By Adrian van Wyk
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The prospect of being caught in the midst of a zombie apocalypse is both terrifying and incredibly exciting. It is the perfect landscape to tell compelling stories of survivors in a world where nowhere is safe. It is both the dream and nightmare of many players to live out this scenario, and many video games have catered to these demands, delivering grim and immersive experiences, fully realizing the sober reality of a viral outbreak. Others missed the mark entirely and failed to deliver on the promised power fantasy that is part and parcel of every zombie survival experience.
Many of these games were let down by clunky controls, poor mechanics, or baffling choices. Others could not capture what made zombies scary, and turned what should have been a horror into a comedy of errors. More insidiously, some titles exploited the audience's desire to role-play in a realistic zombie apocalypse by producing misleading marketing material and delivering broken games. While some of these games may have some bright spots, they are generally considered some of the worst attempts at pitting players against the undead.
10 Dead Rising 4 Isn't What Fans Wanted
This Entry in the Dead Rising Franchise Was a Huge Disappointment
When the original Dead Rising was released in 2006, it introduced a unique and playful take on the zombie survival horror experience. The game dropped players into a Midwestern mall overrun by the walking dead and filled with explorable stores. There was this distinct sense of fun as Frank West could play dress-up, mow down zombies with a lawn mower, and wander around a Japanese version of Americana. The sequels did a good job of carrying on this unique legacy, but by the fourth entry, the formula had started to show its age, with the game playing more as a parody than a true successor.
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One of the greatest mechanics of the first Dead Rising was the 72-hour playtime limit, which saw events unfolding at specific times and added a sense of urgency. Dead Rising 4 did away with this, and there was a distinct lack of consequences to the decisions Frank made. The game also had shallow combat that the developers tried to mask with outrageous weapon combinations. Tonally, it overdid its absurdist humor; the original managed to provide the player with a wacky experience simply through its environment and the situations that could occur therein. Dead Rising 4 is the series' last entry, and it’s truly a shame because the franchise still has one of the most unique and compelling gameplay loops, and it deserves another attempt.
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Dead Rising 4
Action-Adventure
Systems
- Released
- December 6, 2016
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Capcom Vancouver
- Publisher(s)
- Microsoft Studios
- Engine
- Forge Engine
9 Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green Is Forgettable
This Game Does a Disservice to George A. Romero's Zombie Film Franchise
George A. Romero’s work was arguably the progenitor of the zombie apocalypse genre. Night of the Living Dead launched the idea of the shuffling undead into the terrified minds of audiences in 1968, and a genre was born. In 2005, Romero returned to direct the fourth installment in the series, Land of the Dead, and, as was customary at the time, a licensed tie-in game was planned for release on the Xbox and PC. Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green is a prequel game and places the player in the role of Jack, a farmer whose property has become infested with zombies. Jack must fight the undead and go through sewers, prisons, and suburbs to reach the rumored safe zone, Fiddler’s Green.
Fiddler’s Green isn’t outright terrible and has some redeeming qualities. There is a good variety of guns, and the baseball bat does pack a punch. However, the experience is marred by unwieldy controls, with aiming feeling imprecise. For 2005, the game didn’t exactly look the part; environments are bland, and textures are low quality. The AI was also criticized, making the zombies feel truly undead as they often get caught in geometry or fail to react to the player. There also wasn't much in the way of mission variety. Jack moves from point A to B, fighting zombies and not much else. One can extract some fun from this tie-in game, but it takes a particular player with patience and an appreciation of rough edges to achieve this.
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Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green
FPS
ZombieSystems
- Released
- October 18, 2005
- ESRB
- M For Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Developer(s)
- Brainbox Games
- Publisher(s)
- Groove Games
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
8 Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Was an Unwanted Shooter
This Game Might Be One of the Worst RE Spinoffs
The Resident Evil franchise has numerous spin-offs of varying quality, but Operation Raccoon City might be among its worst. Thankfully, the game is a non-canonical entry and provides an interesting “what if?” scenario between Resident Evil 2 and 3. The game follows the elite Umbrella squad, the Wolfpack, as they attempt to destroy any information linking Umbrella to the outbreak before Raccoon City is nuked. The game is a squad-based shooter, and the player and their friends can assume the role of different squad members with unique abilities.
Operation Raccoon City features fast-paced third-person gunplay that is serviceable, but the brain-dead AI and clunky mechanics, such as unresponsive controls and a poor cover system, mar the experience. The AI is a significant source of frustration when playing single-player, with squadmates often walking straight into enemy fire or failing to revive teammates. Even though the set-up for the game was a unique opportunity to tell a no-strings-attached story, it failed to deliver an engrossing narrative. Operation Raccoon City felt too disconnected from the series, and while not every Resident Evil entry needs to be a survival horror, this was unfortunately a colossal misstep.
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Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Third-Person Shooter
Systems
- Released
- March 20, 2012
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Publisher(s)
- Capcom
- Engine
- RE Engine
Konami Only Fostered More Ill-will With This Metal Gear Release
Around 2015, Konami was not a generally beloved company. The publisher known for its stellar releases had fallen from grace after a fallout with Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and a pivot to pachinko games. Regarding unfavorable public opinion, the release of Metal Gear Survive seemed to be the nail in the coffin. Reusing The Phantom Pain’s assets, Metal Gear Survive is a 2018 survival action game follows the exploits of the surviving MSF members as they are sucked into a wormhole after the destruction of the base in Ground Zeroes.
