The Dead We Knew Release Date: Oct 22, 2026

The Dead We Knew: Open World Survival is scheduled to unlock on Steam on October 22, 2026, as an Early Access release.

That is the date on the official Steam page, which on 2026-10-15 listed "Planned Release Date: Oct 22, 2026" and noted the game would unlock in roughly seven days. May19 Studio posted the same thing in its own Steam announcement on 2026-10-13: "THE DEAD WE KNEW: Open World Survival is coming to Steam on October 22!"

The date has already moved once

The October date is not the one originally discussed. An Invenglobal article published 2026-07-17 reported that May19 Studio had announced the game for Steam "this August". If you saw an August date quoted in older coverage, that was the earlier plan, and the store page has since settled on October 22. A commenter on the Steam community hub reacted to the schedule with a terse "Delayed, again" — that is a player's read on the timeline, not a studio statement, so treat it as sentiment rather than confirmation of anything further.

Platform

The Steam version is the one the official Steam page describes as of 2026-10-15; the same page does not list a PlayStation, Xbox or Switch version as of 2026-10-15. Steam Deck compatibility is shown as "Unknown" there, so handheld performance is unverified.

Early Access, not a finished 1.0

This is worth knowing before you clear your calendar for launch day. The store page's Early Access section says the core systems — open-world exploration, zombies and hostile survivors, resource gathering, crafting, base building and defence, hunger/thirst/energy, swimming and boats, a day-night cycle and weather including fog — are already playable. The studio's stated plan is to stay in Early Access for about a year, with no fixed deadline, and it says the price is expected to rise during that period. Planned additions mentioned on the page include new weapon types, fishing and more sea activities, vehicles, and new settlements and locations.

What the community coverage shows

A Zaravio Gaming preview video (linked below) walks through the same feature set and flags the PC requirements as fairly demanding, with the suggestion that players on lower-end hardware wait for post-launch performance tests. It also notes that co-op is a core draw alongside single-player. One practical search note: that video's narration calls the game "The Day We Knew" while its title uses the correct name, so if you are hunting for more coverage, try both the full title and the short form.

Reaction on the Steam hub is more guarded. Comments there compare the game to The Day Before and question whether some assets look familiar, while another thread asks the developer to implement proper official Xbox controller support. These are player opinions and requests, not confirmed features.

System requirements listed at launch

The Steam page lists Windows 10, 12 GB RAM, a GTX 1070 or equivalent, DirectX 11 and 20 GB of storage as minimums, and Windows 11, 24 GB RAM and an RTX 2080 or equivalent as recommended. The store page lists English plus twelve more interface and subtitle languages, with English as the only full-audio language.

Related pages on this wiki

• The Dead We Knew early access — what the Early Access build includes and how the studio plans to expand it
• The Dead We Knew beta — what is known about pre-release testing
• The Dead We Knew news — dated announcements and community updates