Last I looked I've sunk over 100 hours into the game. To be honest I hadn't realized how much time I had actually played. This is the type of game that will infiltrate your thought process. when away from the game you find yourself researching it and trying to understand it's complex systems. The experience is highly customisable and adapts to a variety of playstyles well. It's a mix of survival SIM, farming sim, basebuilder etc. And with all the content it currently has the game is still expanding. One of the best investments you can make.
Gameplaywise, Zomboid is one of the best zombie survival games in the genre. It truly becomes alive in multiplayer, where the old adage of the zombie genre is true- humans are the greatest threat, not the zombies. But making allies in a zombie-eat-human world is one of the high points of the multiplayer experience, building uneasy trust with people, before pooling your resources and skills. There's a great variety of character builds, and practicing them opens more options in things like carpentry, electronics, and food prep. Time will make things harder for survivors, as the power and water will be cut off, and you're forced to scavenge further afield, or take up agriculture. There's quite a bit of mods and customization going on as well.
However, the reason I give this two stars instead of four is simple- it is unlikely Project Zomboid will be ever finished. I've watched the development from the early days as far back as 'Til Death Us Do Part and Baldspot. That's TEN years in Alpha development. Quite a marathon. As much potential as the game held, it now seems unlikely we'll see a 1.0 release, and the long-standing features the developers have been teasing us with.
I've been following Project Zomboid for a long time. I first bought it on Desura a couple of months before they went to Steam and even back then I enjoyed it immensely. The game has largely expanded in the three years since it's come to Steam and it's all the better for it. The Indie Stone is comprised of some of the hardest working people I've ever had the grace to know and I fully believe they'll deliver on the stellar experience they promised us when they first set out on their arduous journey.
Even in its unfinished state, though, PZ is still one of the best games I've ever played.
This has to be the best game I have played in years. Yes.. years. The game play is so incredibly immersive that many times I yell out when surprised by a zombie, scaring my spouse and pets in the house. lol
Graphics are pretty decent, pixelated yet somehow very detailed. All the buildings are different, the zombie bodies varied enough that you cant see any duplicates. Everything in the landscape is interactable. chop trees, raid fridges, cook food, burn down the house, climb fences, escape out a window. The sound track is so good, music fades out and you are left with only the wind, the occasional barking dog trailing off into screams, the lone shock of a shotgun in the distance. It is incredibly immersive.
Gameplay hooks you from the beginning, at first its confusing on how to handle combat, or crafting. It took me many game days and tries to finally finish my barricading of my fort. Liberal use of wikis is recommended as some details are not apparent, such as handles for doors can only be gotten via destroying a door rather than scavenging. The one thing you will not be is a Rambo warrior king in this game, combat is risky with even the slightest scratch giving a chance to give fatal zombie virus with no cure. even using bandages made from dead zombie clothes on a cut can impart the virus. You end up stealthing, creeping and avoiding contact and running like hell when you do.
Finally finishing barricading is such an event, celebrated with sound sleep for the 1 st time in weeks as you shelter in a safe house. Throughout all is the game clock, ticking down to winter and the loss of power when food starts to rot rapidly and you are left with dry goods and your own wits to survive.
What can I say, I have been playing straight for days and havent even begun to experience the full game.
brilliant, immersive, terrifying at times
I like a good survival horror, and this game had the atmosphere down. However, I found the controls clunky...and the combat extremely boring. Luckily, I was able to get a refund....thanks GOG.
