How Blight: Survival Blends Co-Op Medieval Combat with a Grounded Zombie Plague

Can you give us a quick elevator pitch for Blight?

Behaviour Interactive: In short, Blight is a co-op experience set in an alternate medieval Europe where a lethal plague has taken over the land. You play as a faceless member of a brotherhood of knights, fighting to push back against this plague.

At its core, it’s a story about a group of knights waging war against a zombie-like infection spreading across the world. You start from a stronghold and venture out into dangerous territories filled with enemies, completing objectives and trying to survive along the way.

Death carries consequences. If you die, you lose your gear and return to the stronghold, starting over with another member of the Brotherhood. At the same time, there is long-term progression tied to your stronghold, so you’re always moving forward in some way.

It’s not a fully open world, but rather a series of large, open-ended mission areas. Exploration is a key part of the experience. You might have a main objective, but along the way you’ll encounter things that pull you off course, like a strange village or smoke in the distance.

Each mission takes place in a handcrafted map, but the encounters within it are dynamic. Enemy placements, loot, and bosses can change between runs, even though the overall layout remains the same.

How large are co-op groups, and how does that affect the gameplay experience?

Behaviour Interactive: You can play solo or in groups of up to four players.

Combat is at the heart of Blight, and it’s designed to be brutal and deliberate. It’s not a hack-and-slash experience. Every action matters, and timing is critical.

Because of that, we want the multiplayer experience to remain tense, even at the higher end of player counts. We don’t want it to feel chaotic or like you’re just mowing down enemies. Whether you’re playing solo, in duos, trios, or as a full group, the goal is to maintain that same sense of pressure and intensity.

There’s a strong horror backdrop to the world, but the game is really about action, tension, and making the most of each situation. You’re always trying to come back from a mission with something meaningful that helps you progress.

What happens when a player dies during a mission?

Behaviour Interactive: We’re not sharing all the details yet, but the core idea is that your character is essentially lost when you die.

Whatever gear you brought into the mission is gone, and you return to your stronghold with a new member of the Brotherhood. That said, there is persistent progression at the stronghold level. You can upgrade elements like your blacksmith, which allows you to craft better equipment over time. So even though individual characters are expendable, your overall progression continues.

How are missions structured? Do players select objectives from the stronghold?

Behaviour Interactive: It’s a mix of both. The game has a structured campaign with a clear beginning and end. You’ll receive main missions from your stronghold that push the narrative forward.

At the same time, each mission area contains additional objectives and emergent gameplay opportunities. You can choose to explore, take risks, or pursue side objectives depending on how you want to approach the mission. Everything ultimately ties back to the core goal of pushing back against the plague and reclaiming the world.

Is there any PvP component, or is it strictly co-op?

Behaviour Interactive: It’s entirely co-op. There’s no PvP. We take some inspiration from extraction-style games in terms of tension and decision-making, but this is not an extraction shooter. The loop is about going into a mission, deciding how far to push, and determining whether to continue or retreat with what you’ve gained.

That structure creates tension, but the experience itself is grounded and fully playable solo or in co-op.

You recently hit 1.5 million wishlists. How is that shaping development?

Behaviour Interactive: Reaching 1.5 million wishlists is incredibly humbling, and it comes with a real sense of responsibility. We want to make sure we deliver on that expectation.

We’re not announcing a release date yet, and the game is not coming this year. We want to take the time to get it right. One of the ways we’re doing that is through ongoing playtests with our community. We have a Discord with around 45,000 members, and we regularly run small-scale, closed tests to evaluate specific systems and ideas.

That feedback loop is incredibly valuable and plays a big role in how we’re shaping the game.

Why did you choose Unreal Engine for Blight?

Behaviour Interactive: Unreal Engine gives us a strong foundation in terms of accessibility, tooling, and visual fidelity.

It’s one of the most widely used engines, with a large ecosystem and strong support from Epic. That makes it easier to prototype and iterate quickly.

Blueprints allow us to rapidly test ideas, and the asset ecosystem helps us build environments much faster. For example, if we need to prototype a forest, we can assemble something quickly to establish scale and layout instead of waiting weeks for custom assets.

That speed is incredibly valuable, especially during early development when you’re still exploring ideas. It also helps teams communicate internally. Being able to quickly visualize concepts makes it easier to pitch ideas and align on direction.

Overall, Unreal acts as a force multiplier, allowing us to move faster and focus more on refining the experience.

Zombies have been done many times before. How are you approaching them differently?

Behaviour Interactive: That’s definitely a challenge. Both medieval settings and zombies are familiar, so the goal is to find a balance between honoring those expectations and doing something distinct.

Our approach is rooted in grounding everything in the world. The infection is treated as part of the environment, something that transforms both people and the world around them.

We’re still working on how to present that visually and mechanically, so we’re not ready to share all the details yet. But the idea is that the infection evolves and impacts the world in meaningful ways.

It’s a fine line. We want players to recognize the fantasy, but also feel like Blight has its own identity.

Will there be replayability after completing the campaign?

Behaviour Interactive: Yes, that’s definitely a goal.

We want the game to offer replayability through its systems and mission structure, while still respecting players’ time and providing a clear endpoint. There will be opportunities for additional challenges and continued play for those who want it.

How are you handling progression differences between players in co-op?

Behaviour Interactive: That’s something we’re actively working on. We want to make it as easy as possible for players to jump in and play together, even if they’re at different points in the game.

There are systems we’re exploring—such as different playstyles or class-like approaches—that could help bridge that gap.

The goal is to avoid situations where progression differences prevent players from enjoying the game together. We want the experience of joining a friend’s game to feel seamless and fun.

Behaviour Interactive, publisher for Blight: Survival

Interview conducted by David Jagneaux

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