This article was originally published in 2018 as the "13 Best Zombie Games of All Time," and then updated in 2019 to include 19 games. As we enter 2023, we've revisited and revamped our list, expanding it to 25 and crowning a new king of zombie games.
Zombies make marvelous antagonists. They’re plodding, dark parodies of society’s short-sightedness. They’re plentiful and emotionless eaters of flesh, which makes them perfect cannon fodder for action films and twitch shooters. Their wasted visages serve the purposes of both horror and humor with equal effectiveness. They’ve been a part of the video game landscape for decades, so long they’ve carved out their own subgenre: the “zombie game.”
The still-shambling corpses of the damned have been important to some of gaming’s more notable narratives and innovations. These are the 25 best zombie games of all time.
25. Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a bizarre and colorful SNES action game from the golden days of LucasArts. It’s a wickedly funny shooter that relies on adorable and bizarre animation for most of the laughs, and the delightful cartoon enemies are half the fun. Before the journey is over you’ll battle space bugs, save cheerleaders, leap on trampolines, and fight a giant baby. Beyond the garish trappings, it’s a very well-designed cooperative shooter that manages to find environmentally destructive uses for everything from squirt guns to rocket launchers. Since the main thrust of each level is rescuing civilians rather than defeating enemies, it also requires a lot more thought to finish than your average arcade-style game, a design innovation that adds a great deal to the challenge and replayability.
24. The House of the Dead
Along with Resident Evil, this iconic on-rails arcade shooter helped restore zombies' pop culture relevance in the '90s and aid in the revival of the zombie film genre a decade later. In a 2013 interview with Paul Weedon, George A. Romero, long considered the father of zombie movies, credited House of the Dead and RE with popularizing modern zombies "more than anything else.”
23. State of Decay 2
The State of Decay series debuted as an Xbox Live Arcade game in 2013, and tackles the trials and tribulations of surviving and thriving among the undead. As such it’s a slower, more thoughtful apocalypse experience, though there’s no shortage of opportunities to satisfy your zombie bloodlust with a range of weapons and vehicles. The 2018 sequel built on the original’s zombie-sandbox premise by expanding in scope and adding four-player co-op while maintaining the near-constant tension that accompanies the threat of permadeath.
22. Zombi
ZombiU (later released as Zombi) is a punishing first-person survival horror game set in a zombie-infested London. While it doesn’t possess the best narrative on this list, nor does it receive high marks for combat, its novel, roguelike approach to death makes it worth checking out. When you’re bitten, your character dies, permanently, and you come back as a new survivor who must track down your previous (now reanimated) body to retrieve lost items. This cyclical system of death and rebirth (and death again) is thematically fitting for a zombie game, and the necessary killing of your previous corpse cleverly wraps a blood-covered bow on your previous run. Meanwhile, survivor mode requires you to complete the entirety of Zombi with a single character (i.e., without dying). It’s among the most difficult challenges of survival available on this list.
21. Days Gone
Days Gone’s open world is a post-apocalyptic playground on which you’re let loose with protagonist Deacon St. John’s rusty, trusty motorcycle and dozens of ways to (re)bury the undead. It was one of Sony’s less-celebrated exclusives from the PS4 era, yet it’s carved out a spot in the zombie-game pantheon thanks largely to its horde sequences. These encounters, of which there are 40, pit Deacon against up to 500 ‘freakers’ (Days Gone’s term for zombies) at once in a heart-pumping trial of quick wit and quicker reflexes.
20. Project Zomboid
Project Zomboid leans hard into the simulation aspects of surviving a zombie apocalypse. It’s a systems-heavy zombie game in which all actions must be considered; you’re not just fending off the undead but depression, starvation, and loneliness too. This level of depth is deeply rewarding for those with the patience to navigate these more mundane survival mechanics, which the developer continues to fine-tune with regular updates almost a decade after its release.
19. Zombie Army 4: Dead War
Developer Rebellion made a name for itself with the Sniper Elite series and its cringe-inducing, X-ray kill-cam, which lets players watch bullets rip through Nazi’s insides in super-gross, super-slow-motion. With Zombie Army it’s the same idea, but the Nazis are zombies.
Zombie Army brings the signature kill-cam into an alternate WWII, in which Nazis are raised from hell to chase the Allied troops out of Germany. The story lives up to its outrageous premise and is supported by fine-tuned sniping, gut-wrenching gore, and a killer soundtrack fitting of the finest ’80s horror flicks.
18. DayZ
The survival games genre owes a great debt to DayZ, which began life as a mod for military simulator ARMA II. DayZ contrasted the surrealism of a zombie infestation with the hyperrealism of exposure, infection, hunger, and the degeneration of human nature in the face of disaster. You simply never knew whether the next person you met was out to help or murder you. Just how much fun can playing as a cowering, nearly powerless victim in a world full of lumbering AI zombies and ruthless human scavengers really be? Turns out it’s an addictively captivating and exhilarating experience. Everything from Fortnite to Rust owes DayZ a tremendous debt for its willingness to throw unarmed players into a hostile land with their fellow humans to see what happens next. Turns out the zombies are rarely the real monsters.
