–Exploration section–

Weeks have passed. Players explore the town with ASHLEY, searching the streets and abandoned buildings. 

THE OUTSIDER is visible through a window. After players see them, they move back into the shadows.

They can see vines and plants have started rapidly growing throughout the town, buildings have vines growing up the side. 

MILLER hands ASHLEY a combat knife. 

MILLER:

You may need it.

ASHLEY takes it and examines it.

As they walk, ASHLEY asks MILLER about his family and he starts telling her a few stories about them.

They decide to go to the police station to get better weaponry. The police station is overrun with an anomaly that looks like long white grass. If players get too close to it, it will lash out and attack them. They eventually get inside the armory. MILLER hands ASHLEY a handgun. She doesn’t take it.

ASHLEY gives MILLER a confused look.

MILLER:

Take it.

ASHLEY picks it up like she doesn’t want to even touch it.

MILLER:

You’re going to need to use it at some point.

ASHLEY:

I don’t want to use it. I don’t think I COULD use it.

MILLER:

You won’t have a choice.

They leave the police station and continue exploring.

They wander into a particular building and MILLER steps into a trap. It wraps around his legs, drags him across the floor and suspends him from the ceiling. We see a group of CRAZED approaching, only separated by a door with a window. ASHLEY looks frozen in fear – she doesn’t know what to do.

MILLER:

Cut me down!

ASHLEY snaps out of her daze and goes to cut the rope. Players control MILLER as he grabs his gun and fends off the CRAZED. The CRAZED are SLAMMING against the door. Dust falls from the ceiling every time they slam against the door. They’re trying to break down the door. Through the window we can see their deformed faces and bloodshot eyes.

ASHLEY drops her knife.

ASHLEY:

Shit!

She drops to the ground to fumble for it. The CRAZED BURST through the door, SPRINTING at the two characters. ASHLEY picks the knife back up and finishes cutting the rope as the CRAZED get incredibly close.

MILLER falls to the ground with a THUD. He lands on his arm and dislocates his shoulder.

MILLER:

Fuck!

MILLER gets up. They rush back out the building and block the door with a vending machine next to it. They can hear the CRAZED on the other side trying to get through. After a few minutes, the CRAZED stop banging on the door.

MILLER tells ASHLEY how to help him relocate his shoulder back into place and they do so. MILLER lets out a grunt in pain as she does it. He makes a makeshift sling out of his overshirt. From this point until the end of the exploration section, players can’t use any two-handed weapons.

Later on, players can find a backdoor to the building the trap was in. If they choose to go inside, they need to be sneaky to avoid the CRAZED. There are other traps set up, some have been activated and have killed or trapped some CRAZED. Some valuable items, ammo, and health kits can be found here.

As they explore, they stumble upon a weak group of The Unforgiven and their camp.

One of the abandoned buildings in this area has smoke coming out of one of the windows on the second story. If they explore, they discover a new monster in the abandoned building. Further in this building, we can find a few traps set up. If players successfully avoid them, they can encounter a survivor (The Prepper) camped in a back room.

Players open a door. Inside is a campfire, bedroll and a man sitting next to the fire. The smoke from the fire exits through the window. The man is in green military camo with some older military equipment.

As soon as the players enter, THE PREPPER aims a handgun at them but doesn’t get up. 

THE PREPPER:

Are you here to kill me and take my shit?

MILLER:

We’re not planning on it.

THE PREPPER (gesturing to the ground and holstering his gun):

Then take a seat. I could use some company.

MILLER and ASHLEY sit down.

MILLER:

Are you the one who set up those traps?

THE PREPPER:

Yeah, that was my work.

MILLER:

Think you could teach us something?

THE PREPPER:

Sure, I don’t mind. Just don’t give it to those Unforgiven psychos.

THE PREPPER gives the player a crafting recipe to make a shrapnel grenade from a can, nails, etc. Players can now craft these grenades to use in combat.

