Some Infestations Die Out, Another Moves to Steam: The New Z

Michael Byrne
By Michael Byrne, Editor in Chief Posted:
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newz_feat

Remember The War Z? Yeah, that one, the zombie survival game that later became Infestation: Survivor Stories? We didn't cover it much here on MMOBomb since it required a purchase to play, but chances are you've probably heard quite a bit about the game itself and even more about its developer/publisher OP Productions LLC and Hammerpoint Interactive. If you don't know those names then you've probably heard of Sergey Titov even if it was for less than flattering reasons in the past.

Fast forward a bit and a new game in the same genre appeared called Romero's Aftermath. We covered it quite a bit in an interview a while ago and were amused to find out that once again Sergey Titov was involved in the project. This version of the game was free-to-play and built on the engine that powered Infestation: Survivor Stories. Aftermath had the input of George C. Romero (son of the better known George A. Romero of Night of the Living Dead fame) lending it some horror cred, but even that wasn't enough as Aftermath announced that it will be closing up shop on Dec. 24, 2016. Free Reign Entertainment (yet another company affiliated with Sergey Titov) has since moved on to Shattered Skies, but if you want to play that you'll need to buy it. One infestation down.

Anyway, back to Infestation: Survivor Stories. Check out the game's Steam page and click on the link for the official site and you might end up a bit confused, since the link takes you to a page for a game called Infestation World. What gives? Well, Thai publisher Electronics Extreme partnered up with OP Productions earlier this year to bring a free-to-play version of Infestation to the gaming universe. So, you could buy Infestation: Survivor Stories (then dubbed Infestation: Survivor Stories Classic) or you could play Infestation World for free. While the two games did have differences it appears neither mattered, since ISS Classic is shutting down on Dec. 15 and Infestation World will close its doors on Dec. 31. Infestations 2 and 3 (although technically the same strain) cured.

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Fear not, though, for just as a zombie is never truly dead, Infestation keeps getting up, getting re-branded, and shambling back for more. Infestation: The New Z has just recently launched on Steam and while it is still published by OP Productions, the game is now developed by Fredaikis AB. Claiming that the game is "a massive rework of Infestation: Survivor Stories," the team at Fredaikis claims they want to work from the ground up and create the "best Infestation experience yet" and has added a number of anti-cheat measures. The game is free-to-play on Steam.

Frankly, I wouldn't touch this with a stick. Yes, it admittedly isn't my type of game to begin with, but even if it were I just cannot get behind multiple rebrandings of the same subpar title all with various ways of milking money out of players and having what can only be described as less than stellar customer service. I feel for actual fans of the game who saw potential along the way for all of these years and wanted the game to become something better, only to go largely unheard by the development team. I hope for those dedicated players Fredaikis makes good on their claims of creating the best possible experience, but the early Steam reviews aren't very flattering. Given that Sergey Titov is involved with OP Productions (and Arktos, Hammerpoint, and Free Reign), I sent an email to the team at Fredaikis to inquire as to his role in this "new" infestation and have been advised that he has no role in development.

All I'll leave this at for now is, "Let the buyer beware" and here's to hoping that long-time fans of the game get the improvements and game they were able to see in the mess that many of us simply didn't stick around long enough to realize was there.

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About the Author

Michael Byrne
Michael Byrne, Editor in Chief

Mike “Magicman” Byrne has been a part of the MMOBomb family for years and serves as the site’s current Editor-in-Chief. His love for MMOs and gaming in general has led him to covering games for numerous gaming websites including Gamebreaker TV and XIV Nation where he proudly displays his fanboy flag for FFXIV:ARR.

More Stories by Michael Byrne

Discussion (11)

Gamerknowledge 7 years ago
I checked it out and I can tell already it's a scam. I usually back off from the game when I know the devs are shady unless I have a contract with them and I never do since I don't work in the MMO industry and never will since it's pretty horrible right now and the way it is I doubt it will improve. And even if I did somehow pop out a good MMO I will just be battling hackers who are 2 lazy to play and I would be questioning why they even made an account and log in the first place? I still question that for any MMO since it seems pointless to log in and bot/cheat and not even play. But I laughed when I looked up the developers/publishers comments on steam they tried to act professional and not scammy but it's clear they are by popping out garbage games like this and ignoring their customers who are upset with their products and it's clear somethings wrong when their games on steam has a lot of negative comments and not many positive ones.

step back 7 years ago
Different name barely any different from the other 4 games they made already it's either they are getting desperate or they have a lot of money to waste by making more like this in just 2 years Just stop already

kek 7 years ago
For all the lazy people. This was pretty much a private emulator, the best one so far. It gained so much popularity that Fredaiki's, the owner of New Z, signed a contract with hammerpoint and pretty much now they own it. I played this shit a ton, it's an amazing game, no hackers and nothing like the old infestation; this infestation is easy to farm, get GI and it has a lot of game modes and maps the old one did not.

I played it a year ago when it was still under fredaiki's ownership, idk how it is now. But I'd give it a try if I were you.

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Onara Gorou 7 years ago
I remember the times when shooting zombies wasn't a fashion trend.

commanderhavoc 7 years ago
I was honestly shocked when I saw it on the front page on Steam, they couldn't be possibly be at it again I thought to myself.
But it was real and they're still trying to fool people, I don't believe for a second that Titov isn't involved in the development of the game, he most likely is working under a completely different name or something to hide his involvement
It may be free, but DO NOT give them the time to play it, it is basically just the same old shit as The War Z with hackers running rampant and everything from what I heard.

Hellsworth 7 years ago
I remember watching an interview with John Romero where he points the fingers to F2P to blame for the downfall of AAA games, my answer to that was simply "shitty FPS reworks are not AAA games"... guess what, here's your "Aftermath".

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Walking Simulator 7 years ago
After all the drama, it still infests the Steam store with it's presence.

Arieswar 7 years ago
Ohhh I remember this they banned me as soon as i started the game lol
So payed the fee to get the game was back then 20€ Well played for 74 minutes and got banned of the bat.

aperently i was not alone and when i contacted the support they wanted me to buy another copy to unbann me lol

Story short never looked back.


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