    Best gaming monitors in 2025: the pixel-perfect panels I'd buy myself
  2. 2
    The best fish tank PC case in 2025: I've tested heaps of stylish chassis but only a few have earned my recommendation
  3. 3
    Best gaming laptop 2025: I've tested the best laptops for gaming of this generation and here are the ones I recommend
  4. 4
    Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming
  5. 5
    Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC
  1. DangBei DBOX02 Pro 4K projector
    1
    Dangbei DBOX02 Pro review
  2. 2
    Death Howl review
  3. 3
    Corsair One i600 review
  4. 4
    ZSA Voyager + Navigator review
  5. 5
    MSI MEG X870E Godlike X Edition review

PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...