Dreadshift

The dead rise every two and a half minutes. Get everyone out.

Dreadshift is a real-time co-op survival game for 1–6 players. Scavenge a pixel-art town by night, find weapons in cabinets, lockers and car trunks, grab what the evacuation needs, and reach the extraction point together — before the waves bury you.

It's tense, it's loud, and it's meant to be hard. Plan your route, mind the noise, and don't leave anyone behind.

Try it free: the demo has every survivor and all of Chapter I, online co-op included. Download it below; your survivors carry over to the full game.

▶ No download needed: play the free demo right in your browser (on a phone too).

A campaign with consequences

• Five chapters: from a small town that went dark at 9 PM, through a rail yard and a guarded river crossing, to a gridlocked downtown and the last helicopter out of a fallen quarantine zone.
• Survivors carry their skills and gear from map to map — and lose the gear if they die out there.
• Every chapter can end your story its own way. How you played — who you saved, what you fought, what you ran from — decides which of six final endings you reach. 21 endings in all.
• 19 achievements, from quiet getaways to putting down the biggest horrors.

Rules with teeth

• Noise draws the dead. Guns are loud, crowbars are quiet, and searching makes noise.
• Searching is slow and loot is scarce. Sometimes a cabinet holds a shotgun. Sometimes it holds an ambush.
• Aim for real: walls and tall furniture stop bullets, and the first body in the line takes the hit. Friendly fire is on (the host can turn it off).
• Damage is all-or-nothing. A pistol can't hurt a Brute; only a Molotov or a Damage-3 weapon drops an Abomination.
• Night is dark. Carry a flashlight, stay near the lamp posts — until something knocks them over.
• Survivors level up from Blue to Yellow, Orange and Red, picking a new skill at each step. But the danger level follows your strongest survivor: the better you get, the worse the waves become.

Every objective changes the night

Grab an objective and something goes off: the power fails and every lamp post dies, car alarms start howling, a building slams shut around you, something huge breaks out of a sealed building, a car with the keys still in it waits to be started, someone trapped calls for help — or a supply crate comes down and the team votes on what's inside. The last objective always sets off a climax on the way out. 25 events, and every night rolls its own weather: rain, fog, or a building burning down the street.

Abominations

Four mutated giants with their own rules: Specimen Zero, the Riot Hulk, the Mossback and the Rot King. They crush cars, smash through fences and barricades, knock over lamp posts and batter down the doors of any building you've opened. Sealed buildings stay sealed — choose what you open. And watch the smaller ones too: a Howler calls every dead thing around to you, and some of the bodies on the floor are only pretending.

Play together

Host a session in one click — public, friends only or invite only. Friends join through Steam invites, or anyone can find your session under Find a game. Online play runs through Steam's relay network: no ports to open, no IP addresses to share. Solo works too, and so does LAN.

Talk with proximity voice chat: hold B, and the closer your friends stand, the louder they hear you. Hand gear to a friend with one key, carry a downed friend out on your shoulders, and if your connection drops, your survivor waits for you to get back in.

What's in the game

• 5-chapter story campaign (5 maps, each with its own objectives and extraction)
• 7 survivors, each with their own starting gear, an alternative kit to earn, three stories to unlock and a 4-tier skill tree (20 skills). The seventh is out there somewhere: find her and get her out.
• 29 items: 8 melee weapons, 11 firearms and bows, throwables (Molotovs, road flares, firecrackers), flashlights, medkits and armour
• 9 kinds of the dead, including the 4 Abominations
• Last Stand: endless waves on all five maps, with a personal best per map
• Daily Run and weekly Long Night: the same night for every player, first attempt counts
• Mutators: seven optional rules for the night (Fog, Sprinter Night, Blood Moon…), picked by the host
• Hazard levels 1–5 for veterans, and outfits earned through survivor mastery — looks only, never power
• A soundtrack that follows the danger, and a town you can hear
• Seasonal events: Halloween (20 Oct – 3 Nov) and Winter Nights (18 Dec – 6 Jan), each with its own costumes
• Online and LAN co-op for 1–6 players, with proximity voice chat
• Controller support, menus included

Early Access

Dreadshift is in active development and already playable from start to finish. Next up: more missions and mission types, more survivors and zombies, and more languages (Polish is already in). Your feedback shapes what comes first.

Requirements: Windows 10/11 (64-bit) or Linux (x64, experimental), keyboard and mouse, or a controller. Languages: English and Polish (Settings → Language). Steam running for online play.
Controls: WASD move · mouse aim · left / right click attack · E use what's nearest · F off hand · Q swap hands · G drop · R medkit · C carry · X hand over · T ping · V quick chat · B talk · N shout · H rules · Esc menu. Controller: left stick move, right stick aim, triggers attack (the full layout is under H in the game).

FAQ

Do I need Steam?
Only for online play: sessions, invites and the connection go through Steam's free relay network, so Steam has to be running. Solo and LAN play work without it.

Why does Steam say I'm playing "Spacewar"?
That's Valve's public test app. Dreadshift uses it for online play until it gets its own Steam page. Nothing to install, nothing to worry about.

How do I play with friends?
One of you hosts (Public, Friends only or Invite only); the others open Find a game, or accept the host's Steam invite. Join while the host is still in the lobby — sessions close to new players once the mission starts. Everyone needs the same version of the game.

Windows says "Windows protected your PC".
The game isn't code-signed yet. Click More info → Run anyway.

How hard is it?
Hard on purpose. Losing a chapter isn't the end — your story remembers it, and you can retry.

Does it run on Linux?
There is a Linux build, but it is new and hasn't been tested on many machines yet. Tell us in the comments how it runs.

Can I play with a controller?
Yes: left stick to walk, right stick to aim, triggers to attack, and the menus work with the D-pad. The full layout is under H in the game. Steam Input maps the Steam Deck and PlayStation pads.

What if my connection drops?
Your survivor waits for you for two minutes, gear and all, while the game gets you back in.