In the first part of this article, we explored some of the most captivating zombie apocalypse games that delve deep into the themes of survival, morality, and the human condition. These games offer a range of experiences, from emotionally charged narrative-driven adventures to expansive open-world explorations. But the world of zombie apocalypse games is vast, and there are countless other titles worth your attention. In this second installment, we’re going to dive into 10 more game series that bring fresh twists to the zombie genre, offering new experiences that will keep you on the edge of your seat. We’ll also highlight other media connected to these game franchises, such as movies and comics.

1. Dead Island Series

Though I played The Dead Island 1 in 2019 it was released in 2011 and the game featured a thrilling blend of first-person combat and open-world exploration, set against the backdrop of a zombie outbreak in tropical locations. With its emphasis on melee combat, resource management, and crafting, the experience-based gameplay was a treat indeed. Apart from the dead out there to eat you, having a day and night cycle and the need to deal with the dark night time added a suspense to the game bringing the classic horror jump scare game experience from those other horror games in this genres. The first game follows four playable characters who are trying to escape the outbreak situation and as a story, it is delivered well and with an immediate sequel called “The Dead Island Riptide” bringing the game to a satisfying conclusion with hints for a sequel.

Though I haven’t played it myself there is also another standalone game “Escape the Dead Island” a third-person combat game following a journalist who comes to document the events that took place on the island, he is also a character related to one of the survivors from the first game though the game lacks the experience-based gameplay and RPG mechanics since the game itself is more of a survival mystery game the game is praised for its unique graphic style and story that match to the prequel game.

The Dead Island 2 which was released in 2023 after a lengthy development period takes place 15 years from the first game in Los Angeles and follows a character that the player can choose from six characters. The gameplay is first-person combat like the predecessors but with a huge boost in all mechanics though I would say it is heavy on blood and gore special care has been gone to the design of weapon damage features whereas the graphics match up to its damage a special feature made for the game specifically. Though story-wise I still preferred the initial game storyline and wish it brought out original characters this story still holds up well enough until it reach a proper conclusion wrapping things up. Highly recommend it for anyone who prefers to hack and slash and fight your way through hordes of zombies…

2. Resident Evil Series

If there is a franchise that could match up to the Walking Dead franchise in the undead zombie genre and probably top it too that would be The Resident Evil series with a reputation for holding Most Live-Action Film Adaptations of a Video Game and debatably the most successful movie series based on a video game with seven movies and four animated movies and a Netflix TV show, comic series and novelizations and a huge popularity in merchandise (I myself even got a Leon.S.Kennedy action figure which I got for birthday back in 2008.) The franchise itself is responsible for sparking interest in the horror/zombie genre in the 2000s leading to all movies games and shows that followed.

That being said with over 30 game titles including remakes, reboots, and standalone it could be quite overwhelming for anyone interested in getting into the franchise I played the original Resident Evil 4 back in 2006 and it was in early January this year I played the remake of the same game after it was released in 2023 where the gameplay itself follows a linear storyline with third person combat and a newly added crafting system. Though the game is interesting enough and can be played as a standalone the feeling of just starting out of nowhere kind of bugged me thus I decided to do a bit of research to find a proper chronological order of sorts to play so that I can follow once I get free time to spend on gaming. Though I guess I will probably end up trying to find a full franchise chronological order for all its media representations to consume in one go for the sake of the fact that the sci-fi storyline of Resident Evil is quite interesting. As for the game list in a lore-friendly chronological order anyone interested;

1. Resident Evil (1996/ Remake – 2002)

2. Resident Evil Zero (2002)

3. Resident Evil 2 (1998/Remake – 2019)

4. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999/ Remake – 2020)

5. Resident Evil - Code Veronica (2000)

6. Resident Evil - Umbrella Chronicles (2007)

7. Resident Evil - > Dark Side Chronicles (2009)

8. Resident Evil 4 (2005/ Remake – 2023)

9. Resident Evil – Revelations 1(2011)

10. Resident Evil 5 (2009)

11. Resident Evil – Revelations 2(2015)

12. Resident Evil 6 (2012)

13. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)

