Journey Through the Undead (PC, Early Access) Review

Published and developed by Dazzling Divine, Journey through the undead is a brutishly stylish zombie survival title that throws you amongst hordes of the undead in what could be described as the love child of the dying light and Dead Rising franchises – only not as pretty or slick as its esteemed parents.

Cool Effects, but Weird Animations

The game shows early promise with some cool, meaty impact sounds and plenty of blood but, sadly, as the game unfolds, a few cracks begin to appear through the gossamer veneer of style in the form of weird animations that break the illusion and throws the proverbial spanner into the cogs of immersion. Zombies often seem to float across the map and even the floor upon death – where their redead(?) corpses just slide across the ground towards the player.

In the grand scheme of things, these oddly rendered animations sound like a minor irk as opposed to a real problem, however, amongst all the glitter and shine of Journey Through the Undead it’s a real shame that such schoolboy errors have slipped through. Saying that, the version I played was pre-release, so there’s every chance that these animative discrepancies won’t make the final cut – a man can hope.

A Well Tied Together Game

Journey Through the Undead breaks the game down into small and manageable chunks and gives you one objective at a time. By doing this, Dazzling Divine not only offer frequent checkpoints with autosave, but also gives the player a real sense of progression as they chip away at the small sections.

I was pleasantly surprised quite early into the game when I found that I could actually drive an RV through some mountainous terrain on my way to set up camp. The driving was a relatively smooth experience, until I reached the top of a mountain trail only to realize my new vehicle actually handled corners like a concrete fridge as it rolled over an embankment and lodged itself betwixt two trees. With my wheels off the ground, there was little I could do to free myself of the situation and I spent a good ten minutes trying before being forced to close the game down and restart it.

Again, not exactly a game-breaking issue, but one that stood out to me nonetheless.

Pick-Ups Aplenty

Mercifully, Journey Through the Undead like to provide plenty of pick-ups along the way. These range from various food items that work to replenish health when used with the Q key, plenty of ammo pick-ups and even grenades. Picking these items up as often as possible is key to survival, as the game rains undead horde upon undead horde down on the player. It’s action-packed, it’s fast, it’s unforgiving, and it’s gloriously gory.

Journey Through the Undead – So Easy on the Eye

One of the first things to stand out to me in Journey Through the Undead was how good it looked. Boasting photo-realistic graphics, the game is more than easy on the eye – which really isn’t bad considering its modest 6GB file size.

Summary

Journey Through the Undead is a bloody, checkpoint-happy zombie bash from Dazzling Divine that clearly takes cues from Dying Light and Dead Rising — just with a bit more grit and a few more quirks. It’s fun, fast, and gory as heck, but those hilariously awkward animations (think zombies ice-skating across the map) do their best to break the mood.

Thankfully, the game’s short, snappy objectives, endless supply of pick-ups, and surprisingly gorgeous visuals keep you coming back for more. Sure, the odd physics hiccup — like driving an RV that corners worse than a fridge — might pull you out of the action, but there’s enough charm and chaos here to make it worth the ride… especially if the final release smooths out the bumps.