Infection Free Zone
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''Infection Free Zone'' is a
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...
survival Survival or survivorship, the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things ...
city-building game A city-building game, or town-building game, is a Video game genres, genre of simulation video game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city or town, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and man ...
developed by Jutsu Games and published by Games Operators for
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. It was released for
early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release Software release life cycle, developm ...
on April 11, 2024. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the "Mad Virus" has rapidly spread globally, transforming humans into aggressive infected creatures and causing the collapse of civilization within weeks. Players manage groups of survivors during the day to scavenge for resources and construct defenses, while defending their settlements against waves of infected during nighttime attacks.


Gameplay

In Infection Free Zone, players assume control of a group of survivors tasked with establishing and defending a settlement against infected hordes and hostile factions. The core gameplay revolves around a day-night cycle where players manage squads of armed survivors who scavenge buildings for essential resources including food, medicine, weapons, and construction materials during daylight hours while the infected remain dormant indoors. Players must strategically choose their headquarters location and adapt existing real-world buildings into functional facilities such as medical bays, workshops, farms, and research centers to create a self-sustaining settlement. Defense preparation is crucial, as each night brings waves of aggressive infected that attack the player's zone, requiring the construction of walls, watchtowers, gates, and strategic positioning of armed squads to repel assaults. The game emphasizes resource management and strategic planning, with players needing to balance exploration for supplies against maintaining adequate defenses, while also managing survivor morale through proper food distribution and shelter. Advanced gameplay includes diplomacy with other survivor groups, research and development of technologies including potential vaccines, vehicle acquisition for faster travel and combat, and long-term settlement expansion through building demolition and reconstruction to optimize defensive layouts.


Plot

At some time in the modern world, the plague dubbed "Mad Virus" appeared "out of nowhere" and began turning people feral and hostile to all other living beings. In the next few weeks, chaos emerges and societal order collapses worldwide. The intro cinematic shots hint to part of the outbreak occurring in
Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
Doomsday preppers banded together to live underground and form a stockpile of materials. For at least several years, they would live in their bunkers. As supplies became scarce and life support systems began failing, an automated radio frequency declared that the infected population was declining and encouraging survivors to form new settlements. Regardless of what map players choose, they will always start in April 2030. As players continue developing their society they will continue to encounter other groups in the wasteland, including merchants, wandering migrants, bandits, signs of increasing intelligence within the infected, infected animals, and military factions, largely through the use of radio. Players may choose to turn off Story events and/or Illness Events upon creating their base. Doing this will disable radio events(excluding migrants) and the intro cinematic.


Development

The demo version of the game titled ''Infection Free Zone – Prologue'' was released on October 19, 2023, for
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
. In this demo, player can play at six major cities, including
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and
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, for eight days in-game duration only.


Reception

Infection Free Zone received mixed reviews upon its early access release in April 2024. Ed Smith of PCGamesN described the game as effectively mixing elements from Cities Skylines 2, Dying Light, and Frostpunk.


References

:a.A scene from the intro cinematic in the bunker suggests the survivors have been underground for at least three years(before April 2027).


External links

* * 2024 video games Indie games Early access video games Open-world video games Post-apocalyptic video games Survival video games Single-player video games Video games developed in Poland Windows games Windows-only games Jutsu Games games {{videogame-stub