Project Zomboid

This game is the equivalent of key lime pie. The people I know who played it are split about 50/50 on whether or not they love it or actively dislike it. I believe it is truly one of the greatest games ever made (and continues to be made). The issue, I believe, lies in the fact that this game is a "story generator," much like Rimworld. It could be illustrated as the difference between playing with legos or playing a board game. There are no points, and there is no point. To give an example, I got a buddy to play and it was clear within the first half hour or so that he didn't quite know if he liked the pie. Lots of "What are we doing?" Vocalizing this question more than once could be a telltale indicator of whether or not someone will enjoy the pie in the long run. Consider some of the mechanics in similar games: The next wave is coming, we need a level 3 crafting bench, we need enough fuel to power the generator to get down into the bunker, we've collected enough notes to tell us the location of the anomaly, etc. This game is not like those games. This game, instead, poses a very straightforward decision: "What do you do at the end of the world with the time you have?" Do you try to survive? Do you find a mansion, board up all the windows, listen to the radio, and get absolutely plastered? Do you drive to the nearby mega mall, load up all the mannequins from the department store into a van and drive them back to your mansion, then arrange them like a diorama of how life used to be? Do you go fishing? Do you hunt? Do you collect fine art? Do you read books by the dying fire of your new farm house? The previous owners are buried outside. You brained them with a tire iron. You found a shovel in the shed out back and buried them with the family photos you found in the nightstand, because it felt right. And that may be the ultimate answer to the question posed earlier. "What are we doing?" Whatever feels right. This game is what I feel people actually mean when they talk about "emergent gameplay." It requires a degree of roleplaying, in that there are no quests, no objectives, nothing on your HUD telling you what to do next. When you start a game, it says at the outset, "This is how you died." But there is an underlying message that becomes apparent the longer you survive: This is how you lived. And if you are able to understand that, implicitly, without anyone to tell you otherwise, you will LOVE this game. You will sink dozens of hours into it, hundreds, thousands. The 85 hours I currently have feel like I've barely scratched the surface on something I believe to be quite profound. Because it challenges me to consider how I've learned to play games. There are moments when this can evoke a certain amount of discomfort. For example, you might decide it is essential to gain access to the armory in a police station. You kill dozens of zombies, your character is panicking, your muscles are strained and your lungs are burning from swinging a hammer hundreds of times in the last five minutes. You loot the keys from a body (the smell is making you sick), and make your way to the armory. Guns. Ammo. You have them now, and you load them into the back of your van. But why? You will sometimes experience these moments of existential questioning. They are similar to the questions your buddy expressed half-an-hour into playing. You might find you've temporarily lost the thread. "I needed to get into the armory, to get the guns, because..." And then you remember. "Because that's what I wanted to do." So what do you want to do now? Sometimes the game will answer this question for you. You're hurt, you need bandages, you need antibiotics. Time for a trip to the urgent care you notated on your map. You're hungry, you're unhappy, you're stressed. Time for a trip to the Giga Mart in the next town over for comics and candy. But the question will always be there. "What now?" And whether or not you see that question as an invitation rather than a burden will ultimately determine your enjoyment of Project Zomboid. Importantly, the customization options, both solo and multiplayer, are what turn this from a hundred-hour game into something without limits. I encourage you to explore them fully. You have full control over what your zombie apocalypse entails. Are we talking Dawn of the Dead (1978) or Zack Snyder's 2004 remake? Are we talking Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" or Will Forte's "Last Man on Earth?" Do the zombies behave differently at night? Is it always raining? Did it all start in winter? Is it just the bites that cause infection, or scratches too? Or are you the only one who is immune to the virus? You have the ability to write this narrative, as well as your own, and there are no right answers. You might feel conflicted at first, that you're making it too easy. But I would simply remind you that no one is watching, no one is judging, and no one is telling you to get good. And once you've got a grip on things, then by god, prepare to try out every possible variation of every zombie apocalypse scenario you've read about in books, seen in movies, or daydreamed about when you were waiting at the doctor's office and thought to yourself, "This could be how it all starts."

1000+ hours in. I do recommend this game, but you have to make sure that this is the type of game you really want to play. Meaning, this is one of those games you play for 1 hour and never touch again, or you end up spending hours each day, exploring the map and hunting resources while trying to avoid the Zed's. In short, this is an explore/loot/resource/base manager, with zombies.... lots and lots of zombies. Slightly longer, once you manage to surive a week, you should have found a decently safe location to call your base, some food and water in stock, a few weapons, decent clothing, and transportation. This is when you can start exploring the direct region, and slowly remove the Zed's one by one. Believe me, after 1 week you will NOT want to face a horde, early on.. avoid as many of them as you can. No worries though, once you're leveled enough, you can pick plenty a fight with the Zed's, they like to play. Once you've looted enough homes and stores to last you a week again, you have to start improving the base location you've chosen, walls, water collectors, and hopefully a generator for when the powergrid fails. Oh yeah right, it's basically a world simulation as well, slowly the world goes silent, tv/radio goes on for a week, power and water go on a little longer, but eventually it all fails and you better be prepared. And all that... with zombies who want you for their next snack. What's not to like?

I lost a 20ish hour character to a foot fracture. Not zombies, not hunger or thirst, not even sickness. I just broke my foot and died. Best game ever