Any zombie/post apoc survival fans here?

[Nash]

Hi. Do any of you here really enjoy anything related to zombie survival, be it games, lore, TV/movies? Any fans of franchises like The Walking Dead or World War Z here? I'm a huge fan of zombie survival and despite the video games market being completely oversaturated with zombie games, I still think there is room to improve the genre.

There definitely hasn't been what I'd consider the perfect/ultimate zombie survival game yet. There are a few promising ones but there are always things that don't satisfy my personal criteria, for example

- Project Zomboid. VERY detailed zombie survival gameplay mechanics, unfortunately is not in first person. I want to be immersed
- Day Z. This game isn't even about zombies I feel. Janky zombie animation and combat mechanics as far as zombies are concerned
- State of Decay. Not in first person, game is too short

There are only a few games that come to mind currently. Anyway, I made this thread as an excuse to talk about zombie survival games. If any of you enjoy this stuff, let's chat.

[Ac!d]

I'm a fan of survival in general, but it's could be really hard to find the Graal(s) in term of stories (books, movies/series, games) and in gameplay mechanics (like the Metro series and Escape To Tarkov).

Sometimes, I'm really tired to eat the same soup all over again.

[Jarewill]

Whilst I don't mind zombie games, I absolutely love post-apocalyptic themed games.
One of my definite favourites is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as it gets the atmosphere just right.

While the base game includes zombies, even though they are pretty scarce (but can use guns).
I have however seen mods that do include a zombie mode where they are far more common.

[kodi]

Yeah, I really like the genre - in theory. I like how the theme can be used to excuse a premise where there's complete chaos and societal collapse which doesn't feel internally illogical, and which allows our protagonists (and villains) to do whatever they want with immediate survival and personal morality as the only relevant factors because there's no longer an ordered civilization present.

I find many works in the genre fail to utilize that though, and instead of telling an engaging story go straight for low-tier melodrama or simply a whole lot of gore. (the latter is not necessarily negative, there are some highly entertaining splatter flicks out there). Another issue is that at this point many of the works in the genre are building too much on previous works rather than trying to do something original - not necessarily "our zombies are different", but with the characters and their interactions.

P.S: Most zombie media is more "apocalyptic" rather than "post-apocalyptic"

[Dancso]

I'm not super into zombies anymore, but I had a good several years of interest. Sadly games haven't been taking the theme to places that would truly enthrall me. I don't feel suspense, risks seem superficial at best, and I quickly catch onto patterns and become bored. Yet, I struggle to put into words what I'm missing.

I feel so uncomfortable and blind watching footage of Project Zomboid. The lack of first person is a huge detriment, I'd rather have the excitement of not seeing anything behind me rather than a fog of war.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead is another game that exhibits great depth but has a less than ideal presentation to my eyes. There's something to be said about jogging your imagination, though.
Building is an aspect I'd like to see more (and done better), 7 days to die is an honorable mention in that regard, but it does fall victim to the downsides of procedural/voxel mechanics (and a lower-budget development).
Years back I used to play Dead Frontier (a zombie mmo w/ player-run economy) which did a pretty good job in keeping things dangerous and exciting, with a lot at risk the further you got into it. What made me forget about it was a lack of direction besides grinding for loot and levels, and that I had a serious case of "too good to use syndrome" so I just resorted to quiet looting and trading instead of taking risks and having fun.

[Enjay]

I'm not really sure why but I've always thought zombies were just a bit silly. Partly, I think, it's because the word sounds silly to me. Perhaps it's also because a lot of the zombie films I was familiar with when I was younger were really cheesy B-movie nonsense. Also, the rotting, structurally unsound (all those decaying tendons and ligaments being pulled on by rotten muscles) dead being animated, active and powerful with no "good" reason behind it (and, in this context, I'll happily take "magic" as a good reason) just seems silly and unrealistic too.

Post apocalyptic, yes, I'm down with that. Grim future settings (post apocalyptic or not), yup. And I'm not even saying "no zombies ever" because sometimes the story works and I have enjoyed things like The Walking Dead and 28 Days Later (not sure if they are really zombies though) but there is still something inherently silly about zombies to me and it detracts from the supposed horror/terror I am supposed to feel when encountering them in games/films/literature etc.

[Ravick]

Well, I like post apocalyptic thing. And zombies, BUT with some good explanation to their existence, for the reasons Enjay has pointed above. I specially like the Doom3's concept of possessed/zombies because they use fresh meat (even alive persons) for it. I mean, all the tissues should still be alive, so it is not absurd for them th work properly.

[jdredalert]

I always loved zombies, basically because i grew up playing the Resident Evil franchise, which i hold dearly in my heart even today - specially the classic ones. As the years passed i played lots of different kinds of zombie games, from things such as Land of the Dead - Road to Fiddlers Green, Killing Floor (both the standalone AND the mod version) and various GTA Vice City and San Andreas zombie mods to more modern games such as Left 4 Dead and State of Decay. However, by the early 2010's i felt that the genre was so over-saturated that i was just skipping most of the zombie games or playing them sparsely (for example, i never touched Dead Island, played Dying Light for an hour or so, same with CoD Zombies).

Yet, my first mod ever for ZDoom was a zombie mod. I never released that trash because it was my learning school of modding and i knew it sucked balls. In 2018 i started a RE themed project that i just froze for a while, with things such as headshots, grabbing zombies and player condition and speed deteriorating after taking too many hits. So yeah, although i still think that zombies kinda lost some of their charm due to over-saturated market, i still love the theme and will love to be able to finish some of those mods someday.

[Dylan Simpson]

I'm not super into zombies anymore, but I had a good several years of interest. Sadly games haven't been taking the theme to places that would truly enthrall me. I don't feel suspense, risks seem superficial at best, and I quickly catch onto patterns and become bored. Yet, I struggle to put into words what I'm missing.

I feel so uncomfortable and blind watching footage of Project Zomboid. The lack of first person is a huge detriment, I'd rather have the excitement of not seeing anything behind me rather than a fog of war.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead is another game that exhibits great depth but has a less than ideal presentation to my eyes. There's something to be said about jogging your imagination, though.
Building is an aspect I'd like to see more (and done better), 7 days to die is an honorable mention in that regard, but it does fall victim to the downsides of procedural/voxel mechanics (and a lower-budget development).
Years back I used to play Dead Frontier (a zombie mmo w/ player-run economy) which did a pretty good job in keeping things dangerous and exciting, with a lot at risk the further you got into it. What made me forget about it was a lack of direction besides grinding for loot and levels, and that I had a serious case of "too good to use syndrome" so I just resorted to quiet looting and trading instead of taking risks and having fun.

I've watched almost all Walking Dead series and now looking for a good "zombie" game, thank for sharing this