Ballardia and Scraggly Dog Games have announce that the second phase of Closed Beta Testing in World of the Living Dead: Resurrection is underway. OBT is planned for mid-Q1 2014. After an intensive six weeks test with several hundred players across the world during October and November, the game has began it’s next phase of scale testing. Several thousand players are now playtesting the it’s unique underlying OpenStreetMaps game engine and survival strategy gameplay set in post-Zombocalyptic Los Angeles.

Developed by former Jolt Online developers David Barton (Legends of Zork) and Kulpreet Singh (NationStates 2), WotLD is a hardcore game aimed at older, more discerning players craving a challenging gameplay experience that isn’t based on itchy-trigger finger reactions or social-style game mechanics. The game casts you as an operative of the National Emergency Control and Relief Agency (NECRA).

Players are initially assigned a small squad of survivors on Santa Catalina island off Los Angeles, California, and instructed to bring them to LA County, where over 12,000 zombie-infested square kilometers await you. Each server cycle will be completed when a player or faction collects enough samples to find an agent to wipe out the zombies, win the game, and have their name engraved on the WotLD Championship Trophy and Hall of Fame.

With classic real time-strategy elements, in a brand new setting, you must keep your survivors fit and healthy, by scavenging for food, water, weapons, armour and equipment from zones across real-life LA. Looking for a fire-axe? Go to a location that has a fire station in real life to have a better chance of finding one. Gameplay features include PvP and faction-based gameplay, trade, exploration, scavenging, weapon modification, achievements and a skill points based system to help develop up to 30 survivors and a zombie horde that reacts to every noise you make. Collectable infocards scattered throughout the game allow players to further customise the skills of their survivors.

Announcing the second Closed Beta Test, Ballardia Founder Kulpreet Singh said “We’re taking our time with WotLD. It’s been nearly five years to get to this point, and we are doing our best to polish and bugfix, so that when the game enters Open Beta next year, we can give players across the world a truly unique gameplay experience.”

World of the Living Dead: Resurrection is seeking closed beta testers to help us polish and improve the game in preparation for Open Beta next year, and you can find out how to get involved at http://www.worldofthelivingdead.com. You can keep up to date by following us on http://twitter.com/wotld, becoming a fan at http://facebook.com/wotld , reading the blog at http://blog.worldofthelivingdead.com and joining the WotLD: Resurrection forums at http://forum.worldofthelivingdead.com