I Am Alive is Alive!

The long-awaited I Am Alive finally has a release date.

It’s been a long time coming but Ubisoft’s I Am Alive is just about ready to show its face in public. A lot can happen over the next month in a half but Ubi must like it because it has finally, figuratively at least, put a ring on it.

I Am Alive’s development hasn’t necessarily been troubled but it sure has been interesting. It first came to light at E3 all the way back in 2008 with an intriguing trailer that promised a more realistic take on the immediate aftermath of an apocalyptic event. But soon after the first real details came to light in 2009, the game was taken away from indie studio Darkworks and given to Ubisoft Shanghai; a furor erupted a couple of years later over a fake report that the game would be released exclusively through digital channels because Ubisoft didn’t “have much faith in the title,” but then it came to light that the game actually would be digital-only, and not for the PC, which led to another PR uproar.

Wow! That does sound kind of troubled, doesn’t it? Anyway, now we can finally say something about the game that isn’t just pointless kerfuffle, as Ubisoft has announced that I Am Alive will crash the Xbox Live Arcade House Party on March 7, for just 1200 Microsoft Points.

It looks a little different than what was originally announced, however. Instead of “six days later,” the game will take place a full year after the “Event,” when the “everyman” hero returns to his destroyed hometown to search for his wife and daughter. It’s not a happy return: buildings are ruined, the streets are covered in toxic ash and the people have been reduced to doing whatever it takes to survive.

A lot has changed over the years but I still dig the concept. A “real” post-apocalyptic game that takes a hard look at what happens to civilization in the face of a cataclysmic event could be a whole lot of fun. Am I expecting too much? Probably, but here’s hoping that at least it doesn’t suck. To learn more about I Am Alive, hit up iamalive-game.ubi.com.