14. Resident Evil 8: Village (2021)

3. Dying Light Series

Apart from fast phased linear story lined-person shooters like Call of Duty/Battlefield I rarely play games that are in the first-person perspective especially those that are open-world world and exploration kind of games isn’t much to my preference as it somewhat makes me feel unsettled and disoriented after a while and it brings out a weird feeling altogether and due to this boy did I had a hard time playing Dying Light and it didn’t help with all the parkour mechanics, climbing ledges, leaping from edges, sliding, jumping between roofs to explore the world and yet I somehow stuck with it to the end to see it through cause its precisely one of the reasons the game stand out from the rest of others in this genre for its parkour gameplay mechanics and exploration and combat which made the game one of a kind experience.

Both games in The Dying Light series take zombie survival to new heights with their parkour mechanics(in Dying Light 2 there are over 3000 parkour animations) and dynamic day-night cycle. Set in open-world environments, players are tasked with exploring, scavenging for materials in return used in crafting, and surviving while dealing with the ever-present threat of zombie hordes depending on the time of the day the ferocity of the zombies varies which gives the player a feeling of threat and suspense that makes you wonder whether you should venture out at all. The games always allow the player to Fight or Flight by taking advantage of the environment and with parkour moves, allowing you to scale buildings and use fluid movement to escape danger or just fight in creative ways, and it always gave me a hell of a hard time, especially during night time when I somehow jump too early from a ledge and miss the other side of the roof's edge and fell down and the red glowing eyes start snarling and chasing after me and they can even sprint and jump what an experience it was. With over 100 weapons thousands of customizations and ranged weapons later in the game and multiple toys like grappling hooks, firecrackers bombs, and traps to utilize as you want to deal with the ever-lasting threat the game allows you to do your own thing and finish the missions earn xp and add more skills and perks.

In the first game, Players assume the role of Kyle an undercover operative sent to infiltrate the quarantine zone of a fictional Middle Eastern city of Harran where a mysterious viral outbreak has turned most of the population into hyper-aggressive zombie-like creatures, to find a rouge politician the player can decide between helping survivor or completing his mission. The second game takes place in a fictional urban city Villedor in Europe after nearly 15 years the events from the first game lead to a world state where somehow humans manage to make it worse than the first game world state players assume the role of 20-year-old Aiden Caldwell who is in a mission to find his lost sister Mia. With a compelling storyline that matches up with its gameplay, the game offers a great experience with a final twisting choice that will leave the player to pause and think a bit…

4. Project Zomboid (Build 41)

“After spawned in a house and I went on to loot whatever I saw got a baseball bat and bunch of scrap came out and saw a zombie in the house next door went to kill it and somehow ended up smashing a window which brought a horde of hundred or so zombies tried to outrun them climb to a roof and fell through the roof and sort of ended up half dead then I dragged my self until I saw a car and well……”

This was my first experience in Project Zomboid way back in 2018 I never rage quit anything but this game brought me to the edge multiple times. In the previous article I wrote about DAYZ which is another game for those who like suffering and well here is another one to experience that with 2d graphics and point and click adventure and plethora of mechanics to make you go through the game until you make one mistake and get brutally punished by death.

