Survival Denied

Survival Denied is a VR action-roguelite about fighting hordes of zombies across hazardous locations. You use physical weapons and objects in the world rather than floating menus: health appears on your forearm displays, ammunition is read from your weapons, and you choose weapons and unlock levels by interacting with items in the starting area. The game includes 10 maps and can show up to 250 undead entities at once.

Track and fight the horde

Zombies patrol in independent packs and hunt by sight and sound. You can move quietly with a suppressed weapon or use loud weapons such as a rocket launcher, whose noise can draw six different hunting packs to your location. Radioactive zones can be tracked by listening to the clicks of a physical Geiger counter; Crawlers and Exploders add other threats, with Exploders causing powerful blasts that damage everyone nearby.

The maps also pose environmental dangers. In Acid Rain City, you must find shelter when the sky turns black and the rain begins melting your health. The Toxic Swamp has narrow wooden walkways above lethal water, while glowing markers and jet engines warn of bombing runs in the Scrapyard, where you can lure trailing zombies into incoming payloads.

Weapons and upgrades

The arsenal includes a Recursive Splitter Gun, whose shot branches recursively eight times into as many as 256 laser projectiles. You can also use chargeable lightning, mark areas for orbital strikes, and deploy automated freeze or explosive drones with “Seek & Destroy” logic while you reload.

Killing zombies earns level-ups that slow time around a selection area. You have 30 seconds to choose one of three perks or modifiers by walking over it; if you do not choose in time, you receive one at random. The game has 26 floating holographic modifiers for combining perks, power-ups and abilities. The “Keep Them Coming - legacy mode” modifier changes the sensory AI back to classic, relentless homing hordes. You can also earn permanent “Floating 1%” stat boosts in the hub to improve your survivability across runs.

Maps and progression

You begin in a menu area with an armory where you can test unlocked weapons. Weapon pickups show whether they are locked or unlocked, and the score required to unlock them. In levels, you can destroy weapon crates to release weapon drops, collect temporary power-ups dropped by some zombies, and look for medical supplies dropped by planes; without the supplies, the ZOM1313 virus will kill you.

Levels are reached through portals in the starting area. A level unlocks when you score at least 30,000 in the previous level. Tombstones display your standings against friends and players worldwide on each level. The settings tent offers five quality levels, a reset for level unlocks and an easy mode; additional options let you adjust walking direction, turning style and sensitivity.

Asymmetric couch co-op

In experimental couch co-op, a second player can use the PC monitor without a headset to pilot an overhead support drone. They can fire turrets, drop hazards and ping targets while you fight in VR.