Urban Strife Key Art
Image: White Pond Games & MicroProse Software

Zombies (so long as they're the Real Sort) aren't known for rushing things, and neither is Urban Strife. With Steam dev-logs dating all the way back to 2020 and making its early access debut in late 2024, indie studio White Pond Games has walked a slow and steady decade-long road to release. Today, they unleash their turn-based tactical zombie RPG into the wild, now under the wing of MicroProse Software, publisher of all things strategic.

What we've got here is a strategic, party-based RPG that feels a bit like if The Walking Dead had been developed by the team behind Fallout Tactics, with a sprinkle of Jagged Alliance for flavor. You've got a settlement to protect, feed, upgrade, and generally be nice to. And that means assembling a crew of gun-toting problem-solvers (from sneaky thieves to persuasive speakers) to go out and deal with the undead and any other human factions that might be causing problems for your people at home. Stealth is viable, cover is important when fighting other humans, and of course you can target different body parts.

The v1.0 release of Urban Strife adds a dramatic last stand to the game. You've got twenty days to gather resources, recruit survivors, and complete quests before a giant zombie swarm descends upon your shelter for a multi-phase siege battle. Survive, and the game will tally up what's left standing. A fitting end for a zombie survival game, and it should lend the game some replay value. Also included in the launch version: A tiered rework of the perk system and a repair system letting you patch up your favorite gear.

Not included in this version but confirmed for post-release updates are official mod support and Steam achievements, which White Pond aims to shift attention to once they've put out any launch-week fires caused by the new update.

Urban Strife is out now on Steam for £29.50/$35, minus a hefty 30% launch discount running until July 21st. It's also worth mentioning that the game does contain some AI-generated character portraits, and they certainly have That Look about them. White Pond promises to replace them with manually re-drawn versions, but it's still a little disappointing. Still, not enough to take all the shine off the feature-packed launch trailer below.