The Killing Antidote and the rise of TKA-likes

The Killing Antidote released back in October 2024. It's a single player third person story game made by a small studio in China.

Ever since this game released, I've seen other contenders emerge on the Steam store page. Since they seem to compete with The Killing Antidote, I've decided to label them as 'TKA-likes'.

Here are three TKA-likes I've had the chance to play and recommend to others.

The Killing Antidote

The Killing Antidote is a single-player third person shooter in which you play as Jodi, a journalist looking for the antidote to a zombie outbreak.

It features fantastic graphics, a beautiful protagonist, extensive character customization, satisfying combat, engaging level design, challenging puzzles, varied enemy types, and an in-depth story.

I played through the game a little while after its initial release and thought it was great. The combat felt good, the voice acting was excellent, the animations were really well put together, and the choice of soundtrack was fitting.

The game is being developed by a small team over at MetalStar Studios. They announced a while back on their Patreon that they are working hard to finish development for chapter two, and that they already have the writing mostly completed for chapter three.

So the game is very much still a work in progress, however I really recommend giving it a go. I found it was rather similar to Resident Evil, so if you like shooting zombies and solving puzzles, I believe this will be of interest to you.

Also, as the community for the game grew, so did the modding community surrounding it. You can find dozens of mods being released every other day over on Nexus Mods or similar sites.

The game is out now on Steam. If you also wish to support the development team you can subscribe to their Patreon. By doing so you will gain access to some outfit DLC, but just know in advance that the outfits are currently a little broken.

If I've still failed to convince you to purchase the game, maybe my playlist on YouTube could convince you. You can find that here.

Lunar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse is a third person puzzle-adventure game which takes you through the story of Ealish, a girl who wakes up within an isolated underground research lab.

The game features realistic graphics, a dark atmosphere, complex puzzles and obstacles, detailed environments, a close combat system, collectibles, a modular outfit system, and a detailed story.

While I originally thought this game resembled The Killing Antidote, the developers stated that the game is actually inspired by Silent Hill and those classic Resident Evil games.

I played for a few hours and honestly felt like it was actually pretty good. The graphics were great, the artwork was stellar, and the animations felt really smooth.

The level design was really well done as well. I really loved how some of the puzzles were integrated into the environment. This helped create an additional layer of complexity and challenge when trying to solve them.

Now there is a lack of voice acting, but this is understandable due to being developed by a smaller studio. Personally, I quite like it — it kind of has that retro charm whenever the dialogue box appears on screen.

I did also find the combat to be a bit rough around the edges, but it's worth noting that the combat is not the main focus of the game. So don't let this deter you from enjoying an otherwise great game.

What is interesting about this game is that it originally began as an open world post-apocalyptic survival project. However some internal changes at the studio lead to the scope of the project being refined into a story-driven adventure game.

The game is now being worked on by a single 3D artist and their brother at Black Rabbit Tales. Together they have worked on the writing, artwork, level design, animation, user interface, shaders, and pretty much everything else that goes into a video game.

If you liked The Killing Antidote and are after something similar, I'd highly recommend picking up this game. You may also like this game if you enjoyed Silent Hill and the classic Resident Evil games.

The game released in June 2025 and is currently available in early access on Steam. There should also be a demo available on the same page if you are not yet fully commited.

If you'd also like to support the developers you can do so by subscribing to their Patreon. They're working very hard to improve the game and sharing your feedback there would probably mean a lot to them, so I'd really encourage you to do so!

If you want to see some gameplay you can find that on my channel here.

Dawn Break

This one is another TKA-like by a Chinese development team called SYN-Studios. It is set in 2039 after waves of tsunamis washed over the world globally, and mutiple black holes materialized in the sky.

The main features are realistic graphics, a sci-fi atmosphere, an interesting story, clothing and hair customization, engaging combat mechanics, various monster types, and more.

I managed to try the demo whilst it was available but it was in Chinese. The game does not yet have any English localization so I had to navigate all the menus using the Google Translate app on my phone.

The graphics were pretty good but it the performance was awful. The assets were inconsistent and looked unpolished. The combat did not feel great and some of the animations require a lot of work.

The game is a bit too rough in its current state for me to actually recommend it. I do think however that they have a good founation to build upon. They seem to have some sort of story in place and they have clearly put some thought into the level design. If they continue to work hard on the game and polish it over it might be a worth a play through.

I couldn't find any official trailer online neither a Patreon page, but you can find the official Steam page here if you are interested in checking it out yourself.

Overall

Of all these, The Killing Antidote felt the most polished. It performs well, looks great, and the combat is extremely satisfying. It is the perfect choice if you want a zombie shooter game with some puzzle elements.

Lunar Eclipse is just as good. The graphics are really nice, the artwork is stellar, and the story is detailed. If you want less shooting and more puzzle solving then this is the perfect choice for you.

As of right now, I can't really recommend Dawn Break in its current state. If you can read and speak Chinese, then maybe it might be worth checking out when it releases. Just be aware that it is extremely rough around the edges.

So far, these are the only three TKA-likes I've managed to play. I have come across some others floating around on Steam which I'll probably check out sometime later.

If you know of any other TKA-likes, feel free the share them below and I will take a look when I am free.