Let Me Survive: Why No One Makes Real Zombie Survival Games

I’m well aware that you shouldn’t get all worked up over trailers, especially teasers, but when I saw the teaser for Dead Island I was instantly enthralled. Could this finally be the zombie game that packs the emotional punch that other zombie games have lacked? Could it capture the desperation, blind fear and feeling of isolation that recent films and series’ like 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead succeed at? After having watched some in-game footage I’m not so sure. The game looks splendidly entertaining, no doubt, but it doesn’t seem to emphasize the survival part of survival horror. Sure, you still have to scavenge tools for your weaponry, but having official missions to undertake could take all of the tension out of it. Rather than dropping the player into a hostile environment without any particular set goals, the developers have opted for a Fallout 3-esque open world and even added special zombies such as the Drowner, effectively placing the game in the arcade-style genre. But why haven’t there been more survival-style zombie games that try to enter the psyche of the survivors? First, though, what differentiates a “survival” zombie game from an arcade-style zombie game?

Firstly, there must be a scarcity in terms of tools, ammunition, food and other apocalypse-essential supplies. This will add to the feeling of isolation that such survival games need to instill in the player, coupled with a lack of information on what’s happening on a big scale. Because the zombie apocalypse is bigger than merely a small national or international crisis, it’s bigger than a war, maybe even a nuclear one, however devastating such a war may be. The zombie apocalypse is an extended natural disaster that targets only humans and human society, and it doesn’t stop until every single one of us has joined the ranks of the walking dead.

Secondly, the zombies must be portrayed accurately to achieve the right dread an apocalyptic survival game needs. To achieve that terror, one must first understand why zombies are frightening. The key to this fear stems from two factors: the zombies likeness to human beings, and their endless, mindless push forward in the hunt for brains, flesh or whatever they crave. The first factor is crucial, as it reminds us that these creatures are only human husks, the result of what happens when you remove the human conscience (and add an insatiable hunger). There’s still a shard of humanity left. To achieve the second factor, which can be perceived as the diametral opposite of the first, the zombies must have a sufficient unstopping, invisible drive to them. Unlike profitteering PMCs and evil wizards, there’s no flicker of hope for negotiating with the zombies. There are no motivations you can try to understand, because a zombie has no motivations.

Thirdly, an apocalyptic game must feel expansive and free. Ideally, every object should be usable by the players in their quest for survival. The players must be free to approach the situations they experience how they see fit, and possibly fail, rather than have glowing arrows pointing to the correct manner of doing so. Also, linearity is useful when creating narrative-based games, but in a survival zombie game, the grander plot becomes more peripheral. Hints at what caused the apocalypse may be left around, but the player shouldn’t be involved in the grander plot. This is terror in suburbia, not a power fantasy. The small stories are what’s important, whether it’s rescuing your neighbor from the hordes or witnessing someone close to you be infectedd. Like the guys at Undead Labs say, the terror comes from some sort of twisted familiarity, where you recognize enough to be horrified by the changes.

What better example of a zombie game that falls into the arcade-style genre than Left 4 Dead, as it is possibly the most succesful zombie-themed game released in years. But Left 4 Dead is not even a horror game as true horror moments are severely lacking with only a few instances of zombies jumping at you from darkness and the likes. The zombies themselves could easily be exchanged with Teletubbies, although admittedly that is pretty creepy. This is by no means something that detracts from the L4D experience. After all, the intent was to create a team-based shooter that relied on effective communication and cooperation if the players were to survive. Any stragglers who run off on their own will quickly be killed off by the undead, and the team will have one less gun in the next firefight.

Kill them! Kill them now!

While Left 4 Dead’s intent wasn’t to create a survival horror game in the same sense as the independent titles mentioned later, it’s still an example of why the zombie genre has rarely achieved much success outside of shooter and hack-&-slash games. Compared to a large, free-roaming, nearly randomized world as the one promised in No World Order, the tighter, linear environments seen in L4D don’t require constantly tweaking your tactics and observing your environment. Although the Director (the game’s AI which makes small changes in the maps, such as placement of supplies and when certain zombies attack) does spice things up a little in each game, there is really very little difference between each playthrough of a map. It’s just a much bigger investment in time, energy and funds to create a sandbox survival game. For instance, the sheer size of the game world will naturally require a huge effort from the developers to ensure that the world is not just going to be an empty expanse, simply making it cheaper on all fronts to craft a linear experience.

