A game called Never Be Alone on Steam has serious The Last of Us vibes, but it comes with co-op support and takes place on an open-world map where players can build bases. Zombie games have been quite popular on Steam, and there is no shortage of new releases in the genre. But Never Be Alone seems to be an ambitious project that could be worth keeping an eye on for fans of the genre.
There is currently no official word on The Last of Us Part 3, and Naughty Dog seems fully occupied with the development of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. That said, fans looking for a zombie game to tide them over while waiting for the next TLOU game or the latest season of its live-action adaptation could probably satisfy that craving with Never Be Alone.
Never Be Alone Adds Co-Op and Base-Building to TLOU’s Formula
- Release Date: December 8, 2026
- Platforms: Steam
- Genre: Open-World, Zombie, PvE, Co-op, Base-Building
If The Last of Us were made by an indie studio, it would probably look like Never Be Alone, an upcoming title that seems heavily inspired by Naughty Dog’s masterpiece. Its selling point, however, is neither its post-apocalyptic setting nor the swarms of zombies roaming the world. For survival genre fans, the biggest draw in Never Be Alone is likely the ability to play with friends in co-op mode and build a base anywhere on its open-world map.
Never Be Alone’s Most Interesting Features
- Voxel-style visuals
- No hard cap on the number of players in co-op
- Massive explorable areas
- Zombie enemies that look a lot like TLOU’s clickers and bloaters
- Dynamic weather mechanics to keep the world alive
- Crafting, foraging, fishing, and detailed base-building mechanics
- PvE combat against hostile creatures and other human factions
- Lots of different vehicles
- Different ways to customize characters
Visually, Never Be Alone might look like a Minecraft-esque game or an advanced Roblox project. Its story could also remind fans of AMC’s The Walking Dead franchise. In Never Be Alone, players wake up from a coma to find a world overrun by zombies and mutated creatures. Now, they need to find resources, gather food, generate electricity, and learn how to shoot guns if they want to be the hunter rather than the prey.
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Image via Beast Studios -
Image via Beast Studios -
Image via Beast Studios
If Never Be Alone‘s pre-release trailers are anything to go by, its co-op experience will give players an impressive level of autonomy. They seem to be able to choose any spot on the map for their camp, battle zombies in different ways using melee and long-range options, and complete the campaign while making meaningful choices. According to the developers, “Characters remember what happened, react to mission outcomes, and may treat you differently based on the decisions you make.”
Many indie projects in the past have tried to make a game like The Last of Us. But Never Be Alone might scratch an itch that many of them have missed: the ability to live in a world that looks like TLOU, rather than simply completing a gripping end-of-the-world story. Never Be Alone has already caught the attention of many survival game enthusiasts and received over 150,000 wishlists. The good news for fans is that Never Be Alone has recently been funded, allowing the small team behind it to accelerate development ahead of the planned early-access release in December.
- Released
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January 19, 2024
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Publisher(s)
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Sony Interactive Entertainment
