It’s safe to say that pretty much everyone who’s anyone has heard the word “zombie” at least once in their lives, yeah? If not that, then “the undead”, “the walking dead”, or any other number of jumbled-up words to describe the base idea of a corpse being brought back to a twisted, reflected version of “life”.
Most zombies in fiction fall under two categories, with the first being the original concept of a zombie being a soulless body whose eternal rest was disturbed by wicked magic users to be turned into their mindless slave, or the more widely known second concept in these modern times, a zombie being a human who’s body is overtaken by some sort of unknown infection that causes them to mindlessly wander in search of living flesh to endlessly consume. There are plenty of other outliers and alternatives of course, such as Frankenstein’s Monster, who you could argue is the granddaddy of all things “undead”.
But I’m not here to ramble about the history of zombies, don’t worry. No, instead I’m here to show you a slew of fantastic video games about our favorite brain-eating monsters in this latest Top 15 list here on Gamers Decide. This list is made up of some of the highest-rated zombie-based games you can play on PC today, and let me tell you, it was hard trying to narrow it down to just 15 of the best alone considering how many amazing games there are across the zombie genre! But I think I’ve done a pretty good job with this particular selection, if I may toot my own horn a bit.
So, now that I’ve gotten the brief introductions out of the way, let’s get right into this Top 15 list about just some of the best Zombie Survival games you can play on PC today! And we’re starting it off with…
#15: Death Road To Canada (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)
Death Road to Canada - Trailer
Death Road To Canada puts you behind the wheel in this roguelike ‘Randomly Generated Road Trip Simulator’, where you control a car full of jerks as they explore ruined cities, meet weird people, argue with one another, and face off with potentially massive swarms of slow moving zombies.
Set in a modern America that’s mostly been overrun with zombies, the player character hears that Canada is a safe haven against the zombie plague and quickly sets off on a road trip journey that will take them across the states in search of safety and survival. Along the way you’ll pick up new survivors to join your party, scavenge for weapons, food, medicine, and fuel for your car, and encounter numerous randomly generated events from finding a survivor’s camp, getting ambushed by zombies, getting into a fist-fight with Bigfoot, potentially booting a survivor out of your car because they let a fart rip, and plenty more.
The content in this game can be surprisingly expansive. Weapons can range from 2x4 boards to ninja swords, regular handguns to shotguns and even mounted pirate cannons, and more. You can encounter a wide slew of randomly generated events depending on whether you’re driving, walking, or even camping in the woods, with events such as finding an armored garage to upgrade your car, wrestling a Sasquatch, telling your party a scary story around the campfire, and more. On top of that, there are dozens of wild and weird characters to bump into out on the road, with specific characters like portly mall cops and magical toilet Genies that grant wishes, but mostly randomly generated characters, or even wild animals like cats and dogs who can also pick up and use guns… somehow. Of course, this will all be experienced with the undead hiding around every corner.
The variety of characters you can encounter gets even bigger thanks to the custom character creator, which allows you to put yourself, your friends, or any other character you can think of in the backseat of your car as you journey to Canada. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the 21 unique vehicle types, some of which being memorable vehicles from across media you might just recognize, that you can find along your journey to help ferry you to the great North! Each vehicle, and furthermore, each survivor you encounter has unique stats, traits, perks, and more for you to discover and use either to your advantage or to your ultimate demise in this zombie road trip sim that very obviously doesn’t take itself too seriously in the best ways possible.
As a big fan of these weird pixel-styled indie games, Death Road To Canada is one of my favorite games on this list already. It’s got charm and humor that combined with the randomness of every run through the game, makes this title a unique standout in the zombie games library, so for just $14.99 I think this game is a steal and that you’ll easily be able to plug a few dozen hours into this game if you’re a fan of roguelikes, zombies, pugs with shotguns, and any of the other crazy things that you can encounter in this game. Things like zombies, genies, weapon-wielding pets, and… Octodad, apparently!
It’s you, your buddy, a nearly-nude man in a rubber horse mask, and a shotgun-wielding dog against the zombie apocalypse in this randomly generated road trip to Canada filled with humor, wit, and zombie chunks.
#14: Zombie Army Trilogy (PC/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)
Zombie Army Trilogy - Launch Trailer
In the waning flames of World War II, German dictator Adolf Hitler makes one last unholy gamble to stave off ultimate defeat by unleashing an army of undead super-soldiers that have almost entirely wiped Europe out of the history books. In this spinoff of the Sniper Elite series, it’s up to you and three friends to take on the legions of the undead Nazi army across three gut-wrenching, bloodsoaked campaigns that send you tearing through the legions of the undead Wehrmacht on a quest to put a stop to the now-undead Adolf Hitler and his demonic plans once and for all.
Zombie Army Trilogy combines and remasters the first two games, Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 1 and 2, and brings them together along with an additional third chapter in the series. Being based on the Sniper Elite series and set in WWII Europe, the game features a wide array of era-appropriate weapons and the series’ most beloved function, the infamous X-Ray Kill Camera that tracks your sniper rifle’s bullet through the air, and through the bones and organs of your target. But in this go around, the only and rather obvious difference is that instead of typical Nazi soldiers, you’ll be gunning down legions of undead and demons alike. Which I suppose you could say isn’t that big a difference, considering, y’know… they are Nazis.
