Valheim Meets Resident Evil in Free Steam Download

An upcoming game that looks like a mix of Valheim and Resident Evil is now available to try for free.

Shadow of the Union is an upcoming horror game that combines the spooky atmosphere and monsters of Resident Evil with the open-world multiplayer shenanigans of Valheim.

It’s a co-operative game that supports between one to four players, where you’re sent into dangerous inhabited zones by the government to find anomalies, complete contracts, and fend off monster attacks.

Shadow of the Union currently has a free demo available right now, which you can download by heading to the game’s official Steam page.

Developer ILIASKA has been updating the demo with new improvements and fixes as time goes on, so it’s worth keeping it updated for the time being too.

ILIASKA

What is Shadow of the Union about?

“Each sortie is part of a secret mission,” reads Shadow of the Union’s description on Steam. “Explore forgotten locations from the USSR era — from destroyed military sites to the depths of classified laboratories and bunkers. Radiation, traps, and aggressive mutants are just obstacles on your path to the goal. Use transport for equipment delivery and emergency evacuation, collect evidence, resources, and data. Attention and caution are key to success.”

ILIASKA has said that the types of dangers you face include “traps, enemies, and secrets of the past,” and that each member of the team plays various different roles.

For example, one will play a role focused on combat, while another is on reconnaissance. It’s the diversity of each of these roles which leads the game to emphasise its co-operative gameplay.

The game states that “only coordinated effort and trust will help you survive in this dangerous world,” so using built-in communication features like voice and text chat is essential to completing your missions.

Shadow of the Union also features base building and crafting features (because of course, what survival game doesn’t these days?).

This means finding a suitable location to build and upgrade your base, where you can start placing down defensive structures and begin automating certain systems and features. This means being able to place down turrets to help keep monsters at bay.

Shadow of the Union is available to play now via a demo on Steam. There’s no confirmed release date for the game yet, however, aside from ILIASKA saying the game is planned for launch in 2026. So, we'll wait and see when that gets announced.