Skyscraper Security: Zombie Rain Lets You Defend the City, Then Enter the Outbreak

There is plenty of room for creative ideas in the zombie genre, even after decades of watching the undead pour through doors and windows. Skyscraper Security: Zombie Rain from independent developer Havanna Directive begins with infected falling from a towering skyscraper onto a neon-soaked district. Players are responsible not just for dealing with the infected, but also for keeping the civilians below alive.

The studio contacted Coloured Static Press directly about its expanding public demo, and the most interesting detail is not the spectacle. It’s the way the project has grown from a focused defensive shooter into two linked modes: keeping control of the streets outside, and choosing to enter the source of the outbreak itself.

Two ways to tackle the same catastrophe

In the original Lockdown mode, infected spill down from the tower in escalating waves. You intercept them, protect uninfected people, collect materials and build up your fighter between assaults. The complete game is planned around fifteen waves culminating in an encounter with the massive Scraper.

The newer mode, Infiltrate (Experimental), flips that perspective. Instead of remaining outside and waiting for threats to emerge, you push into the infected building, clear floors, improve your equipment and decide when you’ve gone deep enough to extract.

The developer’s pitch explains why the two modes matter together: infected left behind during Infiltrate can continue affecting the district outside. The full game’s Steam page describes five Infiltrate floors, while the studio says the current public demo provides three. That gives the two halves a shared purpose instead of merely presenting two unrelated modes in one package.

Four classes, four different ways to survive

Class selection is another key part of the design. Skyguard specialises in long-range rifle work, Breacher fights at close quarters with a shotgun, Deadeye focuses on precise hand-cannon shots, and Ronin wields a cyber-katana. Each class has its own starting doctrine and a different approach to controlling the battlefield.

In Lockdown, the system uses rescue drones to help save civilians, while coins and biological samples provide resources for equipment and upgrades. Players also have a Focus ability to slow time, line up attacks and activate a class-specific special move. Dashing, repositioning and even turning enemy projectiles aside form part of the skill-based layer.

It’s an interesting mix on paper because the game asks players to balance three things simultaneously: defeating threats, saving people and staying equipped for whatever the next wave throws at them.

The free demo is not just a trailer

The public Windows demo is already available through Steam. Havanna Directive describes it as offering the first seven Lockdown waves and three experimental Infiltrate floors. The official demo listing confirms all four Defender classes are playable, along with the initial combat doctrines, upgrades, Focus and Dash mechanics. Later encounters, harder difficulty options and additional unlocks are reserved for the full release.

That means there is a meaningful amount of material for a future hands-on session, although we haven’t played it yet. It should be enough to judge how responsive the combat feels and whether the defence-and-infiltration connection contributes to the experience rather than overwhelming it.

Why we’re paying attention

Games change as developers learn what players respond to, but this one has a clear design story. Havanna Directive describes the transition from a simple premise about falling infected to a connected structure where decisions inside the building affect what happens outside.

We’d like to explore that evolution directly with the studio, particularly what prompted Infiltrate, how the team tests the interactions between modes and which challenges it faced making four very different classes feel balanced.

For now, Zombie Rain belongs in First Signal as an upcoming independent game with a playable public demo. Its Steam page currently lists a Q4 2026 release window. This is an introductory editorial feature, not a scored review or a claim of first-hand experience.

Editorial note: This First Signal feature is based on the direct submission from Havanna Directive and official Steam descriptions and media. CSP has not played the demo for this article, and no review score is given. Release windows and demo content may change.