The gameplay of Zombie Army Trilogy differs from the mainline Sniper Elite gameplay slightly, however, in that while Sniper Elite focuses more on using stealth, Zombie Army features a more linear level design and switches to a more action-based focus rather than stealth, on top of the fact that real-world Europe doesn’t feature zombies with hellish weapons and demonic entities. Among other things. Things like half-vehicle half-zombie biology hybrids, for example.
Zombie Army Trilogy takes the four-player co-op style many zombie games are known for and mixes them nicely with the gameplay elements of the Sniper Elite series, but you can also play through the fifteen expansive levels across the three campaigns alone if you so wish. With multiple difficulties to select, multiple game modes, dozens of weapons to select to make your loadout unique to you, and sixteen different characters to play as, including all eight survivors from Valve’s Left 4 Dead series as crossover characters, there’s plenty for you to do in this game, with even more ways to do it.
Personally speaking, I’ve always been a huge fan of playing the sniper roles in shooter games. And with how much fun knocking the head off a zombie’s shoulders is in any game, Zombie Army Trilogy manages to tickle a nice little sweet spot for me among zombie games. And if this game sounds like it could do the same for you, then I can fully recommend you pick it up. And with Halloween coming up soon, you’ll more than likely be able to get it for a steal of a price too.
Four survivors wander through the burning ruins of WWII Europe in the vain hope of doing the impossible: Stopping the teaming army of Adolf Hitler’s undead Wehrmacht to end the war and save the world.
#13: The Last of Us™ Part I (PC/PS5)
The Last of Us Part I - Launch Trailer
In 2013, an outbreak of a mutant Cordyceps fungus infection ravaged the United States, transforming human hosts into highly aggressive and hostile half-man half-fungus creatures and toppling the world as we know it to the ground. During the beginning of the outbreak, a man named Joel Miller tries to escape the ensuing chaos with his brother Tommy, who goes missing during the chaos, and his daughter Sarah, who tragically dies in Joel’s arms after being shot by a panicked soldier.
Twenty years later, Joel’s life as a smuggler in a quarantine zone is put to an end when he meets a young girl named Ellie, who somehow is immune to the effects of the infection, and he’s put on a quest to take Ellie across the United States to meet with a group known as the Fireflies, who supposedly might be able to develop a cure to the fungal virus…
The Last of Us™ Part I is a remake of the original Last of Us from 2013, with the remake releasing in September of 2022 touting a slew of updated graphics, updated character models, updated gameplay, enemy AI, accessibility features, and so on. The game ultimately retains all the content from the 2013 original and the prequel DLC that’s included in the rerelease, with the omission of the original game’s multiplayer game mode.
The storytelling, the world’s setting, and the characters in The Last of Us have brought the game universal acclaim and numerous awards and accolades, such as how the game sold 3.4 million copies in the first 3 weeks after its 2013 launch, making it the biggest launch of an original game since 2011’s L.A. Noire. But for as much praise as I can give it, it just wouldn’t be fair of me to mention that while the remake did well on the PS5, the PC port of the game has had some issues for some users, such as poor optimization or a necessity for strong hardware just to run it properly. A year later, the game still sits with a mixed status on Steam, so I would recommend at the least doing your research before purchasing the game.
I had only got a PS4 years after it had already been out, as a Christmas gift at that, so I was fairly behind the bandwagon on The Last of Us when I first played it. But when I started it, I couldn’t stop myself from putting as much of my game time as I could into that game so I could keep progressing the story, and keep experiencing the characters. The bond that grows between Joel and Ellie throughout the game’s story is one of the best stories you can experience in a game from the past ten to twenty years. Whether you decide to get the remake or the original, I fully recommend that at some point you take the time to play through Joel and Ellie’s story at least once. Because there is just something about those two characters and the whole world at large around them that makes The Last of Us an absolutely worthwhile experience.
Joel Miller, a survivor wounded by his past, slowly opens up to humanity once again as he travels across the post-apocalyptic U.S. with a young girl named Ellie, hoping that her infection-immune DNA can develop a cure for the virus that destroyed the world.
#12: 7 Days to Die (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One)
7 Days to Die - Official Gameplay Trailer
7 Days to Die puts its players right in the middle of the fictional Navezgane, Arizona with one purpose: to survive. In this open-world title, you’ll have to hunt for food and water, gather supplies to help you survive, and mine materials that you can either craft with to make better supplies or build yourself the defensive post-apocalypse outpost of your dreams, all while trying to avoid being consumed by the wandering hordes of the living dead that roam what’s left of the Earth.
The main goal of the game is simply to stay alive for as long as possible, a task that sounds relatively simple until you’re faced with starvation, dehydration, disease, and injury. And that’s not including fighting against swarms of zombies, losing supplies and weapons to degradation, and beyond as you spend more and more time desperately clinging to life in this harsh post-apocalypse. Basically, all the trials and tribulations that you would hope to expect of a zombie outbreak, really.
