Project Zomboid: The Dawn of the Dead (1978) of Video Games

For a while there, Project Zomboid was my favorite steam game. I played it obsessively with repeated plays spanning several years. I eventually learned to survive in post-apocalyptic Muldraugh, Kentucky sometime in the 1990's. I barricaded empty houses and warehouses. I learned to loot and scavenged for food, weapons, and supplies. I learned how to avoid the hordes

I barricaded warehouses and grew vegetables on the roofs, drinking rainwater to survive. I built catwalks across zombie infested streets for safe passage on scavenger runs. I learn first hand that shooting a gun in the zombie apocalypse is just ringing the dinner bell. When night falls, get somewhere safe and don't make a sound. Cover the windows, lock the doors, and hope the zombies don't sense you. Eat your beans, read your Beginner's Guide to Fishing, and hope this won't be your last night alive.

Despite Project Zomboid's simplistic graphics, the game is amazingly immersive. The world feels lived in and the evidence of the apocalypse is everywhere. Houses often tell the stories of their dead. I can't count the number of times' I've jumped and hollered out after being startled by a zombie in a quite house. Few games have managed to scare me so, and it's all the more impressive considering Project Zomboid is an isometric game with intentionally dated graphics. In the early days of the apocalypse, when the electricity is still on, the televisions and radio are still working. From the broadcasts, the back-story is told in a completely natural, unobtrusive way. In general, it's typical zombie apocalypse fare but the way it's presented brings to mind the news segments in Romero's Night of the Living Dead and the opening of Dawn of the Dead (1978).

That's the thing about this game, it really feels like a video game version of Dawn of the Dead. It even has the mall! The zombies are pure Romero as well (though this can be changed in the settings). You can deal with one zombie, no problem; two or three, and so long as you're careful you can take them out. But as you get better and better at killing them, you'll eventually become over-confident and this will get you killed. One bite is all it takes. But in Project Zomboid, like in Romero's world, there are millions of the damn things. They travel in herds, attracted to each other by sound.

In Project Zomboid, you may go to sleep in your safe house, confident there are no zombies any where near your peripheries; only to wake up to find a herd of hundreds has moved in and they're banging on your doors and boarded windows and moaning. Always the moaning.

In such a situation, you have two choices: abandon your safe-house, and fall back, or try to herd the zombies away by making a lot of noise in the opposite direction, perhaps with that shotgun you found.

Learning to herd zombies is a necessary survival skill in Project Zomboid. But make no mistake, being zombie bait is a dangerous proposition. Things can and do go badly quickly. As the game time progresses, herding zombies becomes more and more central to gameplay, as the zombie population keeps increasing. Story-wise, this is done to simulate hordes of zombies leaving the citiesAltogetherher, it makes for a very convincing Zombie Apocalypse simulator.

Project Zomboid is hard as hell. It's a Rogue-like, and not only do you only have a single life, there is a significant chance that a single bite from a zombie turns you. And of course, being true to the Romero canon, there is no cure. To add to the tension this creates is the fact that this game has extensive RPG elements. You can really build up a character and customize them. But it takes a lot of time to level, which makes the pain of dying all the more heartbreaking. Moreover, Project Zomboid is a crafting game, so death can mean losing all the safe-houses and survival gear you've built.

Fortunately, there are now options to turn off most of these rogue-like features; but they are still the default settings.

The Bad

Project Zomboid is often held up as an example of a game stuck in development limbo on Steam's Early Access. It has been in early access since 2013, and in development since 2011, and there is still no end in sight. Development is frustratingly slow; which is something Indie Stone have become known for. And I can attest to this, as it feels like they've been working on implementing vehicles for well over a year. NPC's, one of the main promised features before launch won't likely be finished for years at this rate. This slow development has seriously damaged this game's reputation and the reputation of Indie Stone. Steam reviews like the following are common:

I bought this a week before I married my wife. Now I have two kids and I celebrated my five-year anniversary three months ago. Still no NPCs. - source

Or

I bought this game when I was 16 years old. I'm now 23 and there are still no ♥♥♥♥ing NPCs. - Source

In Indie Stone's defense, they are a small team and this is their first game. They are learning to be game developers as they go. They publish weekly updates, explaining exactly what their doing and why things have taken so long. It's all above board. Furthermore, Project Zomboid integrates mods via the Steam Workshop; so there are plenty of additional features available via the modding community.

What impresses me is that the Indie Stone founders, as gamers, wanted a Romero-style zombie survival game which didn't exist so they decided to create one. And to their credit, they've already succeeded. Project Zomboid, as is - is already a good game that one can sink hundreds of hours into. I've played well over 200 hours, and some of the Steam reviewers have hundreds more than me. Promised features like vehicles and NPCs will flesh out the game more, but the heart of the game is already solid and imminently playable in it's current state - and honestly, it has been for years.

As far as other negatives go, there are the occasional bugs. Though, not game breaking. For example, some of the sound effects can be obnoxiously loud. Also, while serviceable, the UI for the game is ugly and clunky and really needs a major overhaul.

Finally, a late-game problem is that once you figure out how to survive and build up a stronghold full of supplies, there isn't much left to do. The rational thing for your character to do at that point is to hole up in the safety of your base, but that about as fun as watching paint dry. So as a player, you will take stupid, unnecessary risks just to stave off your own boredom. Spoiler Alert: This is how your best character dies.

Anyway, Project Zomboid is one of my favorite games of all time. It is a zombie apocalypse simulator that simulates the same part of my brain Dawn of the Dead (1978) does.

When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth.

There are a million zombie survival crafting horror games, and most of them have better graphics and larger development teams than Project Zomboid, but somehow Project Zomboid nails the formula better than any I've played. Project Zomboid, is really a surprisingly immersive and intense game, despite first appearances. It's can be a difficult game that demands your full attention, but it can also be relaxing as you build up your base and level up your character.

Excellent Game. Highly Recommended.

---

Sources

1. Project Zomboid Homepage
2. Project Zomboid SubReddit
3. Indie Stone Forums
4. Project Zomboid Map Project
5. Project Zomboid Steam Store Page
6. Project Zomboid Update Blog
7. Project Zomboid Wiki