The folks behind Infestation: Survivor Stories (aka the game previously known as The War Z before it changed names due to a trademark issue) is rebooting its zombie MMO with a new game called Romero's Aftermath.

That Romero in the title isn't Doom co-creator John Romero, nor is it Night of the Living Dead director George A. Romero, but it is his son, George Cameron Romero. "He's going to join production team as a creative force to help us make the ultimate zombie experience," the developer said on its official forum. "Cameron, being an avid hardcore gamer will be a great partner for us. He brings not only his creative vision and film experience, but also his family's heritage in the zombie genre. Cameron will help us create a world that is more 'authentic' than the one we had before."

So what is Aftermath, exactly? Developer Free Reign East calls it the "spiritual successor" to Infestation, yet it's technically a new IP due to the developer's separation from its partner company. "The development team behind Infestation wanted to create a new experience for Infestation/WarZ players making sure to keep best parts of the game that made it popular, while avoiding controversial decisions and plain stupid mistakes that were previously made," Free Reign East explained. "Unfortunately, it was impossible to make the modifications to the existing game under the partnership with Infestation's publisher - OP Productions LLC. We had to leave and start from scratch."

That being said, those with an active Infestation account will be given access to Aftermath for free as soon as the game enters open beta.

Others can purchase early access to its alpha, starting at $14.99, though the developer is up front that this build is pretty rough still. "Early Access Alpha is your chance to experience Aftermath as it evolves throughout its development process," Free Reign East noted. "While the game contains all the core features and we do believe it's fun to play at this stage, we strongly advise you not to buy Aftermath at this stage unless you clearly understand what Early Access means and are interested in participating in the ongoing development cycle."

The most devoted Infestation/WarZ players are being awarded free access to the Aftermath alpha. Though to qualify for this you must have either played 100 hours of Infestation, spent at least $25 buying GC, or have a Pioneer or Legendary account and played over 50 hours of the game.

Free Reign East lists a smorgasbord of new features it's adding to this spiritual successor to Infestation. These include new systems for crafting, respawning, player reputation, safezones, character customisation, a new Last Man Standing mode and more. There's a series of tutorials going over the basics on YouTube.