For as much fun as you can get out of this game, I think it’s fair to mention that the game has also seen its share of criticisms, mainly from the fact that the game has been in an Early Access status on Steam since it was first released back in 2013. Which, depending on how you look at it, could be a good or a bad thing, considering that over time the game had gotten plenty of content, but it still hasn’t even reached a beta stage yet. Overall, it’s a real double-sided coin no matter which way you try looking at it.
But still, at its core, 7 Days to Die is still a very hefty zombie survival game. With random open-world generation, multiple biomes to explore and scavenge through across the game world, and the potential to act out any zombie apocalypse scenarios you can think of, this game definitely has plenty for you to do. My recommendation? Grab it on sale if you can, and maybe even get a few buddies to play it with while you’re at it. That always helps to make an experience all the better, even if you’re getting eaten alive by the undead as your fort crumbles around you.
7 Days to Die dares you to survive for as long as you can in this open-world survival crafting game, set against the backdrop of a post-war world plagued with the shambling undead.
#11: Dead Space (2008) (PC/PS3/Xbox 360)
Dead Space Launch Trailer
In the year 2508, a massive deep-space mining vessel called the USG Ishimura goes dark in orbit around Aegis VII after uncovering a strange artifact while mining the planet’s resources, and after receiving a distress signal from the Ishimura, the Concordance Extraction Corporation sends a crew to investigate and repair the ship. You play as Isaac Clarke, a ship systems engineer, who only came along on this mission because his girlfriend, Nicole Brennan, was the Senior Medical Officer on the Ishimura at the time of the blackout. After arriving via a crash landing on the Ishimura, Isaac and the rest of his crew soon discover that the cause of the blackout is a widespread alien infection that has turned the Ishimura’s crew into hideous undead mutants intent on killing all uninfected and adding their flesh to the horde for their true purpose: To make us whole…
Dead Space is the most unique game on this list, and one of the most unique games in the undead genre as a whole, by being one of the few zombie games set in a distant sci-fi future setting away from Earth. Doubly so is it unique for its zombies, called Necromorphs in-game, being created by an infection of unknown alien origins to ultimately serve a mysterious higher purpose, not to simply just eat, but to kill and infect all organic life so that it can become part of the Necromorph hive. The events of the Necromorph outbreak all surround the discovery of an alien artifact called a Marker, and the nefarious plans that the Church of Unitology has for it.
Another notable difference from the standard zombie in Dead Space is that Necromorhps can survive perfectly well without their heads. Which is why Isaac has to take up a multitude of both proper guns and repurposed mining equipment to chop off the limbs of the undead menace to fully put a stop to them. Spanning multiple chapters, Isaac must travel across the Ishimura to repair damaged systems to prevent the ship from plummeting into orbit, while at the same time desperately trying to find his lover Nicole before she, too, becomes whole, all the while fighting off against the endless scourge of Necromorphes, and even battling against his own growing insanity.
The reason I opted to put the original Dead Space on this list instead of what might be to some the more obvious choice of the 2023 remake, is because the original title is what put this franchise on the map in the first place. It’s what captivated audiences around the world, and led to two sequels, its own standalone animated film, and a comic book. It laid the groundwork with its phenomenal worldbuilding and atmosphere, its absolutely stunning audio design that still holds up and even surpasses most games made today, and most importantly, engaging and fun gameplay that will keep you coming back for more.
I can sing this game’s praises all day, honestly. I’ve been obsessed with it since I was still way too young to actually play it, and when I did finally get my hands on it, I’ve probably played through the entire game more than five or six times. This game is hands down one of if not my favorite horror game ever released… which is why I have to force myself to ramble any longer, because we’ve still got plenty more games to talk about on this list. So I’ll leave it here by saying, obviously, you should buy this game the first chance you get because you’ll more than get your money’s worth.
In the distant future, an alien plague ravages a deep-space mining vessel, and it’s up to Isaac Clarke and his trusty Plasma Cutter to save the day, and hopefully himself while he’s at it.
#10: Dead Rising (PC/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One)
Dead Rising Xbox 360 Trailer - Official Trailer
On September 19th, 2006, freelance photojournalist Frank West travels to the town of Willamette, Colorado looking for the “scoop of a lifetime” with the help of helicopter pilot Ed DeLuca, who takes Frank over the National Guard’s quarantine around the town and eventually drops Frank off at the mall in the heart of the town. Frank tells Ed to come back for him in 72 hours and then leaves to explore the mall on his own, where soon he encounters many human survivors hiding inside the mall to escape the sea of zombies outside.
Ultimately, of course, the zombies break in and flood the mall, and soon after it’s up to Frank to play the role of hero by saving survivors where he can and trying to survive himself, all while using his wits and his trusty handheld camera to try and uncover the truth behind the outbreak. And he only has three days to do it, if he doesn’t want to miss his only ride out of the hellish scenario he’s found himself in.
Dead Rising stands out as one of the best of the best in the zombie genre, due to its entertaining writing, highly memorable characters, and ultimately the incredibly unique gameplay. Due to the game being set in a modern American mall in the mid-2000s, the entire game is populated not only with swarms of zombies but also hundreds of unique items that you can use to fight the undead. From fire axes to chainsaws and pistols to shotguns as you’d expect, you can also use decorative cardboard cutouts, sling CD cases as projectiles, rev up a lawnmower to chomp through a wave of zombies, and many, many more creative ways to ‘chop ‘till you drop’.