THE PREPPER coughs.

THE PREPPER (gesturing to the crafting recipe):

Learned that back in ‘nam.

MILLER:

Thanks.

ASHLEY:

Who were those people in your old building? The ones with their faces all messed up?

THE PREPPER:

Oh yeah. I call ‘em The Crazed. I think some spots of this damn fog are especially thick. I’ve used my gas mask whenever I’ve needed to go through them and I’m fine, so I’m assuming it’s something in the air in those spots that causes it.

Players can choose to trade with THE PREPPER. They can get more ammo, food and medical supplies.

MILLER and ASHLEY stand up.

MILLER:

Thanks for your help.

THE PREPPER:

Don’t mention it.

Players can either leave or kill THE PREPPER. If they kill THE PREPPER, they get his gear.

–If players kill THE PREPPER–

ASHLEY: 

What the fuck, Miller?!

MILLER:

A man of that age with that cough, if the fog doesn’t take him, that cough would’ve. This stuff is worth more to us than him.

ASHLEY doesn’t say anything.

–End optional scene–

Players continue exporting.

They encounter their first anomaly in an area affected by the fog.

As they explore, MILLER shares that his family was killed. If it weren’t due to the fog and military, they’d still be alive.

–Exploration section ends when they enter a particular building–

They explore a building and MILLER gets tackled by a bandit wielding a machete. Moments before MILLER would have died, ASHLEY grabs her gun and shoots the bandit in the head. After catching his breath, MILLER looks to ASHLEY to find her sitting on the ground with her head in her hands. She never wanted to kill anyone, but she just took someone’s life. MILLER comforts her. This brings them closer together.

Days pass.

MILLER isn’t wearing his sling anymore.

The player (controlling MILLER) and ASHLEY are camped in the forest, near a crashed helicopter. MILLER shares more about his family.

They stop talking when they hear a monster in the distance. They look around and see its silhouette through the fog. They quietly tear down their camp and start exploring the forest.

The forest is dense here, forcing them to continue going forward.

After exploring for a bit, they come across MILLER’s abandoned car and the graves he left. The forest has already started creeping towards them. MILLER pauses for a moment at the graves before cleaning them up a bit and trying to delay the spread of the foliage to them. ASHLEY quietly watches. As he cleans them up, MILLER describes each member of his family he buried.

—Exploration section—

Much of the game happens in this section. They explore the forest, talking, exploring abandoned buildings, foraging for food, fighting the monsters who have strayed into the forest.

MILLER shares a bit about his time in the military and his frustration about how the military isn’t doing what he thought it stood for.

There is lots of environmental storytelling in this area, with a lot of stories of the people who had lived in this area being told using the environment.

As a fun little easter egg, players can see our studio’s mascot in the distance.

They continue exploring the forest. They come across a railroad track. As they approach, they hear a gunshot and one of them is almost hit with a bullet. They crouch down behind cover and see that on top of the train, someone has made some makeshift cover and is sniping them from it. Players have to work their way to the train while avoiding getting shot and other bandits to sneak up on the sniper and kill them. After killing the sniper, players can pick up their sniper rifle to use it for themselves.

There is a large clearing in the forest, containing what used to be a few homes. What they don’t know is that this was the housing used for the research facility they’re about to explore.

In one of the windows is THE OUTSIDER, watching the players. Like before, they disappear shortly after being seen.

Players have to go through the main road of these homes to continue. All of the homes can be explored, but aren’t necessary to progress. There are several CRAZED in the homes. 

In one of the homes is an anomaly. 

If players didn’t kill THE PREPPER, they encounter him again camped in this home. He gives them another crafting recipe and offers to trade with them again.

One of the homes has a family whose dad killed them and then hung himself to prevent them from turning into the CRAZED. 

One of the homes is littered with traps, and we can see the corpse of the person who set them up who had succumbed to starvation. We can infer that they would rather starve than go outside into the fog. The corpse is hugging a new weapon that can be picked up by the player.