17. They Are Billions
They Are Billions, specifically its survival mode, is an excellent mashup of zombie horror and RTS gameplay. Players must build and manage a post-apocalyptic city, while knowing hordes of undead are en route to tear it to the ground. With an emphasis on defense — a necessity considering you'll face thousands of zombies at once — They Are Billions uniquely progresses from a city builder to a tense, often overwhelming game of survival.
16. Dead Rising 2
Following the success of its Resident Evil series, Capcom introduced a new, lighthearted take on the zombie genre with Dead Rising. Absent is the tense horror of Resident Evil, replaced by a fast-paced, campy zombie slaughter-fest. Its biggest strength lies in its weapon variety: from instruments to condiments, the many casinos and stores within Dead Rising 2's Fortune City are stocked with countless ways for protagonist Chuck Greene to lay the dead back to rest — not to mention the ability to combine weapons, resulting in extraordinary feats of apocalyptic engineering such as the Freedom Bear (robot bear + LMG) and the Hail Mary (football + grenade).
15. Resident Evil Village
Over 25 years after the original, Capcom still wears the industry’s survival-horror crown thanks to the continued excellence of Resident Evil. The series' latest installment moves zombies to the backburner in favor of another form of flesh-eating enemy (lycans), yet Resident Evil illage earns its spot on this list for its world-class survival-horror gameplay and its late-game twist that pulls the undead back into the spotlight.
See our list of the best Resident Evil games or our guide to the Resident Evil games in order.
14. Planescape: Torment
Planescape is one of those games that you occasionally hear is really good and then you look up one screenshot and go “nope, I’m never playing that” and walk away and your life is worse for it. Listen, I get that the appearance is anachronistic, but this game is too good to miss. It’s so good I can barely find words worthy to describe the magnitude of its goodness.
Planescape: Torment is an RPG about being immortal, crammed with more undead than you can shake a severed limb at, including zombies assigned to alternately sad and hilarious purposes. The necrotic atmosphere permeates every moment in the game: you start the story laying on a slab, your best friend is a disembodied skull, and there are so many dead things running around that there’s a special ability dedicated just to talking with them. Torment is a deeply biting and tragic RPG that turns practically every trope and convention of the genre on its head. It’s also quite accessible today, with ports to mobile and a nice shiny GOG wrapper to play on modern PCs.
13. Call Of Duty: World at War
World War II, zombies, and multiplayer shooters... together at last. Nazis have long been identified with occultism (both in reality and popular fiction) and Treyarch’s decision to go all-in on the campy grindhouse aesthetic changed the face of multiplayer shooters forever in Call of Duty: World at War. Zombies helped lighten the mood in a series that was increasingly mired in its own self-importance, reminding players, critics, and creators that it’s all a game.
12. Plants vs. Zombies
The original Plants vs. Zombies blended solid, approachable tower defense gameplay with whimsical charm, leading to its mass appeal on PC, consoles, and mobile. It found immediate success in its simplicity, and longevity in its well-crafted variety of plants and zombies. Its addictive, wave-based loop spawned a number of official follow-ups and countless imitators, making this family-friendly take on the undead worthy of a spot on our list.
11. Dying Light
Survival mechanics meet grappling hooks in Dying Light, a big, messy genre mash-up. It combines some of Minecraft’s greatest strengths, like scavenging for materials in an open world, item crafting, and scary monsters that come out at night, with solid hand-to-hand combat, a fun and speedy traversal system, and grappling hooks. Zombies and grappling hooks: a match made in video game heaven.
10. The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners
Pop culture’s zombie renaissance of the 2000s culminated in the breakout success of The Walking Dead, which excelled at exploring the blurred lines of morality and humanity amidst constant threat and inescapable dread. The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners honors that exploration with moral flexibility in its decision-making, where “right” and “wrong” look awfully similar when viewed from different angles. And, as a VR game, Saints and Sinners is easily one of the most immersive and therefore intense zombie experiences available.
9. Resident Evil HD Remaster
The original Resident Evil doesn’t boast the scope of its sprawling sequel, but the tighter, almost claustrophobic design of the mansion works to heighten its horror. The constant threat of the fearsome double-reanimated Crimson Heads in areas you’ve previously cleared fuels a compounding sense of dread that you’re in continual zombie danger no matter how heavily armed you become. The legendary cheesy dialogue is icing on the cake.
Also, if you finish the game in under three hours, you can blow up zombies with an infinite-ammo rocket launcher.
8. Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
How do you make your already successful open-world cowboy game even better? Release a reimagining of the western drama where all the characters you know and love now eat the flesh of the living! Undead Nightmare was pure zombie-blasting bliss with a healthy dose of supernatural armageddon to boot. Turns out John Marston was born to slay the undead and ride the horses of the apocalypse. Undead Nightmare set the gold standard for single-player DLC and, years later, remains a standout example of reimagined excellence.
7. Resident Evil 4
Though it reportedly went through four versions before being released, Capcom's scrupulous development process paid off in 2005 with a horror masterpiece. From its opening, panic-inducing run-in with the villagers through its final boss and jet-ski escape, RE4 is filled with memorable scares and set pieces still discussed over 15 years later. It's equally smart and scary in its design, which led IGN to call it the "best survival horror game ever created" at the time it was released — an argument that could still be made to this day.
Capcom is looking to build on its excellence with Resident Evil 4 Remake, due out on March 23.
6. The Last of Us Part 1
Yes, the clickers are technically big fungus people, but really they’re zombies. And yes, this is largely a game about throwing bottles and bricks at people, but who cares? It’s scary, it’s heartbreaking, it’s infuriating, and it’s beautiful. Two generations after its launch, The Last of Us remains a benchmark against which great video game drama is compared and retains its cultural relevance thanks to a masterful PS5 remake and successful HBO adaptation.
5. Dead Space
"It's pretty obvious when you play Dead Space, to look at it and go, 'Yeah, it's almost like they decided to make Resident Evil 4 in space,' which is exactly what we were doing." That quote from Dead Space designer Ben Wanat (via PC Gamer) speaks to the type of survival-horror game Dead Space was designed to be, and its spot on this list speaks to its success at bringing that vision to fruition.
Dead Space’s variety of undead are necromorphs, grotesque corpses reanimated by an alien infection that line the tight, twisting corridors of the USG Ishimura spaceship. Their flayed skin and malformed bodies are a recipe for repulsion, adding to the satisfaction and relief when melting off necromorph limbs with a plasma cutter. And never has that dismemberment been more visceral than in the essential Dead Space remake.
4. The Walking Dead: Season 1
“Carly will remember that.” What a gut punch.
Long ago, before the TV show started to suck, The Walking Dead made us giggle a little and made us cry a lot. Through the masterfully written inaugural season, Telltale proved that point-and-click adventure games could somehow manage to terrify. The writing and delivery are minimal and masterful, with the bulk of the effort spent creating flawed characters we love or loathe and then stripping them away one by one. By the end, we wonder if anybody is getting out of this alive. The Walking Dead Season 1 helped kick off a revival of adventure game storytelling which continues to influence game design today. Telltale as we knew it may be gone, but their horror masterpiece remains undead in our hearts.
3. The Last of Us Part 2
The Last of Us Part 2 elevates the drama and action of its predecessor, masterfully weaving the two together over a relentless 25-hour campaign. Evil favors no form in Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic universe, as you’ll encounter murderous slavers, militias, cultists, and infected alike. The Last of Us’s mycologic variety of undead are creepier than ever in their aesthetic, sound design, and movement, and Part 2 introduces two new types of infected, including a one-of-a-kind monstrosity that calls to mind the horrors of Inside’s final chapter.
2. Left 4 Dead 2
Around the same time Treyarch was bringing Zombies into World at War, Valve introduced us all to their own cooperative take on battling the forces of undeath. Left 4 Dead pitted teams of four allies against mobs of zombies ruled by an invisible enemy: the innovative AI director, a carefully constructed protocol designed to dynamically influence the game as it unfolded. The result was a ridiculously replayable zombie shooter.
Just a year later, Valve brought us Left 4 Dead 2, building upon that successful formula with a familiar yet enhanced team-based shooter. Its gameplay tweaks, improved campaigns, new weaponry (including melee weapons), additional modes (Scavenge and Realism), and introduction of new zombie types (Jockey, Spitter, and Charger) make Left 4 Dead 2 one of the best co-op games of all time and nearly our pick for the best zombie game ever made.
1. Resident Evil 2 Remake
Resident Evil 2 is a triumph of survival horror, a sprawling, weirdly compelling epic that somehow managed to overcome its famously lackluster controls. And with those control issues remedied in the 2019 remake, alongside vastly improved graphics and various other tweaks, RE2 has only gotten better with time.
RE2 allows you to experience a single terrifying night through the unique perspective of two victims, their occasionally overlapping paths both snaking toward horrific discoveries in a city torn apart by an unleashed bioweapon. It’s a tremendously moody and atmospheric game with great pacing, a growing sense of dread, twisted monster design, frequent jump scares, and just enough resource scarcity to maintain a hum of tension throughout.
What's your pick for the greatest zombie game of all time? Let us know in the comments.
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