VEIN PC (Build 23934398 Early Access)

Rebuild society, whether alone or with friends. In the near future, the apocalypse has occurred: hostile zombies roam the Earth, most people have died, and society has collapsed. You are a survivor. Gather supplies to survive, explore abandoned buildings, combat bandits, defend your home, and rebuild society with friends. Massive potential, severely undercooked. As it stands now, VEIN is visibly split between the zombie combat and the realism-focused survival aspects, the latter being very good and the former being extremely abysmal. The concept of *Project Zomboid* combined with the immersion of a 3D first-person game promising a realistic zombie survival experience is highly appealing. To start with the good, the realism and survival/crafting systems are excellent.

There is a lot of attention to detail similar to *Project Zomboid*, with mechanics such as placing electronics in a Ziploc bag when it rains or washing and drying clothes. The crafting systems are also quite in-depth, and much of the game revolves around finding the right tools and materials to build sustainability before the eventual power and water shutoff. The map itself is immersive, and a rainy night with water pelting the windows while staying indoors creates a great atmosphere. Moments like this highlight the strengths of a 3D game that 2D games like *Project Zomboid* couldn’t pull off. Vehicles are well detailed, with glove boxes, individual control sections, and features that make each one feel unique.

Where VEIN currently suffers is primarily the absolutely undercooked combat system. Everything feels too weightless, zombies have awful hit reactions and feedback, runners are too quiet, and corpses fly far too much on death. Physics frequently causes objects to become stuck and triggers repetitive collision noises. The biggest offender is the lack of zombie danger in a zombie game. There is virtually no threat that zombies pose, at least on the standard settings. Too few zombies are scattered around the large open areas.

Firing a gun and attracting zombies usually results in small groups of 4–10 slowly advancing toward the player’s position, leaving plenty of time to do whatever is needed and simply leave. There are essentially no consequences for playing as a loud, guns-blazing cowboy, even in the more densely populated towns. Zombies are little more than background props in most situations. If the survival and crafting aspects are the main attraction and zombies are of secondary importance, then VEIN is perfectly enjoyable. However, anyone looking for *Project Zomboid* in 3D with a constant threat from the undead should probably wait and let it cook a little longer.