Project Zomboid is one of the most realistic zombie simulations on Steam and a true gem for some hardcore survival fans. MeinMMO presents the infected title as part of “Find your next Game”.
What kind of game is this? Project Zomboid is a nasty survival title with RPG elements and a cooperative hidden gem on Steam. Just like the well-known TV series “The Walking Dead”, the modern world was surprised and overrun by a zombie apocalypse. Food, weapons, and safety are scarce – water and electricity will only flow through the pipes for a few more days. Project Zomboid wants to know – “How would you survive in a zombie apocalypse?”.
For this, the game places you in isometric view in an area that has been completely taken over by zombies. You and your optional teammates are the only ones lucky enough to have survived the undead apocalypse and now have the chance to survive in this harsh world. The game shines with a high simulation component and every small, wrong decision or carelessness can mean the end. It is one of those indie games that define themselves by the depth of their gameplay and offer you many details and mechanics. However, it makes significant sacrifices in graphics.
You can play on a private or public server, and there is even a local split-screen mode that supports Steam Remote Play. Large servers can support high player numbers, and there could be more than 100 survivors in a game competing for the best loot.
If you are not deterred by the appearance and are fans of zombie games or series like “The Walking Dead”, then take a good look at the following English fan trailer. What you see in it could consume your free time for the next few weeks, like a hungry zombie feasting on warm human brains:
Project Zomboid – “This is how you died”
How does the game work? You create a character in the character editor, which you can equip with skills and a profession. Here, the game shows its depth for the first time and offers you 41 positive and 36 negative traits, which either give you skill points if you choose something bad or deduct points for good traits.
In addition, there are 21 professions that, while also costing points, often provide an efficient mix of skills. For example, you can enter the game as a farmer with bonuses to “Fitness”, “Farming”, and “Strength” or play as a former burglar who brings advantages with the traits “Quick”, “Light-footed”, and “Sneaking”.
You create a character, choose a spawn point on the map, and the terror begins. To prepare you for the entry, the game then gives you the motivating lines “This is how you died” at the start. If your character dies in the game, you have to start with a “fresh” survivor to rejoin the game world.
Like many survival games, you are stressed at the beginning. On the “normal” difficulty, you have hardly any supplies, no weapon, and no idea at first. There is a tutorial, but that only scratches the surface of what you have to consider in the zombie simulation. You only know one thing: It’s about survival.
Comprehensive crafting & survival mechanics meet deep zombie gameplay
The zombie simulation uses many typical survival mechanics and offers extensive crafting options to make the adventure more exciting:
- Day and night rhythm
- Comprehensive RPG system – you level up and gain skill points for your passive abilities
- You usually have to take risks for good loot
- Zombies have swarm mechanics, which influence each other
- Your character gets hungry, thirsty, sick, bored, and depressed
- Changing weather – bad weather can make you ill
- Farming, fishing, cooking, setting traps, gathering berries
- Skills improve with use
- Extensive options for base building
- Detailed injuries of the character
- The game world changes over time and nature spreads
- Winter sets in
- You can use cars to move faster
Piece by piece, the mechanics open up to you and you somewhat understand how survival works in the new world. Project Zomboid keeps surprising you with original gameplay ideas that make the game a real apocalypse simulator. There are mini-mechanics everywhere that make the zombie adventure feel deeper and more realistic. A few examples:
- Areas you cannot see due to obstacles remain black – your line of sight also decides whether you see the zombies
- You have to carry backpacks on your back, and they have their own inventory – taking something out of the backpack takes a moment
- Bags can also be used for storage – but you have to carry them in one of your hands to use them
- If you crawl through a broken window without removing the glass from the frame, you have a high chance of getting injured
- If a character dies with a zombie infection, they also turn into a zombie afterwards
- Your characters get panicked and develop mental issues during zombie attacks, resulting in penalties to your abilities
- In the first few days of gameplay, there is still electricity and running water – for as long as you can learn skills on the TV and stock up on supplies
- You should hang fabric in front of your windows so that zombies cannot see inside
- Do not use firearms – otherwise they will come
In this hostile environment, it’s important to find a safer place for a shelter and expand your base. In towns, you will find countless more or less useful items, but also most of the zombies. You grow food, craft new tools, constantly fight off the undead, stay vigilant, and experience firsthand how a zombie apocalypse would impact your life. No other zombie game comes as close to being a “The Walking Dead” simulator as this one.
The Walking Dead without burnout
Why the Walking Dead comparison? On Steam, there is a review from user “.Samson” from January 2021 about Project Zomboid that says: “This is the “Walking Dead” simulator, but only the first good seasons.” And depending on your opinion on the series, he might be kind of right.
Every action poses a risk and you must try to keep your group together. Especially at the start of the game, you feel overwhelmed by the situation, and the danger of a zombie bite is ever-present. And zombie bites are deadly – always.
You build up your base, go on looting tours in zombie-infested cities, and constantly fight at the brink of a nervous breakdown to survive. Just like the group led by former sheriff Rick, where you sometimes don’t know if zombies or depression pose a greater danger to the protagonists of the series.
However, while “The Walking Dead” lost its momentum somewhere between Terminus and Alexandria for the author of this text, Project Zomboid unfolds even further with increasing playtime. And instead of becoming tedious, you can have zombie action anytime you want.
Theoretically, you even have the unpredictable element of “Human” in populated servers, which includes PvP in the game rules. However, there is currently no active PvP server that would allow role-playing like in the survival hit Rust.
Find out if you are strong enough for the apocalypse
What makes Project Zomboid special? If you’ve ever wondered if you would survive after a zombie apocalypse, you can find out with this insidious game.
