The undead refuse to lie down, and so does the genre they spawned. Films, games and everything sandwiched between them. Ours is a species that simply cannot leave a corpse alone, which is why developers keep handing us fresh ones to shoot at.
At the moment, a single multiplayer zombie survival game is tearing up Steam. Plenty of others deserve a look too, and four of them will not cost you a cent.
There is no trial window here. No small print either. Download, load in, start swinging.
Unturned makes scavenging a full-time occupation
Survival in this open-world sandbox depends on never sitting still. Supplies have to be scavenged, food has to be hunted, and shelter has to be built while zombies swarm the map around you.
Getting around means land, sea and air. En route you’ll stumble across buried secrets and some decidedly odd NPCs, grab airdrops, scout out deadzones and cut through waves of the undead.
Feeling bold? PvP puts other players on the menu. Alternatively, join forces with them, share what you’ve gathered and hunt bandits as a squad.
Steam users have pushed it to a ‘Very Positive’ rating. Passing on this one would be a mistake.
Zumbi Blocks 2 hides your escape route below the surface
Released in 2023, Zumbi Blocks 2 Open Alpha serves as the official follow-up to the free browser zombie game from 2013. Marooned on an island and severed from the rest of humanity, you’ll find that the key to getting off it lies buried far beneath your feet.
Start digging and the dirt gives up more than an exit strategy. The undead begin surfacing right alongside it.
First person or third person, the choice is yours. This multiplayer survival title has you raiding a procedurally generated city for supplies, felling powerful bosses and fighting your way toward the way out.
Walking Zombie 2 runs a karma system, and it matters
Its developers call it “a zombie single-player shooter in modern polygon graphics with rich RPG elements,” a description that badly undersells the amount of game on offer. This free-to-play hit drops you into a zombie apocalypse where zombies, bandits and dangerous boss monsters stand between you and a stack of story and side quests.
Build your character up. Sharpen your skills. Trade gear as you dig into what the game itself pitches as a “good old FPS with story.”
And then the karma system, under which your decisions trail behind you. Anyone who played Red Dead Redemption 2 will know that sensation well. This underrated gem holds a ‘Very Positive’ rating on Steam as things stand.
No More Room in Hell dates to 2011 and shows no mercy
The years have taken nothing off it. Society has collapsed into all-out war, millions of walking dead are dragging themselves through the streets, and the odds are stacked against you.
A single bite is the end of you. That one rule explains why stepping into any corridor feels like a terrible decision.
It describes itself as a “co-operative realistic first-person survival horror modification for the Source Engine,” and the co-op side holds up: 1-8 players, dynamic maps, a survival mode and 30+ weapons to get to grips with.
Four titles. Not a dollar between them. The only real price is the hour you had earmarked for something else entirely.