Project Zomboid

I wanted to believe in this game but I feel like it will never be ready. 4 years into the development, the UI is still clunky as hell, the game menus are just painful and the game loads so slowly and looks worse than the first "The Sims" game. It is a shame but it's still in Early access so it might be good at some point in the future. I just don't want to wait anymore.

This isn't "how I single-handedly rebuilt civilization after the zombie apocalyse". If you are looking for that game, this is not it. The premise of the game is "this is how you died". The endgame is your death. This means that the game ends when you die, and you die when the game ends. The game delivers on this premise by providing you the means to survive, until the end of the game, which is when you die. Maybe you'll die of starvation, maybe you'll die of an infection, maybe you'll die mobbed by zombies. You won't die of old age, I can tell you that for nothing. The game delivers exactly what it promises, and, at some point in the future, it will deliver even more. Lather, rinse, repeat. "In development" doesn't mean "this game isn't done, please be patient as we make it". Not for this game, at least. For this game, it means "the game is pretty well done as it is, but we will keep adding stuff to it, because more stuff means more fun, and fun is fun". This game will never be finished. This is fine. The game is done*. Come back in ten years, and it will be done* better. Come back in 20, and it will be done* even better, assuming the devs don't catch the zombie plague or something. That is okay. A game doesn't need a "done" tag to be worth the price. This isn't a movie, or a book, where "not done" means that the end is missing or something. The only way this game could ever truly disappoint me is by, at some point, declaring "release" and putting a "done" tag on it just for the sake of selling more copies. As long as it stays "in development", I will call my purchase money well spent. Because it was money well spent.

That's how I'll sum up this game. You have a big and detailed open world with minimal amounts of content to enjoy whilst doing repetitive busywork and hitting thousands of copy pasted zombies. Sure, you can drive cars, do fishing, chop down trees, build fortifications and play dress-up... but for no purpose. There's no story, no end goal, no world building... it's a sandbox to mess about in and learn what secret little intricate mechanics are in the game. Having said all that, what's IN the game is incredibly in-depth, unmatched by only a handful of other games in existence. The aim of the game is hardcore realism. Crops grow slower/faster depending on the season, get scratches on your bare feet, clothes get dirty, cars need fuel, you need keys for said cars... it goes on and on. The saving graces for Project Zomboid is how dedicated the devs are to immersion and realism you won't find in many places. Be warned that in its current state there are no NPCs, quests and otherwise 3rd party interactions within the game world. You can build your character freely, customise them and build up personal skills - and that's about it. Although it IS pretty fun seeing your character do push-ups for exercises whilst you sit back with a drink. So, who's this game for? Well, if you're into survival and realism in your games then you'll most likely enjoy the game, but it can get very boring quickly because there just isn't much to actually do and progress with. This isn't an RPG and it's barely a simulator, it's more of a game you get together with friends for and have a blast shooting zombies whilst dressed up as a clown or cop. Until more meaty content is added it's a very cautiously recommendation.

At least for MacOS the current version (41.56) does not support multiplayer, the options are simply not there in the start menu. Bought the game on Steam, there it works. Game itself is niche but for "hardcore" survival/roguelike/permadeath fans very enjoyable, albeit very time-consuming and addictive. It is hard to just stop your progress (in singleplayer) and get back to it unless you survived the initial first weeks and became self-sufficient - at which point you could consider you have finished the playthrough and might start again with different settings/locations or check out the multiplayer.

I don't play games. I bought many in order to play them, I tried them, and never saw them again. I'm over 40 and last 10 years there has been barely any game which would even bring my attention. I don't even like the games with zombies. I have no idea, why I bought this one. I tried it, and recently noticed I have already spent 250 hours playing it. OMG, This is the game of my life.