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You have a pipe and a revolver with a handful of bullets. In the darkness ahead of you are the dead: endless, shambling, and hungry. You arrived at these crossroads by yourself, but you aren’t alone. There are other players lost out there somewhere in the dark. Extra eyes to watch your back. More hands to pull the trigger after you fall. No More Room in Hell 2 is a zombie shooter with 8-player co-op, permadeath, and an expansive map to loot. It’s Left 4 Dead with consequences, Tarkov with the hungry dead, and it’s about to hit early access.
Hospital Misadventures
In No More Room in Hell 2, you and seven other players must find your way to one another while looting your surroundings and escaping (or killing) zombies. Bandages and bullets are few, so stealth and maneuverability are preferable to open confrontation. To complete the level and extract, your team needs to complete key objectives like bringing the local power plant back online. Nothing’s stopping you from trying to solo it, but the dead far outnumber your meager stockpile of guns and grenades. You will die, surrounded and screaming.
Even during my pre-early access peek, No More Room in Hell 2 immersed me far more than Left 4 Dead or its many clones. Consider my hospital outing. I entered the medical center through a smashed window on the second floor, hoping to loot some bandages before pushing the dam. I’d scavenged a rifle from a barn up the road, and it made quick work of the undead physicians now stumbling toward me. My mission brought me to a busted fuse box, but as I struggled to rearrange the wires, more dead arrived.
A pipe is a crude weapon, fit to accomplish crude tasks. My first swing removed the meat of the first zombie’s forehead and part of its skull. My second swing drove it back. I took a half-step out of the stairwell, desperate for a path to the exit. Instead, a dozen more corpses shambled into sight. They were emptying in from the parking lot, attracted to the sounds of bludgeoning. I unslung my rifle again and opened fire, counting my dwindling rounds. Then, as I chambered my final shell, ready to meet a grim end on a grimy med center staircase, I heard a voice.
Two other players had heard my shots and came to investigate. Just like that, my lonely zombie mission turned into a terrible trio. It was just one emergent outcome in a match that could’ve gone a thousand different ways, but it’s one of my favorite gaming moments this year. Players can optimize the fun out of anything, but with a gritty survival horror vibe, proximity chat, and tense mechanics, the joy of No More Room in Hell 2 won’t die easy.
No More Room for Extraction
Despite only seeing a single map and a couple of possible scenarios, I’m confident in NMRIH2‘s depth. The map is large but packed with POIs, offering numerous approaches to your objectives. It’s not only guns, bullets, and med supplies you’ll scavenge either: some supplies award you with XP after the mission. The longer your character lives, the more bonuses they’ll unlock, becoming a more and more capable survivor. Die, however, and you’re dead for good. Permadeath means a new character and a clean slate.
Though there’s the early access jank you’d expect, NMRIH2‘s audio delivers some genuine chills and thrills. Zombie groans are loud, gross, and more likely to jumpscare you than the zombies themselves. Weapon impacts, gunshots, and other SFX keep combat visceral and intense, and it works well with a minimalistic soundtrack. Exploring shrouded farmland and industrial hallways, accompanied by little more than your footsteps and the occasional torn-throat groan, is wonderfully spooky. Torn Banner has a great foundation.
Whether you’re a speedrunner, roleplayer, or just enjoy exploding zombie skulls, No More Room in Hell 2 is ripe with possibility. As sure as I am that a meta will eventually develop, with prescribed routes and tier-listed weapons, I’m equally sure that I don’t care what it will be. To me, NMRIH2 feels the same way Helldivers 2 does: like a boundless playground of squad-based ultraviolence. I’m excited for the messy, scary, confusing early days, and given the ambition of Torn Banner’s roadmap, I’m excited for the days after that, too. No More Room in Hell 2 enters early access for PC on October 22.
