Urban Strife

Urban Strife is a turn-based tactical survival RPG about protecting a failing shelter in a zombie-ravaged city. You play a mysterious patient evacuated from an Atlanta lab shortly before the city falls. Rescued by the elderly residents of Urban Shelter, you help rebuild its defenses and decide who to save as the undead and ruthless human factions close in. Survival depends on other people pulling you back from the edge, and on the choices you make for them.

Story and setting

The zombie pandemic has been raging for two years, pushing humanity back toward primitive, tribal ways of life. In Urban, staying alive is only part of the challenge: you must preserve a remnant of civilization, rebuild the Shelter and face the consequences of deciding who is worth saving, using or leaving behind.

Explore a city divided among gangs, soldiers, cultists, refugees and roaming undead hordes. The horde that drove you out of Atlanta is still coming, leading to a final battle.

Tactical combat

Combat is turn-based and uses Action Points, interrupts and skill-based reactions. You can target specific body parts to cripple, slow, disable or kill enemies, choosing between risky headshots, safer center-mass shots and tactical limb attacks. Before firing, a Chance-to-Hit calculator estimates your odds and potential damage, accounting for bullet attenuation; skills, perks and weapon attachments can improve your chances, but poor positioning and bad luck can still turn a fight against you.

The combat system also tracks ammunition, injuries, noise and positioning. Enemy AI assesses the battlefield and changes its tactics each turn, so attracting too many opponents can leave you surrounded. Perks can be trained up to three levels deep.

Ballistics and weapons

Firearms use simulated ballistics rather than abstract hit rolls. Bullets follow individual trajectories, shotgun damage is calculated pellet by pellet, and grenade explosions produce fragments with their own paths. Cover depends on its material, thickness and angle: a car engine can stop most calibers, while a hunting rifle can shoot through a thin wall.

Weapon classes have different tactical roles, from low-AP pistols to high-damage rifles. Burst fire can deal heavy cumulative damage and penetrate multiple targets. Attachments, perks and skills can improve accuracy and damage.

Stealth and melee

Gunfire can attract unwanted attention, so you can use melee weapons when a silenced gun or crossbow is unavailable or unsuitable. Your options include blades, blunt weapons and improvised tools, from a frying pan to a spiked baseball bat. Sneak behind enemies for silent takedowns, or set up Overwatch ambushes that trigger during the enemy turn. Initiative checks determine whether you strike first or are interrupted.

Factions and survivors

The NPCs in Urban have their own survival stories, routines, needs, morals and agendas. Some may help you, but often only if you first serve their interests. You can gain allies by helping people, bargaining or working for them, and recruit militia fighters from among the city's locals.

Three main faction blocs compete for influence: the National Guard, the Church of Second Chance and the Shady Lady biker charter. Your alliances unlock different story paths, Shelter upgrades and long-term benefits, but no faction or path offers a morally safe choice.

Keep the Shelter running

Urban Shelter is damaged, overcrowded and close to collapse. Its refugees need food, medical care, morale and power, while its facilities need repairs, expansion and staff. The older residents bring skills as engineers, pharmacists, chefs and other specialists; they are essential to the Shelter's survival, just as you are essential to theirs.

You scavenge food, medicine, morale items, fuel and materials, then repair and expand facilities. You can unlock faction-specific upgrades and bonuses, and produce equipment for your arsenal, including explosive bullets, tactical weapon kits and high-capacity magazines. When the siege begins, scavenging stops, so you must rely on what you have built and prepared.

Other systems

Cars differ in speed, fuel consumption and cargo capacity. An arena system lets you fight for gold prizes. Zombie hordes act in a dedicated simultaneous phase: all undead move together while making individual decisions, keeping their turns readable even when their numbers are overwhelming.