I Am Alive is all about old school choices

Mysterious upcoming downloadable title I Am Alive is an old-school survival horror with an emphasis on making difficult choices.

"I understand it's hard to describe, because it's like no other game on the market right now. I Am Alive is most like a survival horror game but not like zombies, and you have to shoot everyone around all around," Ubisoft Shanghai's Aurelien Palasse told Gamespot at Ubisoft's Digital Days.

"You just have to stay alive, and take care of your resources, take care of your bullets, take care of your stamina when you climb. You are not a superhero, you cannot do what you want.

"You don't have a big machine gun, you cannot climb everywhere, but you're a normal guy, and you have to stay alive on this very difficult world."

The game's reliance on resource management was made clear when Palasse described the Bluffing Intimidation System.

"You have a gun in I Am Alive but sometimes you don't have bullets. When you find three guys in front of you who want to talk to you - you don't know why, they want your water, whatever - you can point it at them without bullets and make an intimidation," he said.

Asked whether this would help gamers store bullets up for other encounters rather than waste them, Palasse said resources will never be wasted exactly, but that there's always a trade off depending on what the player chooses to do.

"For example, I give my only medi-kit to this guy, to save him, so I'm going to unlock an achievement or I'm going to have an extra life - but that means I can't use it on myself.

"It's the same kind of thing for the bullet. I want to unlock this door, so I have to shoot and use my bullet for this door. But afterwards, I cannot shoot someone if they want to attack me.

"You have to do these kinds of choices. You really have to make these decisions. It's back to roots, old school gameplay."

I Am Alive is due via digital distribution in northern winter. See the full interview below.