It becomes easier to save bullets once you pick up a bow, but you're only given ONE arrow which you can retrieve from corps, I was like, 'come ON!'.

You want to get through the fight without using any bullets if you can, because just around the corner there could be an even bigger gang of guys waiting to jump you, and that bullet may be your only hope of staying alive. I don't think I've ever known true conservation in a game before this one, and it makes each fight so calculated and exciting. Threatening them with a pistol they don't know is empty, or waiting til one approaches and hitting them with a surprise melee attack. But with so little in your arsenal you immediately you have to resort to whatever means possible to fend off enemies. I think at one point I had four bullets, and I was stoked! You value every item so much more. Yeah it's a game that really strips you of all the comforts you're used to in an action game, isn't it? At the best of times you'll be wandering around with maybe one or two bullets in your gun. You start with virtually nothing, but soon you manage to pick up a machete and an empty pistol. Much of the story is told through recordings made by him on a little video camera as he documents his search, with some really lovely writing and voice work. You play as a man who has been separated from his wife and daughter during the disaster or 'event' as the game calls it, and after finding a note they left in your old apartment, are making your way through the city to try and find them.

I Am Alive captures all of this just perfectly. It's a post-apocalyptic environment: a ruined city with scattered, desperate survivors and nearly everyone is out for themselves. This definitely doesn't fall into the survival-horror category, though it has some tense, suspenseful moments, and you're pretty much always on the defensive. Now we turn from action-thriller to what I'd call a true survival game with I am Alive.

Ubisoft i am alive