Frank West being a photographer isn’t just there for the story either, as you can use Frank’s camera at any point in the game to take photographs which you can view later. Along with the zombies as the main threat, the game also features dozens of ‘psychopaths’, human beings who have lost their sanity and look to take it out on you if and when you encounter them, leading to difficult boss fights and, if you manage to defeat them, rewards like new ways to get around the mall and new weapons. Between the zombies, the bosses, and the many survivors to be saved across the mall, there will be specific moments signaled by a yellow icon flashing where you can take a picture and unlock some bonus ‘PP’, which obviously stands for Prestige Points.
I can go on about Dead Rising for hours just as I can with Dead Space, but just like with the last title, I gotta wrap it up and get to the next game before I drag this out too long. So I’ll be brief and blunt here, whether you’re looking to get the original Xbox 360 version or one of the tenth-anniversary remaster ports on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, I can give you some pretty simple advice. Buy the game and play through it once, twice, however many times you can, because Dead Rising is one of the best zombie games ever made, and it’s more than deserving to be our #10 on this list.
Though Frank West is just an average Joe’ freelance photographer, he’ll become a hero as he fights the undead across the Willamette Mall to save survivors and uncover the truth. Don’t worry, he’s covered wars, you know.
#9: Days Gone (PC/PS4)
Days Gone PC Features Trailer
Set two years after a pandemic that turned humanity into savage zombie-like creatures in what’s left of a post-apocalyptic Oregon, you play as a former biker outlaw-turned-drifter Deacon St. John. At the beginning of the outbreak, Deacon was separated from his wife Sarah and presumed she had died, but after learning some information that suggests Sarah could still be alive, Deacon sets out to learn the truth. But all the while he’ll have to avoid being eaten by the infected ‘Freakers’, being killed by some of the wild gangs of other survivors, and do what he can to keep his friends safe. Not to mention keeping his motorcycle well-maintained.
Days Gone takes inspiration from worlds like World War Z, The Walking Dead, and Sons of Anarchy and blends them all together to make for a unique tale of surviving the undead plague. As Deacon was part of a Motorcycle Club before the apocalypse along with his friend and fellow survivor Boozer, he possesses extensive knowledge of motorcycles and thus knows how to keep his bike working even during these dark times, which makes for a useful tool to help you avoid the undead and hostile humans alike while traveling across what’s left of Oregon. Your motorcycle really is your best friend when roaming the world, as the world of Days Gone is filled with zombies aplenty, and if you’re not careful or just plain unlucky you could find yourself being chased down by hundreds of Freakers all at once.
Though the game overall did receive mixed reviews, with praise given towards its zombie AI and the unpredictability of Freaker swarms, alongside criticisms of its somewhat empty open world, Days Gone was still enjoyed by many gaming fans across the globe, with the game being the single most best-selling game in the UK during its release week, along with exceeding lifetime sales of games like God of War and The Last Guardian in Japan, and being the second-best-selling game in America behind Mortal Kombat 11. The game also was nominated for dozens and even won a few awards over the years, such as the Best Storytelling and PlayStation Game of The Year awards at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards show.
Personally speaking, Deacon is one of my favorite characters out of PlayStation’s game titles and one of my favorite “zombie apocalypse survivor” characters as well. I very much enjoy that throughout the game you can hear Deacon talking to himself while doing certain tasks, trying to keep a level head and cursing under his breath just like how any other person might do in stressful situations really helped sell him as a real feeling human character to me. That, and who doesn’t love some poor average schmuck just trying to get by in an unwinnable situation like the zombie apocalypse, am I right or am I right?
Whether you get it for PS4 or on Steam, I think Days Gone is a good sort of “in-between” kind of game, one you can thoroughly enjoy after you’ve beaten one game and are looking for something to play until you find a new game to obsess over for a while. That said, Days Gone very well could become that same game for you, because its world can be surprising with just how much it can suck you in with its setting, characters, and story arc. Pick this game up if you can, because our #9 on this list is one of the better-made open-world zombie games out there today.
Deacon St. John sets out across a zombie-ridden Oregon to uncover the truth of his supposedly dead wife Sarah’s fate, struggling to survive a world filled with vicious undead and survivors alike.
#8: DayZ (PC/PS4/Xbox One)
This Is DayZ - This Is Your Story
You wake up in the ruins of a post-Soviet country during the middle of the apocalypse with nothing but the clothes on your back, if you’re even that lucky. The world has been ravaged by a plague that has turned most of humanity into violent “infected”, and only a select few have managed to survive for this long. You have to scavenge for food, water, weapons, and supplies if you want to have a shot of surviving, seeking out better and better loot to keep yourself healthy and in one piece, while pursuing the one true ultimate goal of this game: to survive.
DayZ started its life as a mod for the realistic tactical shooter game Arma 2, but now lives on as its own standalone open-survival game and as one of the most in-depth and one of the most well-known zombie survival games ever released. The game began development in 2012, was released in early access in December 2013, then finally officially released in December 2018. Just before its official release, the game had reached over four million copies sold in November 2018, and even in more recent years, the game reached its all-time record peak player count of over 50,000 concurrent players in April 2022. The game also won a handful of awards over the years, such as the MMORPG.com award for Best Hybrid MMO at PAX East 2013.
