The game takes place one year after "The Event", a cataclysmic disaster that has wiped out most of humanity and reduced cities to rubble.

As the game begins, the unnamed protagonist returns to his home in the fictional city of Haventon, hoping to find his wife and daughter, whom he has not seen since the disaster.

Inspired by films such as The Road and The Book of Eli, the designers wanted players to experience the emotions and moral quandaries of choosing who lives and who dies.

Those who liked it tended to laud its tone, atmosphere, combat and intimidation systems, side missions, and the moral component of the gameplay.

I Am Alive is an action-adventure survival game,[7][8] in which the player controls the unnamed protagonist from a third-person perspective, although the camera switches to first-person when aiming and shooting.

[13][14][15] Another component of the game involves collecting resources and supplies scattered throughout the city, including items such as water, food, gas, medicine, and ammo.

[17][18] In the weeks and months after The Event, resource shortages quickly became peoples' biggest problem, a situation that has only gotten worse as time has passed.

The game opens with an unnamed man arriving in his home city of Haventon, hoping to find his wife, Julie, and daughter, Mary, whom he last saw just before The Event.

Recording updates via a video camera, which are being watched by an unidentified person at some point in the future, he explains it took him almost a year to walk back to Haventon from "out east".

[19] When he gets to his apartment, he finds a note written by Julie in which she explains that she and Mary left shortly after The Event, hoping to make it to one of the emergency camps.

Fighting his way through gang members who take women prisoner and force them to provide sexual gratification, he finds and rescues Mei's mother, Linda.

Developed by Darkworks for PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox 360, it had originally gone into production in 2005 and was now scheduled for a second quarter 2009 release.

[24] At E3 the following week, Ubisoft formally unveiled a CGI trailer showcasing the game's post-apocalyptic setting and introducing the protagonist, Adam Collins.

"[27] In January 2009, Ubisoft confirmed that Raymond was not working on the title in any capacity, with Alexis Goddard serving as senior producer.

"[32][33] In March, Ubisoft announced that Darkworks were no longer working on the game, due to the changes in the release schedule; "in order to respect the new launch date for this ambitious title, and Darkworks having other obligations, we have mutually decided to complete development of I Am Alive at Ubisoft Shanghai, as the two studios have collaborated on aspects of the title over the past year.

From a third-person perspective, players traverse through city ruins and use a machete to kill human enemies in melee-style combat."

In this new iteration of the game, the story is set in the fictional city of Haventon rather than Chicago, and the main character is no longer named Adam Collins, instead, he is unnamed.

"[47] Speaking to Digital Spy, creative director Stanislas Mettra echoed these comments; what happened is that we made two games.

The thing is, it was based on the pitch that was communicated, set in Chicago, all this stuff, and the game was produced and considered somehow disappointing according to Ubisoft's standards.

"[26] When the game was re-announced in September 2011, an Ubisoft press release stated, "I Am Alive presents a unique take on the post-apocalyptic, survival genre by creating more complex and emotional situations for the player.

[10] Speaking to VentureBeat at CES in January 2012, Mettra said of the game, "we wanted to focus the experience on something human-centric, and that's why there's no zombies, no monsters.

"[63] Destructoid's Maurice Tan scored the Xbox 360 version 8.5 out of 10, praising the climbing, combat, tone, and management of morality.

His one major criticism was that combat never gives the player a non-violent solution, arguing that "the lack of a penalty for killing [enemies] eliminates any moral compass the game carefully tries to construct."

Not only does it create an atmospheric world that feels real enough to identify with, but it succeeds at delivering a unique experience geared towards an adult audience while simultaneously being a fun game to play.

[60] GameSpot's Tom McShea scored the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions 8 out of 10, writing, "I Am Alive is so effective because it removes many artificial barriers and forces you to make intimate and emotional decisions."

He particularly praised the psychological component of the combat system, the atmosphere, tone, and how it draws the player in emotionally, calling it "an engrossing experience that's difficult to forget.

He lauded how the art style and graphics mirrored the game's dark theme and tone, but he criticised the save and retry system, finding it "overly convoluted.

"[64] IGN's Greg Miller scored the Xbox 360 version 4.5 out of 10, criticising the graphics and gameplay and calling the game "a cumbersome, frustrating mess."

He argued that it fails to create any emotional stakes because "there's no impact to the deaths," and he concluded by calling it "a flat, frustrating game that isn't worth your time or money.

Peter Eykemans called it "a good idea and a bad game," finding it buggy and poorly paced.