About

Hawthorne, Texas — 1968. Life is ordinary. Families go to work, children go to school, cars fill the streets, and televisions and radios bring news from across America. Then the newspapers begin reporting strange incidents. People are attacking strangers without warning. Hospitals are overwhelmed by patients suffering from a mysterious illness. Police departments report violent disturbances. Officials insist there is no reason to panic. Then the incidents reach Texas. More people disappear. Hospitals become overcrowded. Police calls increase. Rumors spread through town. Radio broadcasts become increasingly serious. Nobody knows what is happening. Some believe it is a new disease. Others suspect terrorism, drugs, or something even worse. Then the military arrives. Checkpoints appear. Soldiers patrol the streets. Authorities attempt to contain the situation while civilians are told to remain calm. But the situation is getting worse. Eventually, the truth becomes impossible to ignore. The dead are coming back. Hawthorne is only the beginning. This is a free-form survival world, not a predetermined story. The player can stay in town, investigate the outbreak, protect their family, cooperate with authorities, leave Texas, search for survivors, join the military, travel across the country, or do something completely unexpected. The world continues changing regardless of what the player does. The outbreak spreads. Governments respond. Military units move. Communications fail. Communities rise and fall. Some places may survive while others disappear completely. There is no guaranteed ending. You decide what you do. The world decides what happens next.