Developer Microwave Games and publisher PlayWay S.A. announced today that The Walking Trade will release March 5, 2026, on Steam. The upcoming game melds The Walking Dead with a shop simulator, bringing a certain coziness to the zombie apocalypse that hasn’t been seen much. The Walking Trade looks to put a new spin on a familiar genre for Steam gamers.
Microwave Games describes the game as “a quirky, action-packed zombie apocalypse store management game,” and looks like it combines the art style of Schedule 1 — albeit a bit more refined — with light survival elements, combat, and base management. The company is a solo developer that previously made Against All Odds, a 2D action platformer, so the upcoming title will be a notable departure for the developer in terms of gameplay. The Walking Trade‘s fresh take on the genre could land it among the best zombie games that have released recently.
Schedule 1 Teases the Next Big Update
Schedule 1’s next major update looks set to bring one of the fans’ most requested features to the game, along with a host of new items.
Manage the Shop, Trade With Survivors, and Take Out Waves of Zombies
The Walking Trade releases March 5 on Steam, but players can try the demo out right now. The game puts players in charge of a store during a zombie apocalypse. Players will clean the place up, organize shelves and inventory, deal with customers, and fight off waves of zombies. There’s also a staff management system, which allows players to send employees out on missions to return with more supplies. The store’s inventory can be sourced from scavenging throughout the world and filling the shelves with whatever supplies are hiding at the bottom of dumpsters or in abandoned stores and buildings. It’s up to the player to decide how best to deal with the human customers: play nice, or get through the line quickly by shooting the clientele and selling whatever they had on them.
The game features light exploration elements, too. There’s a world map that players can roam around, but they’ll need to meet certain requirements before moving on to new locations. For example, players may need to provide a specific number of batteries in order to open a gate. The new areas unlock fresh buildings to search for loot, like an untouched supermarket to scavenge. The Walking Trade joins a number of indie-developed, zombie-survival games, including the popular 7 Days to Die that spent nearly 12 years in early access.
The game looks to be a nice melding pot of popular gameplay features. The Walking Trade combines base management and progression through collecting supplies and crafting things like shelves and defenses to fend off waves of zombies. While it does take some inspiration from the art style of popular indie game Schedule 1 with its blocky character design, it also seems to improve upon it with better shading and higher definition models.
The Walking Trade could be joining a genre that’s rising in popularity. In a similar vein, Witchspire is an upcoming indie-developed survival game that centers around witches. The game’s community dubs it a “Dark Cozy game,” which could also fit The Walking Trade, a store management simulator set in a zombie apocalypse. However, The Walking Trade is more than just a management simulator. It also includes survival exploration and action gameplay through melee and gun combat.
Players can build better weapons as the game progresses, from flamethrowers to shotguns and melee weapons like chainsaws and spears. There is also a talent system for players to advance through. The zombie genre has seen many installments lately, least of all the highly anticipated and already critically acclaimed Resident Evil Requiem. However, putting players in the role of a merchant is a fresh take on a familiar setting. Players can give The Walking Trade a chance when it releases on Steam on March 5.
