Montreal-based independent game studio Coconut Games has released the first trailer for The Day After, one of the latest entrants into the survival open world genre that has seen no shortage of content in the last few years. The Day After will focus on a man named Noah as he navigates a North American town, interacting with other survivors, and impacting a variety of storylines that unfold across the game's open world as bacteria infested humans try to hunt down the last survivors.

Set in a fictional mining town named Grayfox Hill, The Day After strikes a focus on what happens to the human element after a bacterial outbreak infects the inhabitants of the town, turning them into primal hunters. These infected townsfolk – named outbursters – have various stages of infestation, and the bacteria itself supposedly adapts to repetitive attacks. From a gameplay standpoint, this means players will have to diversify their attack strategies if they're to survive through the events of The Day After.

The main character in The Day After, Noah, will be able to influence events in the game in return for a Fallout-esque karma score. Coconut Games promises that actions made to survive in the meantime will have consequences later, making it seem players will have to keep long-term effects in mind as they progress through the game. While the trailer did announce a co-operative game mode, the studio took to Facebook to announce that a player-versus-player mode would also be properly revealed in an announcement next week.

The market for survival horror titles is quite saturated, making it harder for independently developed titles to stand out. Evidently, Coconut Games' staff of 5 believe this is a worthwhile endeavor, and once the studio opts to show off their outburster enemies, we imagine more interest may pick up, depending on how the enemies look and feel within the game itself. The studio has appended a price point between $15 and $20 for the title as it heads towards early access on Steam this summer.

The development path certainly sounds similar to other survival horror games like 7 Days To Die, which has spent several years in early access status before releasing on consoles. Of course, the inclusion of a proper storyline and several NPC characters from the get-go would help set The Day After apart, though only time will tell how the reception is for the title. Open world survival horror games are a hefty endeavor and have to strike a fine balance to entertain the masses, and there's a long way to go before The Day After can be claimed either a success or failure.

What do you think about The Day After, Ranters? Is it an indie title with potential?

The Day After is supposedly heading to Steam as an early access title for September 2017, with a planned console release sometime after.

Source: Coconut Games – YouTube