Image credit: Em Stonham for Kyusai/Team Vultures/Firesquid/Gamersky Games
A blend of turn-based tactics and classic survival horror might not sound like the most obvious fit at first, but as Team Vultures has proven with Vultures – Scavengers of Death, it makes for a wickedly compelling horror game.
Developed by Team Vultures and published by Firesquid and Gamersky Games, Vultures – Scavengers of Death is a tactical, turn-based survival horror game that feels like a passionate love letter to classic horror behemoths. Here’s Kyusai’s full, spoiler-free review.
A masterful homage to classic survival horror
Vultures – Scavengers of Death is a turn-based horror game that pays homage to franchises like Resident Evil, opting for the classic combo of larger-than-life special agents and slavering hordes of brain-crunching zombies. Developed by Team Vultures, it’s a powerful addition to the world of turn-based survival horror.
In Vultures, you’ll play as one of the Team Vulture agents and carry out a mission with the team, usually on the hunt for a secret item or snippet of information that could help turn back the tides against the waves of infection cascading across the planet.
The world in Vultures feels genuinely dangerous and gritty. While some of the characters did have b-movie, action hero flair, they still felt believable, meaning it was easy to get immersed in each cutscene and mission.
Missions in the game have an extraction-style format. Finding the objective doesn’t mean you’re finished; you’ll need to work your way back out to a safe zone to get out alive and continue with the campaign.
I wasn’t expecting an extraction format during my first playthrough, but I found it added to the complexity and challenge of the missions nicely – especially when boss fights were thrown into the mix.
I won’t spoil when it happened, but there was one instance where I was barely hanging on resource-wise, down to a sliver of health, and made it to the extraction point, only to realize that I had a tricky battle on my hands instead of being able to leave and get back to the Team Vultures base safely.
Combat was a real highlight of the game for me, with a smooth, turn-based system, the ability to get sneak kills, and a nice variety of weapons or throwable objects to experiment with.
Bloody strategic and strategically bloody
Exploring the world in Vultures felt rewarding. While there were main objectives to tackle, there were smaller side quests to check out, along with intriguing lore found in the form of messages, papers, and cards.
While the notion of a zombie survival horror game taking place in a city that’s been ravaged by the undead isn’t something new in the niche, the world in Vultures still felt unique and exceptionally lived-in.
I’m a big survival horror geek, and one complaint I have about survival horror games in post-apocalyptic settings is that the world can feel sterile and empty; simply splashing some blood on a wall and dropping a few shotgun shells on the floor doesn’t make it feel like a zombie apocalypse has taken place.
Vultures managed to make its world feel threatening, and as if an apocalypse was truly ongoing. While I wouldn’t say it’s a scary game, necessarily, there were moments where exploring a dark hallway or new room felt startling and tense.
The visual style of Vultures – Scavengers of Death may not be a hit for horror fans who prefer more realistic titles, but I found the aesthetic to be perfect for a survival horror game. It’s dark and grainy, and the enemy models are gory.
Performance-wise, there were no major issues to note. Vultures ran smoothly during my time with it and looked fantastic, with intuitive controls and an interface that felt appropriately themed but still easy to parse.
Fans of classic survival horror games should check out Vultures – Scavengers of Death if they haven’t already. It’s dark and intense, with a wicked combat system, interesting world, and gorgeous, retro-inspired art style, paying homage to titans of the horror world.
FAQs
Vultures – Scavengers of Death was developed by Team Vultures and published by both Firesquid and Gamersky Games.
Vultures – Scavengers of Death is a tactical turn-based survival horror game that features exploration, resource management, puzzles, and strategic combat.
No, Vultures – Scavengers of Death isn’t scary in the same way a game like Alien: Isolation is. There are some startling moments, but largely, it’s tense and action-packed instead of traditionally scary.
The best zombie games include Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2’s remake, Left 4 Dead 2, Project Zomboid, Resident Evil Requiem, and Dying Light: The Beast.
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