With a flurry of extraction shooters recently vying for attention ahead of Steam Next Fest, Wemade Max has joined the fray. Their title, Midnight Walkers, kicked off an open test alongside the festival, aiming for an Early Access release this November. In a crowded market, Midnight Walkers tries to carve out its own niche by pinning its identity on two pillars: hordes of zombies and the claustrophobic familiarity of a high-rise office building.

This latest test introduces a few spicy additions to the mix, such as 'cigarettes'—a recovery item that heals 10 HP per puff—and the 'Bomber,' a suicide-vest-wielding threat designed to keep your heart rate up. They have also streamlined the vendor system, cutting the roster from nine down to five and tweaking the affinity mechanics to make gathering supplies less of a headache. I spent some time with this final test build to see how these changes hold up.

Midnight Walkers drops you into a near-future zombie apocalypse. While the setting is teeming with firearms and throwable gadgets, don't get too comfortable; all ranged weapons are strictly consumable. Once you're out of ammo, the game forces you into the messy, up-close reality of melee combat.

You have four archetypes to choose from: 'Brick,' a tanky brawler; 'Crow,' the master of stealth and smoke; 'Lockdown,' who uses bows and traps to pin down enemies; and 'Bartender,' who mixes up debuffing chemicals and poisons. Each character can be further tweaked through a 'Perk' system to suit your playstyle.

Take Lockdown, for instance. You start with self-buffing stims and electric arrows to slow foes, but you can swap these for echo-arrows to scout enemy positions. In one match, after losing all my gear, those echo-arrows were a literal lifesaver—letting me skirt around combat while safely scavenging for high-tier loot.

The combat is deliberate and slow-paced, but the visual feedback—seeing cuts and blood spatters—is satisfyingly visceral. Every action, from cracking open a loot box to unlocking an escape pod, involves a tense countdown. Toss in the groans of zombies, the crunch of broken glass, and the distinct clatter of footsteps on metal, and the tension rarely lets up.

While combat and decision-making are the bread and butter of the extraction genre, Midnight Walkers finds its unique flavour in its vertical map design: the massive skyscraper.

Each floor has a distinct theme and loot table. The hotel levels, for example, are gold mines for currency and booze, while the shopping mall zones are where you'll want to hunt for fabric and leather to craft better gear.

The TV station floor, packed with offices and meeting rooms, is perfect for scavenging small crafting bits like tape and pencils, whereas the underground parking garage is the place for electronics like wiring. The hospital floor is a must if you're low on meds or energy drinks. Just keep in mind that as the clock ticks, random floors get locked down, forcing players together and turning up the heat.

The elevators and stairs act as strategic bottlenecks. Elevators are quick but loud, alerting everyone on the floor to your arrival. Stairs are quieter and stealthier, but they are prime real estate for ambushes. Knowing how to manipulate that elevator noise is a skill in itself.

For characters like Lockdown or Bartender, setting traps outside an elevator door and waiting for the doors to slide open is a delightfully cruel way to rack up gear.

The zone-based scavenging loop works well. Elevators display floor numbers, making it easy to plan your route based on what you actually need to craft. The vertical structure really helps with world-building and makes the grind feel more tactical.

That said, the melee attack animations feel a bit stiff; once you've mastered the spacing, the combat can become a repetitive dance. I also have concerns about the balancing of the debuffs—Lockdown and Bartender feel significantly more powerful than the others at the moment.

Despite these minor gripes, it’s clear the developers are listening; the inclusion of the 'cigarette' healing item, based on user feedback, is a great sign. I look forward to seeing how they refine the balance before launch. Best of luck to the team.