I think it safe to say that, for most gamers in this modern era, if you were at all watching YouTube or playing games on Steam ten to fifteen years ago, you have probably heard about DayZ a few times. It's arguably one of the most popular games in the zombie apocalypse survival genre of games, and it has seen a long and healthy life span that doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. By using the realistic world simulation of Arma 2 during its time as a mod, then taking that system and making many quality-of-life improvements to make it all the better as its own standalone title, DayZ stands out among many as one of the most realistic simulators of a human world ravaged by the living dead.
If you hadn’t heard about it before, then you’ve certainly got the basics of it down now after reading this post, yeah? Go on as I can about the game’s realistic survival simulation, I’ll just leave it here by simply saying if realism, zombies, and proving you’ve got what it takes to survive with the whole world waiting to tear your throat out around every corner sounds like fun to you, then DayZ is a game you should absolutely purchase if you hadn’t already.
This is your story. A story about death and survival, proving that you’ll do anything to stay alive no matter the cost, lest you wind up being food for the infected hordes roaming what’s left of this ruined country.
#7: No More Room in Hell (PC/Mac/Linux)
No More Room in Hell Steam Release Trailer
Starting its life originally as a modification of Half-Life 2, No More Room in Hell has since become its own standalone game using a modified Source engine that stands tall among the shambling crowd of zombie games. Inspired by films like Dawn of the Dead, NMRiH was developed by Matt "Maxx" Kazan and his team not based on being an action-orientated zombie slasher, but instead on being based on “tension and fear and moral and ethical choice”. You aren’t some plague-immune hero, but instead, you are a survivor trapped in a nightmare alongside seven other potential co-op players, and you must all focus on working together if you want to make it out of this apocalypse alive.
NMRiH is another realistic take on the zombie apocalypse, an oxymoron of a sentence as that might sound, featuring an “only when you want it” style HUD that doesn’t feature things like crosshairs, meaning that you’ll really need to keep a level head in a sea of undead panic if you want to land your shots. Across a plentiful supply of either dynamic objective-based or wave survival maps, you and your seven fellow survivors will be able to utilize 30+ weapons, from a diminutive .22 Target Pistol to the almighty Chainsaw, to cut down waves of undead however you see fit. Alternatively, if you can manage to keep a low profile and avoid dealing with the larger hordes, you might just have a better chance of staying alive if you happen to be low on ammo or medical supplies.
The undead antagonists of NMRiH also deserve a special shout-out here, since they too come in a wide variety of types that generally fall under three categories. There’s a wide array of ‘shamblers’, the standard zombie type that will slowly hobble their way in to get a chunk of you, along with the ‘runner’ type of zombie that sprints across the street to take you out, and the most controversial type of enemy in the game, the undead children. NMRiH pulls no punches when it comes to being realistic, and fully expects to catch you off guard and make your heart break as you contemplate whether you have it in you to put down a young girl as she tries to sink her blood-soaked teeth into your flesh.
The dev team for NMRiH set out to make an unsettling, gritty take on zombie survival and did an excellent job in doing so. From starting out humbly as a Half-Life 2 mod in 2011, over ten years later the game lives on with plenty of updates, and more excitingly, a sequel looming on the horizon. If you want an example of a zombie survival game done right, this game is that shining, blood-splattered example you’re looking for.
I fully recommend to everyone reading this post that, no matter what, you should absolutely try No More Room in Hell at least once. Not only is the game incredibly fun and replayable, while also being stress-inducing and tense, but it’s also got one simple factor that means you’ll have no excuse not to try it: it’s free-to-play! So what excuse do you have not to sink your teeth into this outstanding zombie title, I mean really.
"When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth."
#6: The Walking Dead (PC/Mac/PS3/PS4/PS Vita/Xbox 360/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)
The Walking Dead - Debut Trailer
Based on the comic book world created by Robert Kirkman, Telltale Game’s The Walking Dead tells its story across five episodes that were released between April and November 2012. The Walking Dead puts you in the role of Lee Everett, a former university professor turned criminal who we meet for the first time as he’s being transported in the back of a cop car. At first, all things seem fine, but after the officer crashes into a person shambling across the freeway, the car crashes into the woods, and Lee soon wakes up afterward to find himself surrounded by a growing swarm of ravenous, disfigured people, and he must flee for his life.
Lee soon escapes the woods by jumping a fence into a suburban backyard, where he calls for help but finds no response from inside. After entering the home looking for help, Lee comes into contact with the last remaining residents, an eight-year-old girl named Clementine hiding in her tree house, and her babysitter-turned-zombie who tries to consume Lee right in the living room! After Lee puts the babysitter down with a hammer given to him by the young girl, Lee decides to look after Clementine until he can figure out what’s happening, unbeknownst to them that the world they knew is now gone forever…
Telltale’s The Walking Dead isn’t so much a “survival” game as it is a storytelling adventure game, I admit, but this honestly wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t include this game on today’s list. The harsh emotional tone the game sets as Lee and the other survivors interact over the course of the series, and specifically the parent-child-like relationship between Lee and Clementine that develops across the five episodes has helped this game reach universal acclaim from critics and fans alike. The game won over eighty Game of The Year awards, sold over 28 million copies across the game’s five episodes by July 2014, and was described as representing a revitalization of the adventure game genre as a whole, ultimately leading many to say that Telltale’s Walking Dead is one of the best games ever made.
