A retrospective on zombie games

This week, I solved the writer’s block that was plaguing me during the writing process for this week’s column by staring at H1Z1 streams on Twitch. Ever since classic movies like Night of the Living Dead, zombies have become a rich vein for screenwriters, directors, and all other kinds of entertainers. This resulted in varying levels of quality of zombie-related works from absolutely horrendous to absolutely wonderful. When video games became popular, it is natural for all kinds of undead games to start emerging- spanning across all consoles, with similar trends to any other forms of zombie products.

Despite the first zombie game having been released in the late 1980s, the genre was only fully realized in 2008. That year saw the release of 2 games – Call of Duty: World at War and Dead Space, shooters that were not directly about zombies. However, World at War‘s Nazi Zombie mode gained critical acclaim to the point that it was implemented for all sequels in that series. Dead Space, on the other hand, introduced a suspenseful and gut-wrenching environment populated by the non-traditional animated dead known as necromorphs. The promising reception of these two games inspired many to see the potential of fully-developed standalone zombie games.

It is impossible to overlook the popularity of the Left 4 Dead series. Generally recognized as one of the most successful zombie shooters, Left 4 Dead featured a 4-person multiplayer co-op campaign that pitted players against apocalyptic situations. From the normal undead grunts that fill the ranks and files to the nigh-indestructible “Tank”, to the swift and deadly “Witch”, the array of diverse undead enemies presented a variety of hazardous situations to the players. The game managed a balance between horror, thrill, and excitement through different levels and situation designs. Dynamic strategy and on-par player skills were both required in Left 4 Dead, which is what many enjoyed about it.

While traditional zombie games are largely a niche in the shooter genre, some found success through mashing killing zombies with other game mechanics. One notable series is Dead Rising, an action “beat’em up”-style game featuring protagonists that fight through hordes of zombies using crazy improvised weapons and various techniques. With an open world sandbox setting, the game also featured various side activities that bestowed the player with faster, stronger, more efficient, and more stylish ways to kill undead creatures. Ultimately, what made this series enjoyable was its overall reality-defying craziness and the players’ satisfaction from hours of hack n’ slash fighting through the hordes.

Bad zombie games do exist. The game of choice I choose to bash here is The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (no, not the award-winning Telltale game). As a first-person shooter game based on the popular TV show of same name, nearly every single aspect of the game was torn apart by various critics. The graphics were outdated, the plot was mediocre at best, and the controls were outright sloppy and frustrating. Despite my attempts to try to play the game, it was void of any redeeming qualities, even when I lowered my standards.

In recent years, we can observe a trend of open-world sandbox multiplayer zombie survival horror games. Notable examples include 7 Days to Die, State of Decay, DayZ, and most recently H1Z1. All of these games feature a massive multiplayer online environment, fairly sophisticated combat and interaction systems, and exciting multiplayer mechanics. With a change in standards of gaming and a general trend toward greater sandbox gameplay, games as varied as Project Zomboid and Dying Light earn loyal followings. In general, open world games offer more expansive (although sometimes highly repetitive) content and more opportunities for challenging battles, and at the same time can be made versatile and dynamic. It will be interesting to see developers add content to open-world environments while making games increasingly entertaining.

There are many zombie related games that should be acknowledged, from the classic side scroller Deadlight to the interesting Resident Evil series. The concept of using reanimated dead people to drive a story forward has become a thrilling and horrifying element at the center of many stories. With zombie-related games being released more frequently, fans will rejoice at the opportunities for undead entertainment.