Project Zomboid
Developer: The Indie Stone
Publisher: The Indie Stone
Platform: Steam
Welcome to the Day You Die
Remember when zombies were in vogue years ago? They were everywhere. They were in our video games, books, comics, on the silver screen, and on our TV screens; no matter where you looked, the undead horde was coming for you. Things have really calmed down as of late, which could be why I am loving my time with Project Zomboid (aside from the amazing game mechanics), because I’m not as sick of zombies as I was during the height of zombiemania. Now don’t let the fact that the game has been in early access since 2013 turn you off, because from what I have seen so far, Zomboid is a beefy experience that is well worth the price of entry.
I got this game because my partner and I were looking for something that the two of us and her son could play together. She already had this game in her library and was playing it on a whim one day when her son and I saw it, and we both thought it would be an awesome to play it together! We have tried multiplayer, but we definitely need to hone our survival skills, because we have yet to find each other and make a go of it together. The horde has killed more than a few of our characters as the three of us try and figure out how to make it out alive either on our own, or together.
How-to Survive the Apocalypse
Right off the bat, the low-fi polygon look of the game caught my eye. I am very much a sucker for that PS1/early 3D look when it comes to games, so Zomboid is right up my alley. While I get that the art direction might not be everyone’s cup of tea, especially if the polygonal look isn’t something you grew up with, but I can not get enough of it.
The light system in this game is awesome. It is line-of-sight based, and it makes skulking through the abandoned houses and buildings, as well as the world, a harrowing experience. While the game is played from an isometric perspective, which usually means you as the player can see everything around you, unless your character can see something from their point of view, you as the player are just as blind. Zomboid feels very much like a tabletop game when it comes to vision, which is always a plus to me!
The controls take a bit of time to get used to, as does interacting with and navigating the UI. For the first little bit I found myself dying to the horde more than a few times because I was unsure of what buttons did what or not being able to click things fast enough. Like any other game, playing more does help with that, and after hours and hours of play, I doubt I would be dying because I can’t click on the window fast enough, or get my weapon ready in time. It is a mouse and keyboard game, and while the steam page says a controller would work a bit, I have yet to try it. I don’t think playing Zomboid with a controller would be that great, if I am being honest, I think it would be more of a hinderance than anything; this is a PC game through and through.
The UI is dense with menus and options. This density really illustrates how in-depth everything in this game is, and how the developers are striving for a level of realism that I have not seen in many games, especially in a zombie game. For example, say you get a deep cut on your arm as you jump through a window to escape some zombies and you’re bleeding heavily, you now have a couple of options on how you deal with this injury:
You could just bandage the wound and leave it be, which will stop your HP from going down, but it won’t fix the wound. So now you’ll be changing bandages over and over, which takes time and leaves you vulnerable to the undead, and on top of that, you’ll need to find some water to clean the dirty bandages. Without closing the cut, this process will never end, and eventually you’ll be caught with your pants down, so to speak.
You first disinfect the wound with either some disinfectant you stumbled across (most likely in a clinic or doctor’s office), or with some strong hooch. Then you need to find a needle and some thread so that you can stitch the wound closed and then cover it with a bandage. From what I understand so far, this would be the only way you can heal a deep cut.
Everything in Project Zomboid is this intense and in-depth, which is awesome and overwhelming in equal measure. The more I play, the more I am in awe of what you are able to do in this game, and what you are expected to do to survive. The game makes you slow down, and really think about how you’re going to survive, because if you rush into every new situation, you’re going to have a bad time. It’s a shame then that I don’t take my own advice, and I keep adding to the horde with every character I get killed because I don’t slow down.
The number of abilities and stats you have to allocate when you make a new survivor is insane, and the fact that they all matter is impressive. I have yet to take the time to plan out a build, preferring instead to hit ‘random’ and see how far I can get with what the game gives me. Sometimes my character is deaf, other times they’re dumb as a stump, and sometimes they’re agoraphobic; the variety in the traits is awesome, and they have the potential to make each run wildly unique. While I have no doubt that there is an optimal build, where is the fun in that? Nah, I am quite content to throw myself into the deep end with some random shlub to see how long I can survive the end of the world.
Practice Makes Perfect
I have yet to survive for more than a week in Zomboid, and I know it’s because I just need more practice. I need to slow my roll and take my time; rushing around is what is getting me killed, and my lack of patience is what is holding me back. I am also refusing to read up on the game and how to do things, because I want to discover how to survive on my own. Plus, if I can figure this out on my own, I can help the family, and we can all survive the zombie apocalypse together.
