Now here’s an interesting game announcement I totally did not see coming.

Based on community feedback, Eko Software went back to the crafting table to reinvent its zombie survival action-RPG How to Survive. The original game plays like a twin-stick hack-and-slash from a top-down isometric view like a typical action-RPG. This new remake, called How To Survive: Third Person Standalone, has a zoomed-in, behind-the-back camera like a third-person shooter. Hey, that’s pretty awesome!

Even though it re-runs the same content, How To Survive: Third Person Standalone, as established by the title, is not a mod or patch to the original game. It is a completely separate single-player experience coming to PC digital download via Steam on July 2nd. It won’t have multiplayer like its isometric counterpart, but it will contain everything else plus a few DLC packs.

How To Survive: Third Person Standalone will sell at full price for $9.99, which is five bucks cheaper than the original. A pre-purchase promotion hacks 20% off the price to $7.99. Players that already own the original (or buy it in the interim–Steam’s Summer Sale is coming up!) get an even sweeter 70% off discount, bringing the price all the way down to just $2.99.

So basically it’ll be like buying a standalone DLC. I’m cool with that.

Here’s a look at the full slate of content:

Features include:
•Navigate islands filled with life and death scenarios
•Choose among 4 playable characters with different stats and skill progressions
•Hunt, fish and forage for food and water – live off of the land to survive
•Hundreds of items to craft into unique weapons and tools, from fishing rods to flamethrowers
•Play through the Story Mode or 8 demanding challenges
•Additional free roaming mode includes Permadeath
•Three difficulty levels, including new improved difficulty conditions for die-hard survivors

Game includes:
•All the content of the original game How To Survive:
◦4 islands
◦Story mode
◦8 challenges
◦Leaderboards

•Kovac’s Way DLC including 3 difficulty modes:
◦Gameplay affecting rain effect
◦Crocodile & bear
◦Durability

•Hello, My Name is Nina DLC character & flamethrowers
•One Shot Escape DLC – Rogue like mode
•Tombstones

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Likely to get lost in the shuffle up against the next-gen glitz and glamor of the big E3 publisher showcases, 505 Games has put together a solid lineup of sleeper games, largely of the digital download variety, to present at next week’s video game extravaganza. Payday 2 will be the headliner for most, but games like Starbreeze’s co-op puzzle adventure Brother: A Tale of Two Sons and the mobile edition of Terraria should draw plenty of attention. Other lesser known titles like tactical squad shooter Takedown: Red Sabre and zombie survival adventure How to Survive are also worth keeping an eye on.

Read on for more details about each game in the E3 2013 game lineup, per 505 Games press release.

Payday 2:

PAYDAY 2 is an action-packed, four-player co-op shooter that once again lets gamers don the masks of the original PAYDAY crew – Dallas, Hoxton, Wolf and Chains – as they descend on Washington D.C. for an epic crime spree. The new CRIMENET network offers a huge range of dynamic contracts and players are free to choose anything from small-time convenience store hits or kidnappings, to major league cyber-crime or emptying out major bank vaults for that epic PAYDAY. Up to four friends co-operate on the hits and as the crew progresses the jobs become bigger, better and more rewarding. PAYDAY 2 is in development by Overkill Software for the Xbox 360® games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®3 Network and Windows® PC via Steam by Valve® Corporation. The game will be released this summer and has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Takedown: Red Sabre:

TAKEDOWN: Red Sabre is a deadly tactical shooter that is perfect for the player who chooses to engage in deliberate and methodical gameplay as opposed to gamers who want to run in with guns blazing. Gamers experience lethal, close-quarters battles as a member of the elite Red Sabre team and each scenario is designed to emulate the tactics employed by SWAT teams and SOF units in taking down small numbers of dangerous adversaries. Non-linear environments allow for multiple routes, tactics and added replayability. TAKEDOWN: Red Sabre is in development by Serellan, a team of veteran developers who have worked on acclaimed titles in the Ghost Recon, Halo, SOCOM, SWAT and F.E.A.R. franchises. The team is led by Christian Allen, the former creative director of the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon franchise. The game will be released this fall on the Xbox Live® online entertainment network from Microsoft as an arcade game for Xbox 360 and for Windows PC via Steam by Valve Corporation. It has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons:

In Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons, two young boys, desperate to cure their ailing father, are left with but one option. They must set out upon a journey to find and bring back the “Water of Life” as they come to rely on one another to survive. One must be strong where the other is weak, brave where the other is fearful, they must be… Brothers. In Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons players guide two brothers on an epic fairy tale journey from visionary Swedish film director Josef Fares. Gamers control both brothers at once as they experience co-op play like never before as they solve puzzles, explore varied locations and fight boss battles all while controlling one brother with each thumb stick. This is one journey you will never forget. Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons is in development by Starbreeze Studios for Xbox Live as an arcade game for Xbox 360, PlayStation®Network and Windows PC via Steam by Valve Corporation. The game will be released this summer and has been rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.

How to Survive:

Ever wondered how you would handle being a castaway on a zombie infested island with no foreseeable way out? How to Survive is a third-person action adventure game that equips players to stay alive in a world where the outbreak of an unknown virus has turned most of the population into zombies. How to Survive puts players in the center of the action as someone who, after an accident, finds themselves on an island amidst a small archipelago off the coast of Colombia … but there are other inhabitants. In order to make it through the day and night, gamers must learn to fulfill the most basic of needs, such as seeking food, water and shelter, as well as crafting dozens of tools and weapons from fishing rods to Molotov cocktails. How to Survive is in development for Xbox Live as an arcade game for Xbox 360, PlayStation®Network, Nintendo’s Wii U eShop and Windows PC via Steam by Valve Corporation. The game will be released in the fall and has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Terraria Mobile:

The critically acclaimed Terraria is headed to mobile platforms so gamers on the go experience all of the digging, fighting, exploring and building that PC and console gamers have been raving about. Players explore vast and vibrant worlds with friends and face the treacherous perils of Terraria including hundreds of twisted foes, magical creatures and mighty bosses. Gamers literally dig to the ends of the earth and then craft with what they discover to make amazing armor, weapons and other items in order to build fantastic dwellings using only their imagination as their limit – Terraria is their canvas. Terraria for mobile platforms will be released this summer.