Project Zomboid calls itself “the ultimate zombie survival RPG” and provides you with a huge sandbox in which you can experience your own apocalypse. Death lurks around every corner, but so do good loot and plenty of adventures. Maintaining your character’s body and mind keeps you as busy as a horde of undead in front of your base.
With mouse and keyboard, the controls resemble point-and-click adventures. You can move your character with the keyboard, but you check with your mouse which actions are possible at which point. Project Zomboid also offers complete controller support, which is well implemented.
Additionally, the graphics should be classified as “special”. Here, the simulation has its limits. Even though many gameplay mechanics support immersion and create a suffocating apocalyptic feeling – the graphics quickly remind you that you are fortunately sitting at home in your gaming chair and can reach into a bag of chips. Unlike the slowly starving character.
Top ratings on Steam – But slow development annoys
What do the reviews on Steam say? Project Zomboid is rated “Very Positive” by its players on Steam. Of nearly 26,000 reviews, almost 90% are positive. The 756 reviews over the last 30 days look the same – 90% were positive (as of January 23, 2021).
Players praise especially the high simulation aspect, and some share their outrageous experiences. For instance, one of the characters of user “_Clip_” had a heart attack when it got scared (via Steam). “SymmoT” mentions that he lost his character while cooking – because he was deaf and couldn’t hear the breaking windows of the invading zombies (via Steam).
The fascination that the game can trigger is best shown in the comment from user “djvirus” (via Steam):
I started playing this game when I was 13. Now I’m 17, have 1,000 hours, create community content, and love the game and its community so much. There really is no better survival game where you can customize your hardcore zombie apocalypse like here. The developers might be slow, but the content is gold every time. Plus, there’s always more content in the workshop.
Negative reviews often revolve around the big elephant in the room – the long development time. Project Zomboid has been in early access on Steam for more than 7 years and has already been one of the games that spent the longest in this pre-release mode as of 2017 (via GameStar).
Especially one criticism appears repeatedly in negative reviews: the lack of surviving NPCs that would bring more motivation and story to the game. They already existed in an early version but were “temporarily” removed and have not returned since. And that was years ago. Although mods can currently bring NPCs into the game, the developers have not fulfilled the NPC promise to this day. Also, negative reviewers feel that the endgame is too small if you manage to get your character there.
Another point of criticism is the graphics: The style itself is usually not the problem, but the lack of smaller animations to make actions more realistic. At the moment, many actions only show a progress bar filling up. A somewhat higher level of detail in the animations would give the simulation another boost.
Huge zombie sandbox with extensive freedoms
Who is this for? Fans of grind-heavy cooperative survival adventures with a high crafting share like Minecraft, 7 Days to Die, or Conan Exiles should keep an eye on the title. The open world is huge and offers enough to do for days of looting tours followed by upgrading the base to the next level.
Those who are very fond of the zombie genre can also have a lot of fun with Project Zomboid. If after a season of “The Walking Dead” you feel the urge to experience the thrill of a zombie adventure yourself – give Project Zomboid a try.
Players of hardcore games that require strict resource management and thoughtful decisions for survival will also get their money’s worth. If you liked “Rimworld”, “This War of Mine” or “Frostpunk”, you can add Project Zomboid as the next fun time sink to your Steam library.
At €13.99, the price is also at a level where you can’t go too wrong. A 4-pack costs €45.99, reducing the price per copy to just under €11.50. There’s also a demo version on Steam to try out.
Project Zomboid brings the biggest update ever with Build 41
What can we expect from Project Zomboid in the future? A still rather slow development speed, but a steady one. The developers are, however, still very active and keep the community updated with weekly updates on “projectzomboid.com”.
Currently, a beta phase is running for the next Build 41, which the developers state is the biggest update of Project Zomboid ever. However, the beta is currently only available as a solo adventure.
New features of Build 41 include, among other things:
- Reworked character creation & customization system
- New combat options with fresh weapons – Change the difficulty of the fights
- Zombies receive new behavioral patterns
- Damage model for clothing
- A armor system that protects against zombie attacks at different levels
- Improvement of vehicle mechanics
- Fresh audio effects
- Expanded weather system
- More types of broken glass and corresponding injuries
- More realistic loot system – the loot should fit more to the environment in which you find the loot
The new build will be so extensive that old save files cannot be transferred. The developers mention on a Project Zomboid website that they are creating a foundation with the upcoming update to make the game world even more lively and realistic, and tease with Build 42 wildlife that will populate the vast forests.
But even without the major innovations coming in future updates, Project Zomboid is a strong zombie simulation and a great hardcore survival game that you can still expand through mods.
Conclusion: Don’t get bitten by your friends!
Project Zomboid was one of those small games that kept being suggested to me on Steam for years. At some point, I had a chat with a gaming colleague about it, and suddenly it ended up in the shopping cart. And I haven’t regretted it.
Because this hardcore survival adventure is once again such a deep indie game that it continues to surprise with newly discovered mechanics even after several sessions. The graphics are not more than “serviceable”, but the game simply convinces with its gameplay mechanics.
There is always something to do, and the undead are a constant threat while searching for loot. Over many hours of gameplay, you will discover new items and crafting options that open up a new loot loop and keep the motivation going.
This can also work solo, but it’s a lot more fun in a group. Or to put it in the form of a Steam review: “I starved to death in the woods with my girlfriend at night. She went down just before me, turned into a zombie, and I was shredded by her: 10/10”.
Maik Schneider
Freelance author at MeinMMO
If you want to check out more survival hits that offer you an unparalleled adventure with your friends, then take a look at our list of the 25 best survival games for 2021 for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
