The Best Games to Play When You Want to Feel Like a Zombie Apocalypse Survivor

Listen, this is a safe place. You can admit that, like so many out there, you’ve fantasized about a post-apocalypse cleansing the world and leaving humanity broken and desolate, so that you may then live out your survivalist dreams. We’ve all been there; I know I have. But for now, we can live out the fantasy in a digital world. These are the best games to play when you want to feel like a zombie apocalypse survivor, mowing down hordes and looting supplies!

Best Zombie Survival Games That Strike That Vibe

Project Zomboid

Look past its graphics (I find them gorgeous), and you’ll find a comprehensive zombie survival experience in Project Zomboid. In many ways, it’s the benchmark for the genre. With survival scenarios and settings allowing you to tailor your zombie apocalypse to your liking, along with base building and safehouse fortification, farming, countless skills, melee weapons and firearms, psychological components like depression and anxiety, illness, hunting, fishing, and multiplayer. Honestly? The list goes on. This is an entire world you can thrive, survive, and inevitably die in.

Here’s the thing about Project Zomboid, however. It’s complex. In some cases, overly so. The steep learning curve tends to scare away beginners. Once you dig beneath the surface, you’ll find an immersive and comprehensive post-apocalyptic scenario. Do you want to roleplay zombie survival scenarios online with other players? You can! Do you want to play the lone hero clearing out the town of Muldraugh? Yep, that’s an option. Feel like fortifying the biggest skyscraper in the game and becoming an apocalyptic warlord? Go right ahead, pal!

State of Decay 2

While its setting is firmly within the zombie apocalypse—post-societal collapse—State of Decay 2 focuses on more than the undead. It’s a community-oriented survival experience in which your every decision matters in the long run…at least to your community. With supplies dwindling, every loot run must count. With zombies encroaching, the skills and equipment of your survivors matter. With morale waxing and waning, every facility and recruit can tip the balance or send you reeling over the edge.

Oh, and don’t forget the permadeath mechanics. If you’re playing on more challenging difficulty settings, like Lethal Zone, it’s easy to miss the Plague Feral as it lunges for your throat. Should a survivor die in State of Decay 2, they’re gone for good. Sometimes, they come back as a zombie. Sometimes, they don’t. Either way, it’s bad for your community and makes for a heartwrenching and tension-filled zombie survival game!

The best part? It’s on Xbox Game Pass. If you’re a subscriber, go check out Game Pass today and download State of Decay 2 free!

DayZ

DayZ isn’t for the lighthearted. It is, in some cases, quite challenging. You’ll struggle to find food, warm clothing, medical aid, and weapons, depending on the server. Other times, you’re rolling in loot, making your way to NWAF with a fully-kitted M4 and a plate carrier. DayZ giveth, DayZ taketh. Before long, someone is chasing you through the dark underbrush, laughing with every breath as they hunt you for your fatty meat.

That’s right, just like The Walking Dead taught us, it’s not the zombies you should worry about in the apocalypse. It’s the people. DayZ is filled with sociopaths who love to hunt freshies. While you’re desperately trying to survive, searching for cans of food and praying that you’ll soon get your bearings, they’re hunting you from afar.

The Last of Us Part 1

There are too few games that I’ll replay regularly, like clockwork, year after year. But The Last of Us Part I is definitely one of those. I’ve played through the single-player story approximately 13 times now, and I’ll happily do it again. It’s that good. But it’s also not exactly a zombie apocalypse scenario in the typical sense. The infected here, turned via spores, are more monstrous than your typical zombie.

The Last of Us Part I revolves around Joel and Ellie as the two wander across post-apocalyptic America in search of hope. Along the way, they’ll fight clickers, bandits, and sometimes even those they previously thought to be friendly. It’s the end of the world, after all. Along the way, you can upgrade your weapons and character via components and pills found in the environment, ensuring you’re more capable of dealing with the bigger zombie-like enemies, like bloaters.

Dead Island 2

If, to you, the zombie apocalypse promises a more visceral experience, rife with violence and brain-smashing activities, then look no further than Dead Island 2 for practice. It’s a more streamlined approach to the zombie survival genre, focusing on a few key characters, a little hint of a story, and loads of zombie-killing combat with melee weapons and, occasionally, a few firearms.

Dead Island 2 thrusts players into the most chaotic part of the zombie apocalypse, as the undead take over Los Angeles, from Beverly Hills to Venice Beach. These aren’t your usual video game zombies, either. They’re far more grotesque, akin to Dying Light’s vicious undead, violently pursuing prey. You, armed with a variety of melee weapons and the game’s iconic dismemberment system, push back. The best part? It’s all co-op. You can play with your friends so that you don’t need to admit you’re terrified of the bikini-clad, blood-soaked beach blonde zombie woman.

Dying Light: The Beast

Following the new Restored Land content update, Dying Light: The Beast is bigger and better than ever. It was already called the ‘best game in the series’ by countless fans and outlets, and having played it myself, I agree. The world feels authentic and lived-in, zombies feel more dangerous than ever, and the gameplay itself (parkour, combat, skills, etc.) proves more enticing than in past entries.

Since I mentioned it, let’s just quickly go over Restored Land because it is downright amazing all on its own. In the latest content update, you can now clear zones throughout the land, removing the zombie presence and looting essential supplies. In time, humans return. They fix up the area, fortifying the entry points, and live their lives. It literally breathes new life into the apocalyptic world.

But that’s only part of the game. You’ll follow an enthralling story of vengeance, once more playing as Kyle Crane, altered beyond belief by experimentation. With visceral melee combat, fast-paced vehicle sequences, adrenaline-pumping parkour, and even a few memorable characters, there’s a reason this is called the best in the Dying Light series!

FAQs