Ebbtide Steam: Real-Time Zombie Strategy Coming to PC

Ebbtide Steam is generating significant buzz in the strategy gaming community as an upcoming real-time zombie survival game that promises to merge tactical military operations with seamless battlefield transitions. Developed and published by ProjectAlive, this indie strategy title puts players in command of humanity’s last carrier task force as they fight to reclaim Los Angeles from a zombie apocalypse. The game has already reached 15,000 wishlists on Steam as of October 21, 2026, signaling strong anticipation for its eventual release.

Unlike traditional strategy games that separate the strategic map from tactical combat, Ebbtide Steam offers a unified experience where every decision on the operations map directly impacts battlefield outcomes. Players scrolling into any street on the map will find it transforms into a live battlefield with no loading screens, and the combat continues to run in real-time even when zoomed out. This seamless integration ensures that every soldier lost, zombie killed, and building destroyed has permanent consequences on the larger campaign.

What Makes Ebbtide Steam Stand Out

The core concept behind Ebbtide on Steam centers on commanding TF-1 “Ark,” humanity’s last carrier task force in a war that begins in Los Angeles and eventually spans the globe. The campaign starts with players managing military operations across the city, from the Hollywood Hills to the Port of LA, making critical decisions about which areas to defend and which populations to evacuate.

The game’s signature feature is its approach to the strategic layer. There are no separate missions and no hidden auto-resolve mechanics. When players pause or run the operations map at speeds up to 4x, they watch as LA’s 15 districts slide from Hold status to Crisis to Lost. This creates a constant pressure where commanders must prioritize resources and make difficult choices about who gets saved first. The visibility system adds another layer of realism, as only zombie hordes within your forces’ line of sight appear on the map.

Players coordinate multiple types of units including National Guard forces, LAPD units, LA County Sheriff’s departments, and Marines from Camp Pendleton. These forces can receive orders to hold positions, delay enemy advances, or execute tactical withdrawals. The convoy system allows commanders to send trucks and helicopters carrying supplies, troops, or refugees between sectors, but these supply lines remain vulnerable to zombie attacks.

Battlefield Mechanics and Zombie Behavior

The zombie enemies in Ebbtide Steam demonstrate advanced tactical behavior that distinguishes them from typical horde mechanics in other games. Zombies can pile up to climb over walls and reach rooftops, creating dynamic challenges for defensive positions. They can even cling to helicopters that hover too close to the ground, forcing players to consider altitude and positioning when deploying air assets.

Perhaps the most consequential mechanic is that soldiers killed by the zombie horde rise again as enemies. This creates a snowball effect where battlefield losses directly strengthen the opposition, making every casualty a double blow to your forces. Players must carefully manage engagements to minimize losses while still accomplishing mission objectives.

The game allows players to take direct control of their forces during combat, switching between the strategic overview and tactical command as situations demand. This flexibility means commanders can delegate operations to AI control while focusing on critical battles, or personally direct every unit’s movement and firing solutions when precision matters most.

Military Arsenal and Firepower Options

Ebbtide Steam provides players with authentic modern military hardware spanning ground artillery, naval assets, and air support. The ground forces have access to M777 howitzers and HIMARS rocket systems for indirect fire support. Naval firepower includes destroyer guns and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the carrier task force offshore.

Air support options include carrier-based F/A-18 strike fighters, along with F-15E, F-35B, and A-10 aircraft providing close air support missions. Players can also call in AC-130J gunship orbits and MQ-9 drone surveillance and strike capabilities. However, these impressive capabilities come with realistic limitations: ship magazines are finite, requiring careful ammunition management, and heavy weapons have the collateral effect of bringing buildings down.

Military Asset Category	Available Platforms
Ground Artillery	M777 Howitzers, HIMARS Rockets
Naval Firepower	Destroyer Guns, Tomahawk Cruise Missiles
Carrier Aircraft	F/A-18 Strike Fighters
Air Support	F-15E, F-35B, A-10
Special Assets	AC-130J Gunship, MQ-9 Drones

Base Construction and Supply Chain Management

A critical strategic element in Ebbtide Steam involves choosing locations to establish forward operating bases. Players can select where to dig in and construct defensive positions using HESCO barriers and concrete walls. The base building system allows placement of gates and scaffolding to help troops defend the walls, along with specialized structures like gun nests, CIWS (Close-In Weapon Systems), mortar pits, ammunition depots, fuel points, and lighting systems.