I won’t go on too long about the details of this game, because even after ten years there’s still a chance a reader or two knows nothing about the game’s story, so they absolutely should go out and get the game themselves to experience its groundbreaking, as well as heartbreaking story. Be warned though, if you’re expecting to take on zombie swarms head-on like most other zombie games, then you should temper those expectations now as this game is played primarily through critical dialog choices and actions that determine the overall course of the story across all five episodes.
If you’re going to get this game, then I recommend you buy The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series, as it combines both the original first season along with the three sequel seasons, the DLCs for the games, and the Michonne standalone game, all with updated graphics and gameplay improvements of course. But no matter how you want to buy it, at the end of the day, chances are this brutal world and the story it tells will leave you bawling your eyes out when it's all said and done.
Every choice you make affects the outcome of your survival, from every dialog choice to every action taken. Will you be able to stay alive to protect the young girl in your care, or will your choices lead to your demise?
#5: Project Zomboid (PC/Mac/Linux)
Project Zomboid Trailer - This Is How I Died
The game begins on July 9th, 1993, three days after the evacuation and subsequent barricading by the US Military of Knox Country, Kentucky, where your player character first wakes up all by themselves in a random house. At first, things seem fine, but when you listen to the TV or radio news stations you slowly learn of the ‘Knox Event’, an unknown illness that supposedly is contained within the Knox Country area, an illness you soon witness firsthand when you spot infected individuals roaming the streets outside, looking for living flesh to consume. This isn’t a story about survival, this is the story of how you died.
Project Zomboid touts itself as being the “ultimate zombie survival RPG”, and truth be told it can be a bit difficult to go against that claim. Zomboid drops players into a random house somewhere in the expansive game map, where they must utilize the game’s realistic survival mechanics to fend off the undead in this hardcore zombie survival sandbox. With zombie swarm mechanics, in-depth visual and hearing systems used alongside a full line of sight system with real-time lighting mechanics, and much more that I don’t have time to ramble on about, Project Zomboid gives its players a fully immersive slew of ways to both survive and die.
Whether you’re playing the standard game mode or one of the many challenge scenarios, such as a never-ending rainstorm or waking up hungover with a cold while your house is on fire, you will have plenty of opportunity to potentially prolong your character’s death in Project Zomboid. Your character’s baseline appearance and information is just for flavor, what affects gameplay is the slew of perks you can select and skills you can learn throughout your survival, which range from both positives and negatives like having increased athletics or being feeble, being an outdoorsman or being afraid of open spaces, being handy with tools or being utterly blind and deaf, the list goes on with plenty more ways to decide how you want to survive. Or, more likely, die.
On top of perks, skills, and character traits, Zomboid also inflicts your character with “Moodles”, indicators of current mental or physical conditions your character is experiencing which further pushes both the realism and roleplay ability of this game. Moodlets let you know if your character is bored, hungry, bleeding, depressed, drunk, injured, panicking, carrying too much weight, the list goes on. These can affect your gameplay in ways ranging from subtle to terribly obvious, such as your character having a cold that causes them to loudly sneeze, or pain so bad you can no longer perform certain actions. The most notable effect your character can suffer, of course, is when they become infected with the utterly fatal disease that has ravaged the world around them.
Overall, Project Zomboid is a game I can recommend to any immersive sim fan or zombie fan alike, as it truly does provide you with a thoroughly realistic experience that makes you feel like you’re right in the apocalypse, just without the actually being eaten alive bits. If you want my opinion? Buy this game with a few friends if you can, because nothing helps improve the mood of the end times than hanging out with a few mates while the world burns around you.
Scavenge for supplies and fight for your life in the unforgiving world of Project Zomboid, where no matter how hard you try and fight, the ending always remains the same. With this being a story of how you died.
#4: Resident Evil 2 (2019) (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series S/X/Nintendo Switch)
Resident Evil 2 | Launch Trailer
On the night of September 28, 1998, rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy traveled to Raccoon City to start his first shift at the police department. Stopping at a gas station outside the city he encounters Claire Redfield, a woman looking for her missing brother, but things go from mundane to terrifying fast when the station is overwhelmed by zombies, and the two are forced to flee into Raccoon City, which has been overrun with the undead thanks to a strand of the mysterious T-Virus being leaked into the city water supply. In the return of Resident Evil 2, players will have to navigate their way through strange puzzles, deadly enemies, and a cast of unique characters if they wish to see Leon and Claire survive the deadly chaos.
This 2019 remake of the 1998 original brings Resident Evil fans new and old back into Raccoon City to face off against the zombie plague all over again. Unlike the 2002 remake of the original Resident Evil, RE2 2019 completely reimagines the gameplay and story elements, making this remake feel like its own uniquely separate experience compared to the original, while still keeping that same charm that the series is known and loved for. The player can choose to play as either Leon or Claire, which will determine the story they’ll experience, the weapons available to them, and loosely the types of enemies that they’ll end up facing.
