Infection Free Zone’s early access bugs weigh down its intriguing premise

Infection Free Zone, now in Steam Early Access, has a basic premise: Zombies have taken over the world, driving humanity into underground bunkers to wait the plague out. Eventually, the radio fires up, and a message goes out that the disease is fading. While the surface is still dangerous, it’s time to step up and make an attempt to build a new society.

This isn’t my first rodeo with a game like this, where you have to build a post-apocalyptic society that’s constantly under attack by hordes of zombies. However, this is the first time I’ve done so from the comfort and safety of my own real-world block. Instead of a fictional setting or a careful diorama based on an actual city, Infection Free Zone pulls from map data to create a one-to-one re-creation of cities and towns, using that information to create places for looting and building up a base of operations.

An Infection Free Zone run starts with the player choosing where to begin. The game offers my own region as a starting location, and I even found my own apartment. The map also draws on real-world data to categorize each building. For instance, the walk-in clinic across from my apartment is recognized as a hospital, which made it an ideal starting HQ. My apartment building lacked medical supplies, and its size meant it would be difficult to defend. Meanwhile, I could lock down the clinic easily, and help myself to all that free medicine left behind.

Image: Jutsu Games/Games Operators

The real-world function of each building factors into how it’s interpreted in Infection Free Zone. Learning about the perks — and downsides — of each building in my area would be necessary if I wanted to survive. From there, I started organizing my population into small squads for scavenging the homes in the area for canned food. We found other survivors and started planting food and building infrastructure.

Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out yet how to escape one of two inevitable fates: turtling until I starve to death, or attracting so many infected to my fledgling settlement that we’re overwhelmed. Perhaps it’s because I live in a humble Canadian neighborhood where guns wouldn’t spawn frequently, but I couldn’t find enough firearms to fend off the endless hordes. You can play anywhere in theory, but in practice you’re going to need to pick a major city for more resources.

Download game: INFECTION FREE ZONE