The Walking Trade, developed by Microwave Games and published by PlayWay S.A. available now on Steam in early access.
Have you ever wanted to run your own shop in a zombie apocalypse? Well, your dream is now achievable with The Walking Trade! As a shop manager in the apocalypse, you will have to craft and loot stock, manage your staff, fight off hordes of undead and more!
Once established, you’ll start building a shop to support survivors in their fight for survival. This involves selling crafting materials, meds, food, weapons and a lot more. As you progress, you’ll be able to grow your shop, customise it and unlock new lootable spots for your staff to scavenge better materials. Think card shop simulator, but with zombies.
Features:
Design Your Shop – Balance space, aesthetics, and functionality. Organise shelves, set prices, and ensure customers leave happy – or at least alive.
Customers Aren’t Your Only Problem – Zombies invade! Wield melee weapons, firearms, or whatever you can find to defend your shop during raids and hordes.
Manage Staff – Hire survivors to scavenge supplies, serve customers, or guard the shop. Keep them equipped and motivated to reap the rewards.
Craft Away – Unlock crafting stations to create weapons, tools, and shop upgrades. Build barricades, storage units, and even makeshift traps to keep zombies at bay.
Choose Who You Want To Be – Be a benevolent shopkeeper or an opportunistic overlord. Help the community, price gouge, or even sabotage settlements for profit. Your reputation determines who comes knocking.
Review
The Walking Trade feels similar to such games as TCG Card Shop Simulator, but obviously, the huge difference is that you aren’t selling cards, you’re selling gear. You’re going to need to not only run a shop successfully but also defend yourself, customers, and staff from the undead. I felt that the game balanced it quite well. Every few days, you’d get a horde attack, or sometimes, during the day, you’d get zombies coming into the shop trying to eat customers. It often became a switch between management and combat, and I enjoyed it.
The Walking Trade lets you make moral choices in a sense. If you feel like you want to murder a customer for what they have, then that is your choice. Everything in this game is a decision-making process, from telling your staff what to do each day to choosing between looting, defence, cleanup, and more. You’ll also need to decide what to stock. Stock can be crafted fairly easily or looted by you in the car park, or by your staff on the big map that has different loot for different locations. Once the tutorial is over, the freedom it gives you is nice; nothing holds your hand, it’s all up to you.
Overall, The Walking Trade is a blast, and it’s cheap as well. The game does feel quite endless; you can go on for as long as you like. There are a lot of shop simulators out there, but if you want something with a more apocalyptic twist, then The Walking Trade is the one to pick.
nerdybirdgames.com 