With realistically updated graphics that bring the zombie hordes to life with “horrifyingly realistic wet gore effects”, the iconic gameplay Resident Evil fans have come to love that pits players in frenzied fights for survival while solving mind-bending puzzles, and all that usual wit in the writing the series is known for, it's no surprise that this version of Resident Evil 2 released to universal acclaim upon release. The game won the Best of Show award at the 2018 Game Critics Awards, released to numerous top-tier reviews across its different console versions, and as of June 2023, the game had sold over 12.6 million copies, further cementing its status as a critical success among reviewers and fans alike.
The Resident Evil series was the first ever to be called a “survival horror” game, with the original ‘96 title being called “one of the most important games of all-time” by Game Informer magazine in 2007. It’s safe to say that this 2019 remake did well in living up to the standards this franchise has set over the years, considering that the success of this game has since spawned additional remakes of Resident Evil 3 and 4 alongside other new mainline games.
Whether or not you’ve played the original Resident Evil 2, the remake is still a game well worth playing for any fan of survival horror and the undead alike. Get it on sale or splurge on it at full price, either way, all signs say that you’ll get your money’s worth out of this game and then some.
The Story of Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield is retold in brilliant fashion in this best-selling remake of the 1998 classic.
#3: Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition (PC/Mac/PS3/Xbox 360/Nintendo DS/Many mobile ports)
Plants vs. Zombies Game Trailer
Entering our top 3 on this list, we’re taking a turn away from the usual gritty and bloody worlds zombie games are known for and instead taking a look at perhaps the ‘nicest’ game on our list, and while we’re at it, a game that’s considered to be on the list of the greatest games of all-time: Plants vs. Zombies. In this unique take on the zombie apocalypse, instead of doing the fighting yourself, you fend off waves of brain-eating bodies by using a plethora of unique plants that you plant on your lawn to fight off the zombie scourge. From smiling sunflowers that generate solar power for you to the reliable peashooter that dispatches any zeds in its path with pea projectiles, there are 49 total plants to be unlocked to defend your brains against 26 different types of zombie enemies.
Some might be surprised to consider that PvZ is one of the most successful zombie games ever released, considering that this game launched a successful video game franchise by releasing to critical acclaim across the board, save for the DSiWare version, along with winning a handful of awards such as the Strategy Game of the Year award at Golden Joystick Awards 2010. A year after its 2009 release, the game had already reportedly sold over 1.5 million copies and generated millions of dollars in sales across all its console versions over the years.
The main goal in PvZ is to plant rows of plants across your lawn to form a defensive line against the shambling zombies who are trying to enter your home and eat your ‘brainz’. Alongside the main adventure mode, there’s a mini-game mode, a survival mode, a puzzle mode, and even a zen garden where you can calm yourself and earn a bit of extra cash on the side. Cash which you can give to Crazy Dave, your crazy neighbor who sells you helpful items and new plant types out of the back of his car. Why is he bartering for money in the apocalypse? Because he’s crazy, obviously.
Plants vs. Zombies is a game I spent far too much time in during my youth, and writing this post now I can’t help but feel myself longing to give it another go, even if I know for a fact I’ve already beaten the whole thing more than once. This game’s success led to a multi-game franchise spanning from tower defense titles to third-person shooters of surprisingly high quality. If you ask me, this game is plenty deserving of being slotted in the top 3 on this list. And with it only being $4.99 on Steam, I think that you should go and give it a try yourselves if you haven’t already.
The zombies are coming, and they’re looking to eat your brains! Defend yourself from the zombies on your lawn with a slew of powerful plants, lest you end up becoming one of the dead yourself.
#2: Dying Light (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch)
Dying Light - Good Night, Good Luck Trailer
Undercover agent Kyle Crane is dropped into the Middle Eastern city of Harran, which has been quarantined off after a mysterious disease has infected most of its inhabitants, on a mission to retrieve a set of stolen government files in the possession of a rogue political figure hiding within the Harran. You will have to utilize parkour abilities to help yourself navigate across the sprawling city and avoid being consumed by the undead, being killed by rogue groups of bandits hiding in the city, or worse, getting caught by the inhuman predators that come out at night to feast.
Dying Light stands itself out among other zombie survival titles by utilizing city-scaling parkour gameplay that rivals games like Assassin's Creed or Mirror’s Edge, setting you free to run and climb across a derelict city, to use your skills to uniquely fight off the swarms of undead and to find items and secrets to be used to further help you along. Across the game, you will face many kinds of enemies, from the standard fare zombie dubbed ‘Biters’, to sprinting zombies with higher aggression called ‘Virals’, along with a few kinds of human enemies and the far deadlier special mutants that only come out to feast during the night, so you’ll need to scavenge for weapons, use your quickness and keep your wits about you to stay in one piece.
The unique yet deceptively simple concept of ‘parkouring through a zombie apocalypse’ led to Dying Light seeing major success during its release. Over 1.2 million individual people played the game during its first week publicly available, with the retail version outselling competitors like GTA V and CoD: Advanced Warfare in the US, and even outperforming games like The Order: 1886 and Evolve in the UK despite releasing on digital a month prior. The PC version of the game sits at a score of 75 on Metacritic, and as of April 2022, the game had sold 20 million units.
