Crowdfunding is rife with zombie survival games. Yet, zombie aficionados are still holding out hope for one that ticks all the right boxes. Sure you want open-word sandbox survival, but too many games give up after that. This leaves well-fortified players with nothing to do except wait out the apocalypse. Luckily, the team at KYE Creations knows that it’s not enough to just survive, you’ve also gotta live. That’s why they created a new story-driven zombie survival game they call, Jaws of Extinction.
The Kickstarter campaign fell well below its $32,395 funding goal, which is a shame because there is serious potential here and it’s not being showcased. Jaws of Extinction includes all the typical horror features you’d expect from a zombie survival game, multiplayer, crafting, building, and banishing waves of undead. Sadly, the developers spend so much of the campaign explaining typical survival features that they largely overlooked the story aspects.
Think about it, why do people still watch The Walking Dead? (Quit snickering, enough people do). It’s the story and characters that keep people tuning in for more. Zombies are great antagonists, but if other popular survival games have show us anything it’s that they aren’t enough on their own.
It’s The People You Gotta Watch Out For
The Jaws of Extinction campaign teased story-driven gameplay by starting players off as a prisoner in Lockcrest Penitentiary. From there players can continue to follow the story to unlock the secrets of the island and perhaps to their continued survival. You can choose to work with fellow survivors and rebuild some semblance of civilization or use brute force to take control. Not nearly enough survival games look beyond the immediate zombie threat to focus on the dynamics of a fallen society.
In addition to the highly underrated narrative, Jaws of Extinction also pulls off a few other surprises. Both in its mechanics (option to switch between 1st and 3rd person viewpoints) and gameplay (tamable animals to aid in transport and recon). Even character movement offers a little something extra as players are able to slide and climb to evade danger.
https://youtu.be/zjCCjWgVF1g
Campaign creator, Ryan Thirlwall has stated in the comment section that the team plans to continue development on Jaws of Extinction. They are also open to the possibility of returning to Kickstarter again, at a later date. KYE has some great ideas and with a little time and attention I’m certain this project could be brought back to life.
