Project Zomboid

Punishing and fun. Pretty epic ngl

This game is the perfect mix of Combat, Survival, and the freedom to mod with the easy to install workshop mods as this uses LUA for modding

Dude, release the freaking game already.
They keep adding and adding stuff forever, and that path only leads to one ending: grind fest.
Build 42 is already looking like Cryofall: a grind nightmare ("I need object A, to build object B, to combine it in workplace X, to get a tiny amount ouf C, and combine it with D, to get F". Then F lasts 2 seconds and the grind cicle starts all over again.

Playing solo becomes boring quite fast. Playing with friends in a private server is fun (at least it was in Builds 41 and prior). Play in open servers is a squeaker nightmare with kids (or not so kids) that have played a zillion hours and kills you for a candy bar with no remorse.

Game is pretty boring for a little bit but once you survive for a little bit (few days) it’s like nutting for the first time. Get it now

Friend groups come back to game, everytime a stable edition releases we boot up a server, test it, mod the hell out of it,
Highly recommended, also warning:
YOU DO NOT TOUCH GRASS FOR WEEKS

Insanely good game, but can't sex other people and horses

One of the BEST multiplayer games on the market. Get a few friends on and spend hours just having a blast with surviving. Modding is where the game reaches its apex, all gathered around a Jukebox dancing at 1:30 in the morning as it snows outside is one of those gaming moments you remember for years.

Project Zomboid is an amazing game. I am not usually a fan of the survival genre of games, however project Zomboid sets itself apart from most games. With in depth game systems, and a detailed world design that rewards thoughtful, and organized play that makes project Zomboid a compelling package. Truly one of the only survival simulation game that is enjoyable, and I cant recommend this title more. 9/10 a near perfect title that is only going to get better over time. Plus a TON of mod support that enhances the game with even more replay value.

TIS continue to put tremendous amounts of work into this game after so many years, and I've always enjoyed it. Really makes you want to survive as long as you possibly can...

If you're looking for a realistic zombie survival game, this is the best there is in my opinion.

If there's something you want to change, there's probably a sandbox option for it and if you want to add something, it's probably on the workshop.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☑ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

The gameplay is very interesting, the ambience for a table-top game is really great and immersive, but unfortunately there is nothing to do after having built a base. Sure you could clear out some random building, but whats the point if the only loot youll get is a rusty hammer that will break after killing 50 zombies and magazine number 53452. Of course there is mods that can help spice up the gameplay a little bit, but even then it is bound to get repetitive pretty fast.

The second problem I have, is not the game itself, but the devs developing it. The game has been in early access for 12 years (and maybe more since it existed before that on another platform to my knowledge), and in that time it feels like devs have done what other indie companies put out in maybe 5 years. And the most depressing part is they made MILLIONS off this game and still for god knows what reason have not increased the size of their dev team. It is truly mindboggling. Just to give you an idea of how slow the devs are, ive bought the game in June 2022 (almost 3 years ago), and in that time, they only "released" the unstable buggy mess that is b42 in december of last year. Oh and of course since then the only updates to that branch have basically all been bugfixes, (for 5 months). NPCs that have been promised as "soon" in like 2017 have still not been added (no, animals are NOT the npcs that were promised) and the only updates that have come out the last years are thursdoids that all go along the line of "oh look here we have made clothing not clip into each other" that have been posted each month. 90% of these feel like devs struggling to figure out what they are even doing, saying "big things are coming but we are not sure when". If you are more interested in the history of the dev updates id suggest taking a look at some reddit posts on the projectzomboid subreddit, it is funny to see posts from 7 years ago mentioning the exact same issues that occur now. For some reason the devs also seem to redevelop the entire engine and core mechanics every update, which in my opinion shows some real issues with the game's code (not to mention the abysmal performance for a game with that simple graphics.

Yes the game is fun with its atmosphere and gameplay. Yes you can customize the game to your liking. But it gets to a point where you can only customize so much until core issues like no late-game and purpose catch up. My best guess is b43 (which is supposed to have NPCs) will release earliest in 2030 at this pace.

In conclusion, I would not recommend this game due to its lacking late-game content and terrible development times that, at the moment, seem to never be going to be fixed. I will try to edit this review each year or so just to give a summary of what the devs have done (most likely nothing a lot of times)

Very fun and immersive game! honestly the best zombie survival game I have ever played!!!

Very fun solo and with friends but the late game does get kinda boring because it's the same shit on repeat.

This game is a most quality game I ever played. It's hardcore, survivor, realistic and a lot more. I died more than I don't.
10/10 recommend this game. Try to die is easier than try to live.

It's very difficult. Almost makes me feel moronic. Even sad one might say.

