I’m not sure what I imagined would come next from Mintrocket, the studio that brought us the delightful and surprising fishing and restaurant management sim Dave the Diver—but a 16-player PvPvE zombie stealth extraction survival game wouldn’t have been it.
But it is. It is it. Previously teased as Project: NAKWON, the official title, Nakwon: Last Paradise, and a short gameplay teaser were revealed today. It’s certainly a departure from Dave the Diver’s mostly chill fishing and sushi adventure, as players sneak through a dark and spooky quarantine zone in Seoul, gathering gear and trying not to awaken slumbering zombies before escaping with their loot. Have a look:
Refreshingly, guns aren’t the focus in Nakwon: Last Paradise—there are precious few in the game—and only armed with what appear to be wooden boards and bricks, the idea is to avoid fighting zombies as much as possible rather than mowing down mobs of them. With few guns available you might not need to worry about getting sniped from across the map, either: the only PvP shown in the teaser is one player throwing a brick at another (and missing).
And permadeath? It’s a thing. “You must infiltrate the city full of Zombies (AI) and other Survivors (Players) to collect useful items and sell them or make money by completing missions,” says the game’s Steam page. “Be cautious as you’ll lose everything you have once you die.”
There’s no word on a release date for Nakwon: Last Paradise yet, but I suspect it won’t be until at least 2024. The game has only been in development for about a year, though a pre-alpha is planned for later in 2023. Here’s its page on Steam while you wait.
At the very least, I know one Dave the Diver character who’d be down for some zombie slaying…