In addition, Left 4 Dead is characteristic of the belief that zombies are mere target dolls, on the same line as Nazis, terrorists and Russians (although they also deserve greater depth than they’ve received so far). As I stated earlier, zombies are raised above other easily demonized antagonists as they have no conscience. For all the reasons they’re not similar to fully human enemies, they deserve a better depiction than they’ve had so far. I’m not saying that all zombie games should aspire to be brooding, serious ventures into mankind’s nature, but I’m just surprised that very few games have tried this, but perhaps the answer is not so puzzling. After all, shooting things is fun and useful! That is to say, most people aren’t looking for a deep zombie “experience” but rather fun shooters. And who can blame them? I will gladly admit to having spent hours upon hours with the Left 4 Dead games and enjoyed them immensely, but it’s definitely possible that this has had a negative influence on creating games that try to make a deeper depiction of zombies, as players are simply overfed with and tired of zombie games.

But let’s not make it all doom and gloom. Below are three examples of upcoming independently developed games that all try to take a broader approach than “Shoot! Kill!” to the zombie threat (which, as everyone knows, is very, very real).

Even during the zombie apocalypse someone has to do the dishes

The first is Dead State, with Brian Mitsoda in the lead, who has previously worked for Obsidian and Troika Games. In an interview with Gamebanshee, he states exactly what the zombie genre has been missing: At its core, our game is not about the zombies. It’s about a world in crisis, it’s about survival, it’s about the ugly truth of human behavior. Mitsoda cites his own experiences during Hurricane Andrew as a main inspiration for depicting societal breakdown. He also argues that the zombie genre has been overfed in the last few years, due to the fact that nearly every game has to include place the hulking brain-craving creatures in some form. Like the two other games, there’s still a very long time to the it being released, and so information is still sparse, but according to the game’s website it will feature an entirely open world, whilst supposedly featuring a story worth delving into.

The other game is No World Order, a game still in the conceptual stage. Like in Dead State the players are put in the midst of a cataclysmic event and have to survive for as long as possible using their wits and the simple tools at their disposal. On their website the developers describe their vision as creating a world where the player needs …somewhere safe to sleep, and you’ll need to figure out how to get everything you need to survive: food, water, medicine, weapons, tools and ammunition. Like Mitsoda, and as mentioned, they also describe that to create that special survival horror experience, it needs to take place in a familiar environment, claiming that …when the alien, terrible, and profane collide with the familiar and personal, the terror is experienced in a wholly different way than, for instance, setting it in a distant, strange future that the player has no connection to at all. No World Order is still at such an early point in its production that it’s difficult to make any assessment of the game’s possible quality. After all, anyone can get a brilliant idea, but the execution’s the tricky part.

Thirdly and lastly, Project Zomboid has received a large amount of press in the last few weeks, mostly due to them releasing a tech demo available for download, which has allowed players and critics alike to get a small view of what the full game will look like. From the beginning Project Zomboid requires the players to search for materials, tools and weapons if they wish to survive, and not starve to death in their suburban fortress. My own experience with the demo is one of utter failure. I forgot to board up the doors and windows, burned the soup setting fire to the house, lured a large group of zombies to my house, sat shivering in the darkness as they battered down the door…also I accidentally smothered my injured wife with a pillow. In Project Zomboid, there’s no mercy for the reckless. Before taking any action every possible consequence must be deliberated, as the smallest misstep might lead to the player being ripped apart by the horde.

It is unfortunate that so far no zombie game has effectively conveyed this constant dread and desperation, the goal of mere survival. Perhaps I’m overly pessimistic on Dead Island’s behalf – after all, I shouldn’t judge until I’ve actually had a chance to try it – but at least there are some other upcoming games that may just achieve the unachievable. A game that actually realizes how zombies, when done well, are not merely the shambling, walking dead, but rather a manifestation of societal decay and collapse.

Further reading on why zombies have lost their appeal (only one article :p):

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_303/8818-How-Games-Get-Zombies-Wrong