Marcel Jansen

Have you ever wondered what you would do in a zombie apocalypse? Well, you could find out in Project Zomboid.   

Project Zomboid is a top-down, isometric zombie survival game that is in development by Indiestone Studios. Many people hear “top-down” and think a game cannot be scary or interesting. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Zomboid is an incredibly and sometimes terrifyingly realistic game. You must deal with depression, starvation, pain, exhaustion, drug addiction, alcoholism, and of course, infection. In Zomboid, you are not conveniently immune to being infected like in most zombie games (ahem, L4D).  

The game has two modes: Sandbox and Story Mode. Story Mode spawns you in a specific house at the north edge of the game’s map (currently, there is only one small map, but more are in development). You find yourself standing next to your wife, whose leg is broken. You have two options: you can go through all the trouble of helping her, or, if you’ve played the tutorial, you can smother her with a pillow. Like I said, it is a petrifying game sometimes. The game makes you choose between your moral and emotional obligation to family and your desire to survive. (See, it is not really necessary to smother her, per se, but doing so does give you an advantage in the game.) Then there is Sandbox Mode. In this mode, you can choose from five different professions: Park Ranger, Fireman, Police Officer, Construction Worker, or Security Guard. Each comes with its distinctive free perks. There are also several perks that you can choose for your character. Interestingly, you must also select negative qualities to give your character to earn points to get the positive perks. Even more interestingly, death comes in many forms in Zomboid. Your unexpected demise can come as a result of a blaze of gunfire, hoards of the undead, or your forgetting to shut the door before going to sleep and awaking to find a single zombie gnawing on your succulent flesh. The game’s terrifying realism will keep any player on her toes.

The video game’s soundtrack is enjoyable and adds to the atmosphere without being too intrusive. You can even turn it off if gets in the way of your enjoyment of the zombie apocalypse.

Though the “alpha” version only has Story Mode and is a few updates behind the full game, you can pick it up on the Indiestone website for the great price of eight bucks. Try it out, and find out how long you’d last in the world of Zomboid.