Zombie Survival horror Co-op and multiplayer horror

Project Zomboid

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Loot, barricade and stay quiet in a Kentucky county lost to the dead.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (94% of 485,992 reviews)
Length: open-ended sandbox
Players: 1, or more online and split-screen
Made by: The Indie Stone
Released: 2013

What frightens Every noise you make draws the dead, a horde can trap you inside a house, and one bite can mean a slow death by infection.
Content: gore, violence, permadeath.

An isometric zombie survival sandbox by The Indie Stone, set in a quarantined corner of Kentucky. You scavenge houses for food and tools, board up a home, and try to last as long as you can against hunger, illness and hundreds of the dead. Noise and light draw them in, and no help is coming.

About Project Zomboid

Project Zomboid is made by The Indie Stone, a British and Canadian studio, and has been on Steam in early access since November 2013, growing with every build. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, with a single-player sandbox, online servers and local split-screen co-op.

You create a survivor in the towns of the Knox Event exclusion zone, a map loosely based on real Kentucky. From the first morning you search houses for food, water and tools, learn skills like carpentry, cooking, farming and mechanics by using them, and barricade a home. Days turn into weeks: the power fails, the water stops, winter comes in, and nature starts to take the towns back.

The horror is slow and constant. Zombies see and hear you; a gunshot or a breaking window can bring a crowd, and a group of them at a door can turn a safe house into a trap. Wounds can get infected and a bite can kill you days later. Every character dies eventually, and the game is open about it: its question is not whether you survive but how you will die.

It is a demanding sandbox rather than a story game, with a lot to learn in its menus and its pace. It suits patient players who like planning, scavenging and building, and friends who want to run a group of survivors on a long-running server.

How to play Project Zomboid

Pick a mode and a starting town, then build a survivor from an occupation and traits.
Search nearby houses quietly for food, water, tools and a bag to carry them in.
Choose a base, board up its windows and store water before the taps stop running.
Level skills by doing things: carpentry by building, cooking by cooking, aiming by shooting.
Treat wounds at once, avoid crowds and watch your hunger, thirst, fatigue and mood.

Screenshots

Project Zomboid screenshot: a huge crowd of zombies fills a town crossroads, some burning, beside a brick house

Project Zomboid screenshot: a snowy suburb at night, a few lit houses among dark yards

Project Zomboid screenshot: survivors in hard hats work inside a dark wooden cabin

Tips

Sneak and walk instead of running: noise and sight bring zombies.
Fill bottles and pots with water early; the water and power are cut within the first month.
Never fight a crowd in the open; lead it away or break line of sight.
Avoid firearms early on unless you are ready for what the noise brings.