"I Am Alive" is the best name for this horror, because this game itself had been struggling for survival since 2008. Firstly it was announced by Darkworks, but has been never released. Then Ubisoft started to work on I Am Alive, and finally in March and April of 2012 the game for Xbox and PlayStation 3 saw the light. But the developers had very big doubts about the success of the released game, so they didn't want to develop its PC-version. Suddenly I Am Alive became rather popular, and so on the 6-th of September, 2012 PC edition came to the market.
I Am Alive is a survival horror in the post-apocalyptic world, but in spite of the traditional signs of this genre, here you won't find mutated monsters and dangerous creatures. You will fight against the people that want to save their lives as much as you do. After the massive disaster - an earthquake - the world lost the rest of humaneness and mercy, and now everyone is struggling only for his life. People are hiding in the concrete jungle - in deserted houses, abandoned buildings and underground. There is no weapon, no food and no water, but the will to live isn't dying.
The protagonist of the game is a man, who got into the hospital just after the catastrophe and was there for the last year, and now finally came home. But his family has already left the house, and he is going to find his beloved wife and daughter. He meets the girl that reminds him his daughter and he wants to help her. This little child will become his key to the dark, grey and awful post-apocalyptic world and may help him to find the dearest people.
This game doesn't look like the shooters, where you have endless ammo and you need to kill everyone you meet. During the game you will own the gun, the hand-made bow and machete, but the main thing you need to use is your brain and strategic thinking. If your enemy has no weapon, you just need to threaten him with your not loaded gun, and he will probably surrender. But in other case this maneuver may not work. You can kill only the leader of criminals (because it is very important to use the ammo sparingly), and the others will run away. If you meet a person in hand-made armor, you need to aim at his head, because otherwise you will just waste your ammo. And some people are just as lonely as you, and they won't hurt you if you let them leave.
Some people need help just like you, and if you give them medicine or food, they will replay your kindness with additional lives or other useful items. It is an important option, because the levels in the game are very long and exhausting, and to use checkpoints in the middle of the level, you need additional lives. If you have no lives, you will need to start from the beginning of the level each time you die.
Not only people, but the environment is also dangerous for you. Dust storm is a great weather disaster, that is slowly killing you. During the storm your energy decreases and vision becomes indistinct. If you won't find the shelter as soon as possible, you will die even without fighting. To hide from dust storm, you can climb on the roof of the building. It is interesting, that climbing is really hard to your character, because he is just a human, but not the superhero. On the top of the screen there is a scale for your energy and the scale for the health. After exhausting climbing, jumping or running your energy decreases, and when it is empty, you begin to lose your health. You can rest some time when you'll be safe to restore the energy, but also water and food can help you to feel OK. But in I Am Alive it is really difficult to find or take away the food from other characters.
The locations in the game are yellow and grey and extremely dull. You will feel the pain and despair of your hero and of all the people that are struggling for their survival. In PC version the developers redesigned the graphics, so it became more realistic, sharp and detailed. But still it is not outstanding, and in I Am Alive the atmosphere plays more important role than the environment.
Other innovations of the PC edition are two additional modes - Replay and Easy ones. With Replay mode you can go back to any level to find other secrets of this location, and in Easy mode the enemies and tasks are not so difficult as usual. The other characteristics of the game remained unchanged, so if you have already passed this game on your console, you wouldn't like to buy it again. But for those who have never played I Am Alive, this game may become the discovery of the year.
The official trailer:
