The best zombie games (2024)

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Ever since George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead first hit movie theaters back in 1968, popular culture has become infected by zombies and the shambling undead. Cutting a swathe through countless movies, graphic novels, TV shows, and video games in the decades that followed, it seems we can’t get enough of them.

Laying waste to the zombie hordes seems to be more popular than ever, with a herd of gaming greats lumbering over the horizon, baiting us in their groaning masses. But which ones deserve your all-swinging, all-dicing attention?

To help you decide which ones to point your nailed baseball bat towards first, we’ve put together a list of the best zombie games out there right now, for surviving and thriving in the post-apocalypse. Abra cadaver! Here it is.

Resident Evil 4 Remake

Resident Evil 4 first burst onto our screens back in 2005, and represented the first big departure for the series (following which, there have been roughly 137 further departures).

Casting away the static background, and the slightly isometric angle of the original three main games, Resident Evil 4 introduced a new over-the-shoulder look, a brand-new setting, and infected, rather than zombified enemies.

Rebuilt from the ground up, the Resident Evil 4 Remake launched in 2023, with vastly improved graphics, improved gameplay mechanics, and new character designs.

Protagonist Leon S. Kennedy and his trademark center parting are assigned to rural Spain, to rescue the President’s daughter from the clutches of the rampaging Ganados, locals who have been infected with the deadly parasite, Las Plagas.

As you tentatively make your way through the village toward even more treacherous locations, you’ll be scrabbling for ammo and green herbs, as you shoot, stab, and spinny kick your way through the chattering hordes.

Improving on everything that made the original so memorable, the Resident Evil 4 Remake is horribly good fun.

The Last of Us Part 1

Yes, OK, technically the Cordyceps victims in The Last of Us aren’t zombies, per se. But they serve the same function, in that they’re gross, they can infect you, and you need to kill them quickly.

With the recent success of HBO’s The Last of Us, starring everybody’s favorite celebrity “Daddy”, Pedro Pascal, the player base for the remastered remake of the original game has soared. And it’s easy to see why.

Showcasing the same great story but in fancy next-gen wrapping, Naughty Dog’s award-winning classic The Last of Us Part 1 has never looked so good.

In addition to the gorgeous graphical overhaul that makes those character interactions between Joel and Ellie even more impactful, there’s an improved UI this time around, as well as extra difficulty levels – for those of you who like an extra dose of trauma with your gameplay.

7 Days to Die

7 Days to Die has been around for a solid decade already, but this zombie-infested survival sandbox isn’t going away anytime soon. Pitching you in a rolling day/night cycle, you must scavenge for materials to build shelters, hunt for food, and tool up to protect yourself from the undead legions.

By daylight, the zombies in 7 Days to Die are more Romero-esque, shuffling slow pokes who are slower to detect you, and easier to avoid. This changes when the sun goes down, as they become feral and far more dangerous.

On the seventh in-game day, a Blood Moon event occurs, where hordes of assailants will descend on your settlement in their droves. And if you haven’t reinforced your shelter enough and made adequate provisions to survive the onslaught, you’ll be in for the mother of bad nights.

Solidarity comes in the form of 7 Days to Die‘s multiplayer, where you can join up to three friends online, and hold each other’s virtual hands as the world turns to shit around you.

DayZ

DayZ is a multiplayer-only zombie survival game where players must scavenge for the usual mix of materials, food, water, and weapons, to keep their feeble human hearts ticking in the aftermath of a devastating plague that has transformed the less fortunate members of their species into violent, foaming infected.

Spawning at the edge of a gigantic 87-square-mile game world, armed with a pathetic array of close-to-useless equipment, there’s a palpable sense of urgency in scouring the landscape for better gear.

As well as the usual threats you’d expect, your character is also vulnerable to various infections and diseases, which can negatively impact your survivability if contracted and left untreated.

DayZ succeeds as a living, breathing multiplayer world, with player interactions being paramount. Features such as proximity voice chat, text chat, and gestures help to shape the player experience and help foster an engaging online community.

With base-building, a working horticulture system, cooking, crafting, and more to explore, the act of survival in DayZ is a veritable timesink.

State of Decay 2

Zombie survival game State of Decay 2 was first released in 2018 and features a sprawling open world where up to four players can play cooperatively to combat the forces of the undead.

With its gameplay emphasizing the survival aspect, players must choose a location to build their base, and then beg, borrow, and steal materials to reinforce their stronghold.

As part of the base building mechanics, you can bolster your outpost by installing watchtowers, workshops, medical bays, and more to improve your odds of not being eaten alive.

Character management is important too, as each survivor has different characteristics that will inform your gameplay style. Weaknesses must be worked around while strengths must be played to.

With each character sporting their own moral compass, events in the game will affect each character differently, and shape their behavior and attitude. This adds an interesting layer of depth to the gameplay, as your in-game decisions can have unexpected consequences for you and your squad.

Dying Light 2

If you like mixing up your zombie slaying with some first-person parkour action, then the Dying Light franchise is right up your sun-dappled alley.

Developed by the team behind Dead Island, Dying Light 2 (and Dying Light) blends that game’s visceral melee combat with the acrobatic movement of Mirror’s Edge.

Dying Light 2 is set in the huge virtual playground of Villedor, a vast fictional European city. Heavy with RPG elements, you are free to explore the city (and its rooftops) as you see fit, forming alliances, taking on missions, and crafting brand-new tools to cleave limbs from their undead owners.

With a map roughly four times the size of Dying Light‘s, with plenty of verticality to hop, skip, and jump across, Dying Light 2 gives you plenty of bang for your buck.

Dead Island 2

The long-awaited sequel to 2011’s Dead Island, Dead Island 2 takes place inside a quarantined Los Angeles, where a zombie outbreak has selfishly ruined the lives of the city’s inhabitants.

Choose from one of six slayers, each with their own unique characteristics and abilities, and set about putting bats to faces, as you explore each of the playable zones and meat out some punishment.

Substituting the usual skill tree style mechanic for a deck-building system where you can augment your character’s strengths (and weaknesses), gives Dead Island 2 a unique aspect.

Skill cards are sorted into four main categories; Survivor, Slayer, Numen, and Abilities, with each unlocking new gameplay perks and characteristics.

But the real joy in Dead Island 2 comes from using the environment to your advantage. For instance, tossing an electrified weapon into a puddle will electrify enemies unfortunate enough to be stood with their necrotic toes in the water.

Dead Island 2 is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to new and exotic ways to neutralize the enemy.

Left 4 Dead 2

On oldie but a goldie, Left 4 Dead 2 is proof that you can’t beat a classic. Still popular today, despite having been released back in 2009, this zombie-slaying first-person shooter is a ton of fun to play. With its emphasis on cooperative play, it’s also the perfect game to enjoy with your zom-bae.

Set (as these things invariably are) during the aftermath of a pandemic, you play as one of four main survivors, frantically fighting through legions of infected enemies across five main campaigns, each consisting of a handful of levels.

Up to four players can take on the Campaign mode together, with any non-player characters being computer-controlled.

Besides the main Campaign Mode, you’ll find a Versus Mode where “infected” players try to prevent survivors from completing each stage, a timed Survival Mode, and a four-on-four Scavenger Mode.

Left 4 Dead 2 also keeps things spicy with various enemy types, such as Witches, Hunters, and Tanks, who all require different attack strategies to bring down.

Let us know your favorite zombie games! Are there any that we’ve missed? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion to our Twitter or Facebook.

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