Though I haven’t played this game myself, I have put a decent slew of time into its sequel. So after playing that, and watching a fair bit of gameplay of the first Dying Light on YouTube over the years, I can confidently say that this game fully deserves to be on this list. Its unique blend of gameplay styles set in a zombie plague-ridden city makes the game itself incredibly fun to play, even in spite of some criticized aspects like the weapon degradation and slightly repetitive open-world objectives.
If you’re going on my word? I’d say wait to get this game for a steal of a price during a sale since you’ve waited this long already, had you not already played it before. The core gameplay of Dying Light more than makes up for its shortcomings and absolutely is a game worth your time if you’re a fan of the undead. Which, really, you have to be if you’re still reading through this list, right folks?
Fight where you can and run when you can’t. During your mission, it’s up to you to decide whether to commit to the orders from your superiors or to try and save the survivors you meet across the world of Dying Light.
I think we’ve amassed a pretty nice horde of unique takes on our favorite flesh-eating shambling monsters here on this list so far, wouldn’t you agree? But we’re not done yet, because we’ve still got one last game to look at. And that game is none other than…
#1: Resident Evil Village (PC/Mac/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch/iOS)
Resident Evil Village - Announcement Trailer
We return to the world of Resident Evil in the eighth and latest installment in the series, Resident Evil Village, where we rejoin Ethan Winters, the protagonist of the previous game RE 7: Biohazard, three years after his last terror-filled adventure. Ethan’s life with Mia, his wife, and their six-month-old daughter Rose is suddenly interrupted one fateful February evening when Chris Redfield, a former heroic protagonist in the series, murders Ethan’s wife in cold blood and kidnaps him and his daughter for unknown reasons. Sometime later, the vehicle transporting Ethan and Rose suddenly crashes outside a mysterious village pulled straight from the Victorian era, and when he awakes after the crash, Ethan escapes into the village in hopes of finding his lost daughter Rose. Little did Ethan know that he was stepping foot into an all-new nightmare, as the village is populated with sadistic mutant ‘lords’ who rule the village, along with a whole cast of strange, terrifying foes both old and new just waiting to be encountered…
Village comes out of the gate swinging with its claim that the terror of Resident Evil has never felt more realistic. With the first-person view the game uses, the highly detailed graphics on display, and the wide cast of enemies that are designed to terrify you each in their own individual way, it’s hard to argue that they aren’t living up to the hype. Due to Ethan undergoing some training before the game begins, Village is much more action-orientated compared to Biohazard, with Ethan being able to fight back more efficiently against enemies while using the bigger and more immersive world around him to his advantage, such as being able to climb buildings to gain the high ground on his foes for example.
The main enemy you fight in the game is the werewolf-like creatures called Lycans, whose intellect, heightened agility, and ability to use weapons while hunting in packs make them far more formidable a foe than the average undead you can encounter in this game. But while the invading Lycans are the main enemy in combat, overall the mutant overlords of this strange village pose much bigger threats. The Four Lords who hold a tyrannical reign over the village, Lady Dimitrescu, Salvatore Moreau, Donna Beneviento, and Karl Heisenberg, all have strange mutant abilities thanks to the mysterious Mother Miranda, a cult leader who rules over all in the village with devilish authority.
With another well-written story and a new blend of that classic Resident Evil Gameplay fans come to expect, Village received praise from many reviewers, such as Phil Hornshaw of GameSpot who noted that Village leaned towards the "dark and creepy haunted house" setting akin to the original Resident Evil while also taking cues from the "faster, panickier" Resident Evil 4. The game was nominated for and won numerous awards from 2021 to 2022, such as Game of the Year from the 2021 Steam Awards and the Outstanding Achievement in Character award for, who else, Lady Dimitrescu. Taking it home, as of June 2023, the game had sold over 8.3 million units.
Coming in at #1, Resident Evil Village takes us home on our Top 15 list for games revolving around all things undead and does so in excellent fashion. Resident Evil being the only franchise listed twice on this list is no surprise considering that each game in the series manages to feel like its own unique experience, and Village is no exception. Though I recommend playing RE 7: Biohazard first to get familiar with Ethan Winters, if you’re just itching to try out this game after seeing it take the ‘net by storm back in 2021, then Resident Evil Village will not leave you disappointed once the whole game is said and done. Just as long as you survive to see it through, that is.
Ethan Winters is dragged into another nightmare by the mysterious actions of Chris Redfield, forcing him to venture through a mysterious village ruled by mutants and riddled with monsters if he wants to save his six-month-old daughter Rose.
Conclusion
While I don’t want to take away from the amazing list of games we just talked about, I do want to say real quick before we’re done that there are plenty more zombie games out there that I just wish I could have talked about here as well. From games like Left 4 Dead to Dead Island, and maybe even a shoutout to Zombie Panic! Source while I’m at it, there’s just too many for us to talk about, to be honest. Too many to fit on just a Top 15 at the minimum.
So this is why I encourage you, my dear readers, to bring up any games about the undead that you wish you saw mentioned in the comments. Or maybe you just want to praise a game already listed some more? Whatever your fancy is, I fully suggest that you post about it!
There are plenty of zombies to go around for all of us anyway, right? So why not unleash another Contagion or two?
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