Eaten Alive

Eaten Alive is a low-budget RPG Maker survival horror game that attempts to blend an open-world zombie narrative with permadeath mechanics. Players begin confined in a warehouse and must navigate through a limited environment, solving puzzles and avoiding zombies that cause instant death upon contact. The game’s permadeath system is highly punishing and lacks checkpoints, forcing repetitive restarts through the same linear sequences, which many players found tedious and frustrating. Controls rely heavily on mouse clicks for movement and interaction, but pathfinding and UI responsiveness are frequently criticized for being clunky and imprecise. The game also suffers from numerous bugs, including graphical glitches, broken fullscreen mode, and crashes, which further degrade the experience. Dialogue and character writing were often described as immature and poorly executed, detracting from the story immersion. Despite these flaws, some players appreciated the concept, art style, and developer responsiveness, hoping for future improvements. However, in its current state, most reviews recommend waiting for patches before purchasing.

Highlights

Players praised the retro pixel art style and music, which evoke classic RPG Maker aesthetics. The concept of a zombie survival game without combat, focusing on evasion and exploration, was seen as unique and promising. Some reviewers noted the presence of trading cards as a minor positive. The developer’s active engagement with the community and intentions to add features such as checkpoints were also appreciated. Overall, the game’s old-school RPG vibe and narrative ambition were acknowledged as its strongest points.

Criticisms

Common criticisms center around the lack of save or checkpoint systems combined with brutal permadeath, making gameplay repetitive and punishing. The controls are awkward, requiring pixel-perfect mouse clicks, and pathfinding is buggy, often causing unintended zombie encounters. The UI is minimalistic to a fault, with no inventory or map, making navigation confusing. Numerous bugs and crashes plague the experience, including the inability to alt-tab, fullscreen issues, and graphical glitches like walking through walls. The story and dialogue were frequently described as immature, poorly written, and lacking depth. Many found the game’s progression and objectives vague or broken, leading to frustration and abandonment.