Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days Is Heading Toward 1.0 — Here’s Everything We Know

Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days Is Heading Toward 1.0 — Here’s Everything We Know

Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days has come a long way since entering Steam Early Access in April 2025. After more than a year of updates, new survivors, expanded gameplay systems and plenty of zombie-killing, developer PikPok has finally revealed when the game will leave Early Access.

And that's not the only news.

Another major update is right around the corner, console versions are officially happening, and PikPok still has more planned before the full release.

Here’s the latest on Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days.

The 1.0 Release Is Coming in March 2027

The biggest news came on August 19 when PikPok announced that Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days will officially leave Early Access and launch as Version 1.0 in March 2027.

That gives the game roughly another seven months of Early Access development, and PikPok says updates will continue as the team works through the remaining items on its roadmap.

That's great news for current players because it means the game we have today still isn't the finished product.

Since Early Access began, PikPok has released 13 major content updates, adding new survivors, zombie types, weapons, locations, Escape Plans, survivor missions, relationships, difficulty options, save slots and major changes to several of the game's core systems.

By the time March rolls around, Our Darkest Days should be a considerably larger game than the one that originally launched into Early Access.

Console Players Are Finally Getting the Game

The March 2027 release isn't just important for PC players.

PikPok also confirmed that Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is coming to:

• PlayStation 5
• Xbox Series X|S
• Nintendo Switch 2
• Epic Games Store
• GeForce NOW

Steam, Steam Deck and Mac support will continue as well.

That's a huge expansion for a game that has so far primarily built its audience through Steam Early Access.

The Nintendo Switch 2 version is particularly interesting. Our Darkest Days feels like the type of survival game that could work extremely well on a handheld system, especially with its slower shelter-management sections mixed with shorter scavenging runs.

No exact March release date has been announced yet, but PikPok has confirmed that the console versions will arrive alongside the Version 1.0 release.

Update #14 Is Almost Here

Players don't have to wait until 2027 for something new.

Update #14: Survivor Missions IV is scheduled to arrive on August 24 in the United States, with the worldwide rollout corresponding to August 25 in PikPok's home country of New Zealand.

PikPok describes the update as another fresh batch of Survivor Missions arriving just in time for gamescom.

Survivor Missions have become an important part of Our Darkest Days because they give individual characters more personality and provide additional reasons to become attached to the people living in your shelter.

And in a game where losing a survivor can be permanent, getting attached to them isn't always a good thing.

That's part of the fun.

Update #13 Changed Combat and Infection

The upcoming update follows Update #13, which arrived at the end of July.

That update introduced three new recruitable survivors along with changes to combat and how combat interacts with infection. PikPok also included a long list of bug fixes, balancing changes and other adjustments.

The steady stream of updates has been one of the more encouraging things about Our Darkest Days during Early Access.

Rather than simply adding more locations and weapons, PikPok has repeatedly gone back and expanded the systems underneath the game.

Earlier updates introduced or expanded features such as relationships and morale, Survivor Missions, new Escape Plans, Skill Trees and improved food systems.

The result is a survival experience with significantly more depth than it had when Early Access began.

What Exactly Is Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days?

If you haven't played it yet, Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is very different from the earlier Into the Dead games.

Instead of being an endless runner or straightforward zombie action game, Our Darkest Days is a side-scrolling survival game set in Walton City, Texas, in 1980.

You manage a group of survivors attempting to escape a city overwhelmed by a zombie outbreak.

During the day you'll need to leave your shelter and explore buildings for food, weapons, medicine and crafting supplies. Back at the shelter, those resources have to be carefully managed while survivors eat, sleep, recover, craft equipment and prepare for their next scavenging run.

The catch is that resources are limited.

You can't simply stay in one location forever.

Eventually you'll need to pack up what you can carry, abandon your shelter and push deeper into Walton City in search of another safe place — and hopefully a way out.

PikPok describes the core experience as guiding survivors from refuge to refuge through scavenging, crafting and fighting while attempting to keep everyone alive.

More Than Just Killing Zombies

One of the things that makes Our Darkest Days interesting is that survival isn't only about combat.

You have to worry about hunger, exhaustion, injuries, infection, morale and relationships between survivors.

Sometimes the smartest decision is avoiding a fight completely.

A single zombie might not look like much of a threat, but getting injured during an unnecessary fight could leave one of your best survivors unable to participate in the next scavenging run.

And losing a survivor you've spent hours developing can completely change your plans.

That combination of shelter management, scavenging and permanent consequences gives Our Darkest Days a very different feel from many traditional zombie games.

Early Access Has Been Busy

When Early Access originally began, PikPok estimated that major updates would arrive roughly every four to six weeks, alongside regular hotfixes and quality-of-life improvements.

The developers have largely kept the game moving at a steady pace.

Over 13 major updates, we've seen additions including new zombie types, recruitable survivors, Escape Plans, combat systems, Survivor Missions, relationships, weapons, districts, difficulty and content controls, save slots and numerous quality-of-life improvements.

And Update #14 is about to add even more.

PikPok has also confirmed one feature players have been requesting for a while: achievements are coming before or with the 1.0 release.

What's Still Coming Before 1.0?

March 2027 may sound like the finish line, but development isn't finished yet.

PikPok says Early Access updates will continue until the remaining items on the roadmap have been completed.

That means we should expect several more months of new content, balancing, bug fixes and general polish.

With Update #14 arriving in August and PikPok historically targeting regular major updates throughout Early Access, there is still plenty of room for the game to grow before Version 1.0.

The studio has not yet revealed every detail of what those remaining updates will contain, so players should be careful about assuming specific unannounced features are guaranteed.

A Big Seven Months Ahead

Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days already stands out because it isn't trying to be another traditional open-world zombie shooter.

It's a survival game about making bad situations slightly less bad.

Do you use your last medical supplies now or save them?

Do you risk another building because you desperately need food?

Do you fight the infected or sneak past them?

Do you bring home another survivor when you're already struggling to feed the people you have?

Those decisions are what make the game interesting.

Now we finally know where Early Access is heading.

Update #14 arrives August 24/25, 2026, more Early Access updates are planned, and the full Version 1.0 release is coming in March 2027.

Even better, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 players will finally get their chance to enter Walton City when 1.0 arrives.

For a game that has already changed considerably since its Early Access debut, the next several months could be the most interesting part of its development yet.

If you've been waiting to see how Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days develops before jumping in, this might be a good time to start paying attention.

Walton City isn't finished with us yet.