The best game ever.
Raiding Lousville is the greatest thing to do for first time after tutorial.

I've owned this game for about 8 years now, and nearly all of my playtime has been on the B42 (42.4-42.7) unstable branch. I really wanted to try and actually get into this game and try out the new mechanics, but it is just too frustrating. Want to build a forge? You'll need clay, and masonry level 2. I finally found a clay deposit with shovel in hand, to find out I also need a sack to put the clay in... why not just get the item? Want to level up your masonry? Enjoy finding as much stones as possible to make bricks for minimal xp. Want to build a wall out of those stone bricks now that you have some masonry levels? You can't. Need normal stones... Want to make a normal brick wall? Pottery level three just to make the brick. Just as a inexperienced player its incredibly overwhelming and not intuitive. Just resulted in the same issue I encountered many years ago. The later stages of the game take too much time, with very little reward. And yeah muscle fatigue is a bit too much. 6 strength 6 fitness, chop one or two evergreens and you wont be able to do anything for hours in game. Hopefully with some changes it will be a much smoother more enjoyable process, but after spending 200 hours on this I could not recommend it unless you have some previous knowledge of some kind, or are more patient than I, lol.

easily one of the best games i have ever played.
steep learning curve which death and mistakes will be your teacher.
one of the strongest modding community's I've had the joy to experience. everything from full class rebuilds, and mad max cars to amputee play though and horror themed whispering zombies.
the best and most active dev team I've seen in a long time, endless patches, updates and fixes for things that i know in the early days i saw and thought 'if only they changed this' and fixes for things most wouldn't even notice as issues but they saw as areas where they could do better.
this is one of those games that each death does teach you, like don't go on grass at night. but it will make you a better player, honestly by say 300-500+ hours death is a rare blip that you'll kick yourself if it happens and laugh off. and i know you might see 300-500+ hours and think fuck that, but i cant think of any game that I've been able to easily put this many hours into and still be excited for each and every patch that comes out.
there so many ways to play with friends or solo, build a base, clear a town, live as a nomad in a car/rv, go 10 years later and spawn naked while swearing off all loot, fish and forge while making shoes, clothes and tools from scratch.
one of the things that also keeps me tied to this game is the zombies, and i don't just mean the art or how they act but even the depth of the spawning mechanics which is a beautiful little rabbit hole, it makes it so when clearing an area and sealing it there a strong sense in pride, its not one where you just clear a zone and bang zombies are back there for no reason like a lot of survival zombie games.
only reason why im not playing the game right now is im waiting for the 42 multiplayer so me and my friends can experience all of this new build in one go together.
great great game.

I love this game I play it with my family every now and my entire family loves to play this the 4 player co op is a bit buggy but I think that is on my end I highly recommend this game

This game has actually destroyed my taste for any other game in the genre...its such a good game. Its like a symphony...it has its massive powerful edge of your seat moments..and low calm times where you forget zombies exist only to go back out and get bit fighting 1 zombie cause you are sloppy fighting because youve been trying to place garden gnomes in your base just the way you like. You start throwing mods on this game...shoot. You can play alone and dig it. Multiplayer is crazy good and the potential for RP players (Im not) is crazy. The team who made this should be proud of themselves. They should hear the fans but at the end of the day this spawned from them and I hope they continue to make a game THEY love and others who share the same interest will also LOVE...rather than a game that appeals to everyone and everyone LIKES it just fine. Sorry this is so long...but this game is so good and I really am glad Ive had the chance to play it. It will be locked in the vault in my head with the rest of the the Games Ive loved since I was a child. Keep up the good work.

Hate these bitchass zombies and their stupid ass sneaky moves and the jumpscares damn it.

I LOVE THIS GAME at first it is hard to survive but dont leave the game early

gets paper cut
gets infected
dies
respawn
repeat
10/10 love the game

I cannot recommend this game, after almost a 1k hours with the new build I don't know where the devs are going with this game anymore. I feel like they're trying to replace the "fun" part with the "tediousness" part, as unfortunately many modern games do nowadays, and I don't like it. Mods and custom esoteric sandbox settings are not any good answer to the frustrations of the default gameplay experience for the new and "casual" players, I feel. I also feel that the devs' target audience is game systems themselves and not players. I got my part of fun out of this game, but not without a lot of frustration and also writing bunch of mods for QoL for myself and reporting a lot of bugs which were never addressed for months.

A fun game to play with friends and terrifying by yourself.

Really good zombie game you get to beat your zombified neighbour with a rolling pin or a letter opener then raid their kitchen truly a zombie game of all time.