Near the end of the road is a car crash. When players approach it, they are ambushed by a group of CRAZED.

—Exploration section ends when players re-enter the forest—

Through the thicket, they run into an overgrown chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire. They follow along the fence until they see a spot where a tree has fallen onto a section of it where they can pass through. Continuing through the forest, they come upon a (clearly man-made) square-shaped clearing. In the middle of it is the rusted top of a missile silo. An anomaly is on top of it. Nearby is a 7 foot-high concrete box with an open door. MILLER takes his rifle off his back.

ASHLEY:

What is this place?

MILLER:

Maybe some bunker? Might have some food.

They go inside.

They enter the missile silo. It’s from the Cold War. It looks like after the Cold War, it was converted to a research facility. Something happened here, the red alarm light is still going, papers are scattered on the floor and dead researchers line the hallways.

ASHLEY:

What the hell happened here?

MILLER:

No idea.

 Players encounter monsters in their way. As they explore, they discover a new monster. 

They enter a room. A Scientist is curled up in the corner, panicking. His eyes are bloodshot and it’s clear he hasn’t eaten or slept in days. With shaking hands, he points a gun at the two of them. They both aim back.

MILLER:

Woah, woah. Easy there. We’re not here to hurt you.

The scientist is looking between MILLER and ASHLEY frantically.

Players are in control and can decide whether to shoot him or leave. If they don’t make a decision within a certain amount of time, the scientist will shoot.

They eventually make their way into a room that looks like the primary research lab. They find some papers. ASHLEY stops at a desk to look at some papers while MILLER looks around the room.

ASHLEY:

Hey, Miller, come check this out.

MILLER walks over next to her.

ASHLEY:

It says that they converted some missile silos and bunkers from the Cold War into research facilities. Looks like they were running experiments on people.

MILLER picks up another paper. There are blood stains on it.

ASHLEY:

It says that this is just one of the small labs, that the primary one is near the center of town, in a bunker under city hall. 

ASHLEY sets down the paper and picks up another one. She doesn’t read it aloud, but players can read it. The paper is about the fog, mentioning the psychological impact of dense fog and how it causes foliage to grow at an accelerated rate. The cutscene continues when the players press any button.

MILLER has been silent for about a minute now. ASHLEY looks over at him.

ASHLEY:

What’s going on?

MILLER doesn’t respond.

ASHLEY:

Miller, what’s going on?

MILLER:

This is where the fog came from. 

ASHLEY:

What?

MILLER:

This lab, this is where the fog came from. They were experimenting with super soldiers and one of the chemicals they used created the fog as a byproduct. Something must’ve gone wrong and made the monsters.

MILLER’s hand starts shaking.

MILLER:

These bastards got my family killed… I’m going to kill each and every one of them.

MILLER’s hand starts clenching around the paper with more force, his eyes slowly filling with rage.

ASHLEY:

Woah, hey, I think we need to stay calm with this. I haven’t seen Dina since the fog rolled in and I’m scared I’m never going to see her again so trust me, I know what loss is like.

MILLER:

You have no FUCKING IDEA WHAT LOSS IS!

MILLER rushes out of the bunker.

ASHLEY goes after him but loses him in the fog.

–Exploration section–

This exploration section is much more linear than past ones, as we want to encourage players to be in a rush to catch up to MILLER.

Players (for the first time), control ASHLEY. They explore the town, working their way to city hall, fighting Bandits and The Unforgiven along the way. New monsters now roam the town. The foliage and vines have reclaimed more of the town. 

Players encounter a MILITARY patrol who they can either sneak past or fight.

In order to get to city hall, players have to navigate their way through an old mall. This area is especially dangerous.

When players get to city hall, it is one of the most overgrown buildings. Because of this, players need to find another way inside.

They eventually find the entrance to the bunker, with the door open and the sound of gunshots echoing out. ASHLEY rushes in.

–Exploration section ends–