Supply management represents one of the game’s most realistic and challenging systems. Soldiers, vehicles, and aircraft continuously consume ammunition and fuel during operations. These units can only rearm and refuel at bases under your control, making the security of supply lines paramount. Every defensive wall requires building materials that must be hauled in by hooklift trucks or helicopter sling loads.

The zombie horde actively hunts your convoys and attempts to cut roads, creating a constant cat-and-mouse dynamic where players must secure routes, time convoy movements, and provide escorts. Losing control of key road networks can leave forward bases isolated and unable to sustain operations, forcing difficult decisions about withdrawal or reinforcement.

Campaign Progression and World Operations

The Los Angeles campaign serves as the foundation for the broader world campaign. The people, troops, equipment, and supplies that players successfully evacuate to the Port of LA form the starting force aboard the Ark carrier for global operations. This connection between campaigns gives weight to every decision made during the LA defense, as those choices directly impact capabilities in later stages.

During the world campaign, players choose which regions to assist, positioning the carrier group to bring its guns and aircraft within range of threatened areas. The fleet can resupply at friendly ports, and players must rescue specialized pilots and personnel who cannot be trained from scratch. The fleet itself grows through alliance with surviving warships from other nations.

The overarching strategic objective involves hunting down the Nexus’s hidden command nodes while protecting what remains of human civilization. This creates a dual focus where players balance immediate tactical needs against the long-term strategic goal of eliminating the zombie threat at its source.

Development Details and Technical Specifications

ProjectAlive has been transparent about the use of AI-generated content in Ebbtide Steam’s development. Generative AI contributed to creating the soundtrack, some prerecorded voices, sound effects, ambient audio, and event illustrations. AI tools also helped create or refine selected 3D models and assisted with translating in-game text across multiple languages. The developers emphasize that all AI-generated content underwent review and editing before inclusion, and the game does not generate content with AI during actual gameplay.

The game supports 19 languages including English, Korean, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese (both Brazilian and European variants), Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Czech, Indonesian, Polish, Romanian, Thai, and Turkish. All languages feature interface and subtitle support, though full audio is not currently implemented.

System requirements for Ebbtide Steam include Windows 10 64-bit as the minimum operating system, with DirectX 11 support and 10 GB of available storage space. The game also supports macOS on Apple Silicon processors, though specific OS versions and detailed processor requirements remain to be announced before release. ProjectAlive indicates that final system requirements for both Windows and macOS will be published closer to launch.

The game features single-player gameplay with family sharing support on Steam. Accessibility features include custom volume controls, stereo sound support, and gameplay that does not rely on quick time events. Xbox controllers are supported for those who prefer gamepad control schemes over mouse and keyboard.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will Ebbtide be released on Steam?
Ebbtide currently has a “Coming soon” status on Steam without a specific release date announced. Players can add it to their wishlist to receive notifications when it becomes available.

Who is developing Ebbtide?
ProjectAlive serves as both the developer and publisher for Ebbtide Steam. The indie studio has been transparent about development progress and reached 15,000 wishlists by October 21, 2026.

What platforms will support Ebbtide?
Ebbtide will launch on Windows (requiring Windows 10 64-bit minimum) and macOS (requiring Apple Silicon processors). Specific macOS version requirements will be announced before release.

Does Ebbtide have multiplayer?
Based on current information, Ebbtide is a single-player strategy game with family sharing support. No multiplayer modes have been announced.

How much storage space does Ebbtide require?
The game requires 10 GB of available storage space on both Windows and macOS systems.

What genre is Ebbtide?
Ebbtide combines action, indie, and strategy genres, specifically focusing on real-time zombie survival strategy with military simulation elements.