Amazing Game. I currently only have ~16 hours and its already great, theres a learning curve so expect to die of course. But once you get past the constant deaths and you actually start learning, its amazing

Dakilolpis
132 products in account
5 reviews

Recommended
65.0 hrs on record
EARLY ACCESS REVIEW
POSTED: 19 MARCH
Project Zomboid is one of the greatest survival games ever made. From its incredible depth to its brilliantly designed mechanics, this game sets the gold standard for what a true survival experience should be. It’s realistic, immersive, moddable, and most importantly, a hell of a lot of fun.

Every aspect of Project Zomboid feels grounded and believable. This isn’t just a game about killing zombies—it’s about long-term survival, resource management, and adapting to a world that wants you dead. Whether it’s dealing with injuries, managing food and water, or fortifying a safehouse, the attention to detail is insane.

The combat is engaging and rewarding. Every swing of a bat, every perfectly timed push, and every last-ditch escape feels intense and strategic. There’s no mindless button-mashing here—positioning, stamina, and awareness all matter. The fact that hordes actually feel like a real threat adds a level of tension that few other games can replicate. Survival isn’t just about fighting—it’s about building your future. Watching your character progress over time—gaining skills, becoming stronger, and mastering the apocalypse—is incredibly rewarding. The base-building system is flexible and fun, allowing you to fortify an existing house or create a fortress from scratch.

The world is massive, detailed, and full of life (or death). The game’s art style is simple yet incredibly effective, creating an eerie, immersive atmosphere that complements the gameplay perfectly.

One of the best parts? The modding community is insane. The game is already amazing, but the ability to tweak and enhance it with mods just makes it even better.

Unlike many modern games, Project Zomboid listens to its community. The developers actually care about player feedback, and it shows. This game is worth every single cent I spent on it.

The Only Downside? Car Lag
If I had to nitpick, the only annoying thing is the lag when driving fast. But honestly? That’s a minor issue in an otherwise flawless game.

Final Verdict: A Must-Play Survival Masterpiece
Project Zomboid is a godsend for survival fans. It’s deep, intense, rewarding, and endlessly replayable. More developers should take notes from this game, because this is how you make a true survival experience. If you haven’t played it yet, do yourself a favor and get it.

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It's fun for what it is. Reminds me of the 00's and flash games with it's isometric interface. After a time the game play becomes dull without goals. Very unstable, but enjoyable.

My buddy Matt says please release Build 42 with multiplayer officially. He wants to get the boys back together.

A game that requires time, a clear mind, and a flawless plan. You mess up one thing and you're dead. Miss time a swing? Scratched or bitten. Fire a pistol with aim level 0? Ringing the dinner bell forthe horde. Fire game though.

It is really fun, but mastering it can take a while. The controls are a bit hard, but then again i am not that experienced at computer. Highly Reccomend. Really fun. Do sandbox for first playthrough though.

Really unique game, goes insanely in depth into survival.
Could play it for thousands of hours without getting bored.

The only bad thing is that there arent any achievements.

I've never seen such a brilliant game in my life. It's just perfect. Not everyone will like it because the view it takes a bit for getting used to the game, but I fell in love with the game and I would recommend it to everyone to play especially with qof mods

Incredibly addictive. I've logged 240 hours in 6 weeks (I never log hours in a game like this). It's open ended, you choose your own path, and incredibly sandbox. The modding community is extensive and the Devs update the game every 1-2 weeks like clockwork. They listen to community feedback and honor their community to the fullest, you just don't see that too often these days. I will say if you're planning to mod this game, I hope you have lots of RAM. 16gb isn't enough...

If I had to critique this game, I would say my biggest problem with this game is there's no end-game or ultimate goal. Sure you can max out your levels (massive grind) or you could set self goals like clearing Louisville (good luck) but that's all up to you to enforce that upon yourself. And achieving those long term goals ultimately gets you nothing in the end other than saying you did it. I wish this was treated more like a dungeon crawler like Hades instead of a solely sandbox survival game. It even starts each run by saying "and this is how you died" so logically that is the point. So why not get a score? Like number of kills, levels, rare items found, and time survived multiplied by negative traits. Then your score can can be added up in your account. Maybe scores can unlock new items for future runs or items to be used in multiplayer servers. I'm not a dev, just an idea.

My other critique would be the poor performance. Especially when its raining. It can be so bad that players consider rain a death sentence due to the lag and stuttering. I have a very high end desktop (7800x3d, 7900xtx, and 32gb ram) and this game is still a stuttery mess with my frame times jumping around constantly. And the issue is optimization because my hardware is barely being utilized, maybe peaking at 40% on the GPU and 30% on the CPU. This is annoying, but this is a small Dev so I understand the struggles here.

