As has been detailed these past few weeks, State of Decay 2 developer Undead Labs has been keeping fans on a slow drip of the game’s concept art as PAX East approaches. This week, the blog has provided an image that is as unbelievable as it is emotionally draining to look at.

Although previous concept art releases have been noted as being created “early” in the game’s development, the developer stressed that point with this week’s image. According to the post, Undead Labs tends to keep most creative projects with in-house employees, but sometimes scheduling just doesn’t allow for that. In these cases, contractors are hired to pick up the slack. The image below was created by one such artist.

The artist’s name is Stephen Schirle. He was sent a number of phrases to create images from. This one was “Explore and Complete Missions: defeat a horde.” The post goes on to talk about how the resulting art from these phrases often becomes “guideposts” for the game’s later development in order to meet goals the team has for tone and appearance.

Here’s what Undead Labs feels is the takeaway from this image.

“Although everyone knows the body count in this picture is unlikely with one survivor and a melee weapon, we loved the expression of numb weariness and exhausted triumph on the survivor’s face. And besides, success against the odds is also something that’s important to illustrate for State of Decay 2.”

If you’ve missed any of the previous concept art releases these past weeks, you can view the comprehensive gallery below.