Project Zomboid is an unforgiving survival simulator that focuses on realism and detail. Set in an open-world environment in a fictional town called (Knox County), Kentucky, The plot revolves around the player's struggle to survive in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak, which has caused societal collapse. The game features a top-down, isometric perspective and the players must scavenge for food, medical supplies, and tools, build shelters, and fortify their homes. Crafting, cooking, and farming are integral to long-term survival. The player can level skills through activities and reading skill books and magazines. The game also features a detailed climate system and passing of seasons which can even make the gameplay harder and harsher if you are not ready for the coming winter and such. The zombies in the game are quite similar to the zombies from “The Walking Dead series” slow-moving and dragging but they are relentless and make a sound or trip some alarm then in a snap of a second 100s of them just come out and overwhelm you. What makes Project Zomboid stand out is its dedication to realism and the sense of impending doom—death is almost certain, but the game’s true challenge lies in how long you can survive. While this sandbox experience may not be for some people it's highly enjoyable. I myself and waiting out hopefully for animals and NPC update (expected to build 42 & 43)that is to come in probably next year which will bring back the much-needed and lacking NPC interactions in the game and add life to it cause going all “I am Legend” and solo is fun but after some time it becomes just purposeless I guess, that’s my view. However for those who play multiplayer mode….. “well…. hide your base deep in the woods somewhere. Very deep…and remote otherwise it'll end up like what you do to the rest of the map looted, plundered, and burned to nothing.”… That ought to say what it's like in multiplayer.

The modding community is active in the game and you can find a lot of mods and overhauls to make your life fun or insufferable so enjoy….

5. Survivalist: Invisible Strain

This is one of those rare gems of an indie game that you come across well……nowhere unless you actively search for it I guess cause I saw it in a YouTube comment section in a trailer for Days Gone back in 2022. It is a 3d game with comic-style animation and a user interface with a third personal gameplay and it has pretty much everything from combat, scavenging a good crafting system from building to cooking stuff, farming taking care of animals, building a base, and interacting with NPCs and getting them to join your community and rivalry among other communities and a bunch of other actions which make it like “Sims – Zombie Apocalypse” kind of game.

So this game is actually a sequel to a game call Survivalist which I didn’t get a chance to play but with a premise of an outbreak that infect people which turn them into 4 kind of zombies due to the type of mutated strain called Green,Blue,Red,White where in order of the deadliness of them where as the player can find vaccines for green,red,blue strains to reduce it effects and eventually get rid of it but get bitten by a white and you are done for and on top of that there is a strange rumour about another strain where the infected don’t turn into zombies for a long time until they do and wreck havoc around them its called “Invisible Strain” as the player will eventually figure out, and all of this while the player have to find a sustain hunger,thirst, and temperature in case of season passes and deal with zombie and human threats in a day and night cycle where some are more active and ultimately with an objective of acquire a “Green Pass” from a group called F.E.M.A so that player can leave the damn place and go to a secured base.

As for the gameplay mechanics which is ambitious cause having the mechanics to build a sustainable community and get the NPC members to actually do their jobs so the whole community is automated and you as a player can venture out to explore is ambitious indeed. Also, the player and NPC interactions and whether they will respect you or become scared of you or just threaten and beat you up depend on player actions and dialogues which sort of leads to friendships, lovers, and rivalries to enemies ultimately leading to community wars and draw out hoards of zombies who get alerted with all the gunshot noises. So it can be really cool to play out with any scenario in mind. Also with a bunch of vehicles that are in the environment players can repair them and drive around or just use them as a mobile base too though you probably gonna need to mind about fuel if you don’t wanna end up in nowhere surrounded by a hoard of Reds or Whites. All these mechanics are fun and all but the suspense of the unknown invisible strain where any NPC you recruit has a chance to be infected is a terrifying thought cause one day you have a thriving community with about 30 people and after a busy day you go to sleep only to end up in a whole mayhem where your friends are dead or infected white strained undead and killing each other and also you too which will haunt you for all those hours played.

There is a multiplayer mode but for me playing this solo is the way and there are multiple story mods too for anyone who needs a dedicated storyline the game developer is really active and adds patches and updates regularly. So for anyone who wanna play a sort of cozy but filled with thrill and suspense survival sim Survivalist: Invisible Strain is the game for you.

Conclusion

Apparently I cant write articles in a more compact form cause I feel like if I dont write everything I feel about something it isnt complete to me so this article ended up with only 5 games too probably gonna need to write another one to cover up the remaining indie games so until then....