Project Zomboid looks like it could be the next big indie hit (The last being Minecraft). It’s has been generating a buzz on twitter in the last week.

It will be played in via a download or within the web browser which means it can be played it on on PC, Mac or Linux. The game is being described as isometric action zombie survival RPG. At first glance it looks like PC and Amiga classic UFO: Enemy Unknown (XCOM) crossed with classic PC murder simluator Postal, but developers Indie Stone are promising some very interesting features.

Planned features include:

Real-time day to night lighting, line of sight and sound systems. Use the darkness to avoid attracting zombie attention. Barricade your safe-house and venture out under the cover of darkness. But careful, because any sound you make could get unwanted attention from the horde.

Crafting system. Loot and salvage household items, break into shops, hospitals and other locations to find what you need to survive, build defences, and keep yourself sane.

Advanced survivor AI. Along the way you will meet other survivors, who you can join forces with, fight for resources, trade with and carry out randomly generated missions for. Trust and morale are important, the zombie apocalypse is hard to deal with. Survivors can seek comfort at the bottom of a bottle or by raiding a medicine cabinet, but before long may find themselves with more problems than the zombies outside, and a mentally unstable ally hiding himself away, sticking a shotgun in their mouth and pulling the trigger is going to make a lot of noise.

Zombie Movie Sadist Director. Every zombie film aficionado knows that if the survivors seem to be getting too comfortable in their safe house, something is definitely about to go disastrously wrong for them.

The world will be pre-generated, but the contents of the world, from the characters you meet, the quests you receive, to the items you find, will be different each time you play. The initial release will have the suburbs. Subsequent to that new areas, from the inner city, countryside, shopping malls, police stations, hospitals and countless others will ultimately form a massive play area to explore.

Character progression. Plenty of skills, perks and traits can be picked up during the game. Learn how to treat injuries, fire a shotgun, build a wall, drop kick a zombie, or create explosives from household items.

World-wide apocalypse story. Although the events of your game will be unique to you, there is a bigger story at play that changes the game as you progress. A few weeks after first infection the power stations fail and the city is plunged into darkness, refrigerators fail, and suddenly batteries, gas heaters and canned food become a prized commodity. Then the army ‘clean up crews’ start to sweep over the city, eliminating anything in their paths.

Get infected. Infection is a real danger, even to the player. If the unthinkable happens, and your days are ticking down, how will you finally go out? In a heroic moment of self-sacrifice, or hiding your wounds and saying nothing? And once you finally do die, you can watch yourself re-animate and see what happens to those closest to you.

Multiplayer – Team up with your friends and try to survive the apocalypse together.

Indie Stone, are funding the game with pre-orders. You can pre-order the game for £5/$8 here. The money goes directly to funding the game’s development. I’ve made my purchase, you should too.

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