Last critique is no cloud save support. And this is because of how the game is optimized and uses memory. You might think "well that sucks, but I can just manually transfer my save to my laptop and continue playing on the go". And sure, you can until you start really exploring the whole world and have 40+ mods installed. My save file for my longest running save is over 400Mb, almost half a gig. And that save file is 10s of thousands of tiny files. Last time I transferred my save (not doing this anymore) it took an HOUR. Having a NVMe SSD like me doesn't matter when there's so many tiny files that need to be transferred.

I know it sounds like I'm railing this game, but I still love it and I think that just goes to show just how good it is. I'd say if you read this whole review and were wondering if this game is worth it, IT IS. It's not too expensive and will give you so much enjoyment, give it a shot!

My Favorite Zombie Survival Game Right Now

I’ll admit at first, I didn’t care about this game at all. Even though I’ve always loved zombie games, this one just didn’t grab my attention. I was deep into State of Decay at the time, which is a solid zombie game in its own right. But eventually, I started feeling like it was a bit limited. I wanted more freedom, more challenge.

Then one day, while I was watching YouTube, a video about Project Zomboid popped up. And holy hell… this game is insane. I couldn’t believe I had been ignoring such a gem just because the graphics didn’t look as flashy as other games. But let me tell you — this game is absolutely amazing. It’s fun, intense, and delivers everything I’ve ever wanted in a zombie survival game.

Here’s what makes it so great:

1. Total freedom — You can do whatever you want. You create your own story, make your own choices, and the game just lets you go wild.

2. Challenging in the best way — It’s super realistic. Injuries, status effects, and survival mechanics all make the game feel tense and rewarding.

3. Modding community is top-tier — If there’s something in the game that bugs you, chances are someone’s already made a mod to fix or improve it.


If you’re into zombie survival games, don’t let the graphics fool you. Project Zomboid is the real deal. It’s insanely good.

you need atleast maybe 20+ hours to understand 1/3 of the game mechanics, 10/10 would drink bleach again

It took 3 years to go from build 41 to build 42. That's just a staggering amount of time for an update this size.

Their own announced timeline has NPCs being complete in build 48, now only 18 years away!

This game has been in EA for 12 YEARS now, and quick math says the #1 most requested feature for the last decade will still need another 10+ years.

Unfortunately, I just don't have confidence in this dev team at this point.

For the most part the fighting mechanics are the weakest part of the game. The amount of times my character has done a push for the game to not recognise it, and the zombie just glitches straight into you. If its not that, its the character swinging above downed zombies, or struggling to figure out how to stomp on them. This is of course while the target is lit up green, meaning targeted. Developers seem more focused on putting more ways for the game to just kill you in, while the quality of life and general gameplay is GARBAGE.

I cannot recommend this game because i fear it will be in Early Access literally forever. As much as i have enjoyed the game for what it has to offer, I am left today disappointed because of the lack of progress made over a decade of EA. Yes the game play itself is hardcore, but the UI is clunky and hard to navigate. Sometimes my whole game will crash while navigating the build menu even. I also have grown tired of spending 95% of the characters life away from zombies/inside, cooped up doing burpees and sleeping for multiple real life hours just to stand a chance in combat. What has kept me playing this game, unfortunately, is not the base game itself, but online servers with mods included, because the amount of time you have to put into a character to give them viable stats is a harrowing task without stat boosters or a skill journal of some kind. i don't really have a rating for this game as its not finished. (also side note not a fan of all the "social media discourse" from certain dev/s concerning missing deadlines on multiple instances)

you probably know if you want this game or no so i will just say 3 things that can help someone to start

Probably the most realistic zombie survival game or one of them. Especially with mods

game good, survival good, mechanic good. two zombie chase is fine, 4+ zombie chase is kill
soundtrack good, graphic is runescape horror

Favourite game ever. Very complex but so much easier to understand than 7 days to die. It’s like playing a hardcore sims game with zombies. The mods make the game even better. Love this game.

i love it when naked people with a virus reach out to me for a hug. 10/10 game.

This is one of the most enjoyable game but it can get repetative and is only fun with others

i wake up in rose wood. zombies everywhere. i go to the school. i look in the lockers and find drugs. i gets high and die within 5 hours... best game ever 1000000000000/10 is that a dino on a skate board?

I've been playing Project Zomboid since almost its inception. Since it was a story based game, when you started as a husband and your wife was bitten (we now see that story only as a heritage background image). It's been more than a decade, I was in school, and I'm now a 30 years old adult, I love this game. I live my live and progress as this Project is growing. I've seen my little brother grow and get to love it as well. In fact he brought me back to it, just as I once showed it to him.

Love it and recommend it, game like no other.....

Somehow this game has slipped under my radar for a long time. Despite looking very simple, the game actually has an incredible amount of depth in it's mechanics. If you enjoy hardcore survival games, you might want to give this a shot.