Project Zomboid

As many other reviews note, this is an interesting zombie survival game that promises detailed, realistic survival mechanics in a classic zombie apocalypse. The problem is with that "promises" part. Reviews were saying exactly the same thing when I bought the game on Steam in March 2014. The list of planned features still includes things like NPCs, hunting and actually finishing the map that have been on said list since before I'd even heard of the game. The game has been in development for nearly a decade, and while it has improved somewhat over time, it still doesn't look close to finished. Yes, it's a small team making their first game, but it's also a small game with an appropriate level of graphics, sounds and so on. It's pretty clear the devs have bitten off far more than they can chew here; see also the various silly issues they've had such as getting banned from various payment systems and losing all their code becaue they didn't have any backups. Basically, if you like the game in the state it's in right now, you might enjoy yourself. If you're buying now in the hopes of seeing a finished game at some point, definitely don't hold your breath.

(I'm sure I posted my review before, but it disappeared into the ether.) The large map and sheer detail of interaction is great. The zombie behaviour and their reactions to player actions seem well designed. It's an immersive game. I've managed to set up a multiplayer server without too much fuss and it's good fun with friends. I find some of the graphics hard to process -- for example, I can't tell where I've put things too often. Where it's let down is that despite being advertised as "in dev", the GOG version gets no alpha branches (compared to the Steam version) and even more regular releases seem to be a long way behind the Steam version. The gameplay would get a four out of five, but the lack of updates for "in dev" on GOG mean I can't recommend it.

I think you can get about twenty hours of gameplay from this game without too much trouble. I own this game on steam and I enjoyed it. Now for the bad. - Don't expect a positive community. The mods on their website forums are petty and heavy handed. You are not allowed to discuss certain aspects of the game or to be critical of the game. - Don't expect this game to ever leave development. I think the Indie Stone feels very comfortable with the current status quo and sees no reason to change it. - You will come to realize that this game has been in development for many years, and that when your grandchildren are retiring from long and fruitful careers, the devs will finally implement NPCs. -1 for crappy forums -1 for no NPCs

This is an absolutely superb simulation of surviving - and ultimately not surviving - the zombie apocalypse. The level of detail is simply mind blowing, up there with Rimworld or Dwarf Fortress. In its current form, the game delivers much of what was promised, and the modding community has produced the rest. It's one of those games where you'll create emergent narratives around the mechanics: you'll really feel it each time your hours (or dozen of hours or hundreds of hours) of development all ends in one tragic bite, or a bad bit of fish. Sounds great, right? Well, yes, but there's a fundamental problem: each playthrough is largely the same. First, three days of watching TV, looking for books and basic tools, and disassembling furniture. Then you'll grab any car, drive to one of the wells, plant cabbages, forage for sticks and stones, build walls, and take the battery, radio and bulbs in and out of your ride every morning. You CAN do other things, but they're all worse choices and will end your game faster. And each game will end, and you'll be starting over and doing the exact same things over and over again. Yes, there are some scenarios, a plethora of sandbox options, and playing with different abilities and particularly disabilities can alter the challenge. But essentially there's only one really effective strategy whatever the mode, and eventually you'll simply lose the will to start over and do it all yet again. Your experience OF the game will eventually mirror your experience IN the game.

Purchased this from another source when it first came out. I can no longer obtain it via that route and I spent 6 months trying to make it work under Mint, Ubuntu and Fedora. It never would run and I was treated unbelievably rude by the developers and their forums. I was continually told "it was only me" when in fact dozens of people on the same forum had the same problems. The result? A fix? Newp but rather voting down and being told you dont know what you are doing etc. I've been running Linux for over 20 years and even written kernel drivers. I know this review will be voted down precisely as it was on the last vendor forums. Facts are facts. Game is a rip off and lie at least on linux. Maybe its better now but they would have to pay me to even take the time to install it.