Skip to main content

Long read: How TikTok's most intriguing geolocator makes a story out of a game

Where in the world is Josemonkey?

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Dave the Diver studio's next game is a PvPvE zombie stealth-survival adventure

Pre-alpha test coming this year.

An early screenshot from Nakwon: Last Paradise showing the player from a third-person perspective at night, as they crouch in the ransacked Seoul streets and a zombie charges toward them.
Image credit: Mintrocket

How do you follow up a five-star treat like Dave the Diver? With a zombie-themed, 16-player PvPvE stealth-survival extraction game, of course! Developer Mintrocket has just unveiled its next project, titled Nakwon: Last Paradise, and it's about as much a departure from its acclaimed snorkelling-and-sushi-restaurant-management adventure as you can get, dropping players onto the streets of Seoul, right into the middle of the undead apocalypse.

As per Mintrocket's lengthy Steam announcement, Nakwon's action is split into two main parts; on the Scouting side, players - with a friend in tow if desired - must leave the relative comforts of the titular safe zone to venture into the zombie-infested outskirts of Seoul. Here, the goal is to scavenge resources then escape back to safety, but other players and, of course, the AI-controlled undead, won't make that an easy task.

Mintrocket stresses that zombies in Nakwon are very much the hunters, and cannot be defeated. Instead, players - primarily armed with makeshift weaponry and tools rather than undead-shredding firepower, given the scarcity of guns - must navigate the streets as stealthily as possible to avoid detection, fleeing when necessary. And should they successfully make it back to the safe zone alive (it looks like players can come and go as they like, regardless of what other Survivors might be doing) the Simulation side of Nakwon begins.

Nakwon: Last Paradise teaser trailer.Watch on YouTube

Here, back in the safe zone, players can sell their hard-gained resources to make money, which will, in turn, allow them to reach a higher Citizen Grade and secure better privelidges and benefits. "Every day, you must decide whether to go out for Scouting or staying inside," Mintrocket explains. "But, you must consistently secure more food to avoid starvation and make the best choice whenever an unexpected event occurs."

Mintrocket says Nakwon: Last Paradise has been in development since December last year and is still in its "initial phase", with the team currently focused on the Scouting side of the experience. Despite being early days though, the studio says, "Getting community feedback is going to be very important to us, and so we'd like to start sharing information early and openly." To that end, it's also announced an early pre-alpha test, coming later this year.

Read this next