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The game was an attempt to capitalize on the survival sim genre that was popular at the time; players are tasked with building up their base, exploring, and defending from the hordes of Wanderers. Survive implements mechanics such as hunger, thirst, resource management, and crafting, which act as they would in any other survival game. It retains its stealth focus, albeit in a less refined form. The story was lackluster; it featured none of the deep themes featured in prior games and spin-offs and seemed to be written as a means to an end. Upon launching, fans were dismayed that the game featured copious microtransactions, including ones for additional save slots.
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Metal Gear Survive
Survival
Systems
- Released
- February 21, 2018
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Konami
- Publisher(s)
- Konami
- Engine
- Fox Engine
6 The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct Is a Lifeless Game
Play as Daryl Dixon in This Subpar Adventure
When The Walking Dead debuted on AMC, it was an instant success, and it was only a matter of time before video-game adaptations were made. While 2012 saw the release of Telltale’s outstanding episodic adventure that engrossed audiences, the next in-universe adventure was far more disappointing. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct follows fan-favorite character Daryl Dixon and tells the story of how he and his brother Merle made their way to the Atlanta survivor camp. Despite having a promising set-up, the game adds very little to the universe's expansive narrative and isn't all too interesting.
Survival Instinct is a first-person shooter with some incredibly unsatisfying gameplay. Ammo is limited, and shooting will attract walkers, encouraging players to use melee weapons and stealth. While this should provide some interesting gameplay opportunities, the stealth is flawed, and it’s often easier to swing away at walkers or run straight to the objective. There are some interesting additions, such as the route selection, where one must weigh the pros and cons of going in a specific direction, and the ability to recruit NPCs along the way. However, these feel underdeveloped and lack the polish needed to be a complementary game mechanic.
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The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
FPS
Systems
- Released
- March 19, 2013
- ESRB
- m
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- Infernal Engine
- Franchise
- The Walking Dead
5 Escape Dead Island Is a Chore to Play
This Spin-Off Game Didn’t Improve the Image of the Dead Island Franchise
The Dead Island games were not perfect, but they had a sort of campy charm that pushed the player through their mediocre experience. The franchise’s spin-off, Escape Dead Island, had none of this charm. Released in 2014, this third-person stealth action game puts players in the shoes of Cliff Calo, a journalist trying to uncover the truth behind the zombie outbreak on Narapela Island. The story has some interesting aspects, such as Cliff being an unreliable narrator and watching him slowly lose himself to insanity as the virus progresses, but it's by no means great.
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Escape Dead Island is let down by its clunky controls, which make navigation, especially during stealth sections, a chore. Once players are spotted by zombies, they're forced into unintuitive and sluggish combat encounters. There isn’t much mission variety; players are often directed to get from one end of the level to the next without reprieve. The game’s story could be better, but it is dragged down by the weirdly written dialogue that does not often convey the depth of the events that are occurring. This was all wrapped up by an abysmal technical performance that saw players experience frequent frame-rate drops and screen tearing.
4 Infestation: Survivor Stories Is One of Steam's Biggest Scandals
Infestation's Shady Devs Censored Player Complaints
There seems to be a common thread between developers promising expansive MMO-esque zombie apocalypse experiences and failing to deliver on them. Infestation: Survivor Stories might be one of the most famous examples of this. Trying to capitalize on the success of Day Z, the game was initially titled The War Z, but it was changed due to its similarity with the movie World War Z. Developer Hammerpoint Interactive promised a truly immersive world with large maps, intense zombie encounters, and hardcore survival mechanics. They managed to garner quite a bit of hype with their marketing tactics, but the promotional content showcased was ultimately misleading.
Upon launch, many of the touted features, such as skill trees, large maps, and private servers, were unavailable. Survivor Stories was also plagued with bugs that hampered player movement, made combat frustrating, and ejected players from servers. Post-launch, the game was embroiled in controversy, fueled by its developers. An executive producer publicly used a slur to refer to their player base, and any complaints about the game were censored, banned, or met with hostility. When many in the community tried to appeal their ban, Hammerpoint accused them of being hackers. It reached a point where Valve decided to involve itself and investigate, and shortly after, the game was removed from Steam's storefront.
3 Walking Dead: Destinies Fumbled Its Selling Point
It Tried and Failed to Reshape The Walking Dead TV Show
For a while, the industry had moved away from subpar licensed games. Spider-Man, the Batman Arkham trilogy, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle have set the standard for video game adaptations of IP. GameMill Entertainment decided to go in another direction with the IP they obtained, pushing out a series of half-baked movie and TV tie-ins. The Walking Dead: Destinies, along with Skull Island: Rise of Kong, have been the most recent, publicly and critically derided releases. Destinies piqued fans' interest because it offered a new way to experience the successful television series. Players can make choices and shape the narrative of their adventure through the post-apocalypse, saving or dooming fan-favorite characters.
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The game did not deliver on this revolutionary “what-if?” storytelling mechanic. While altering iconic events from the series was interesting, the wooden voice acting and bland storyline detracted from the experience. The game isn’t fun to play. The zombies pose no threat and are hilariously incompetent, which is worsened by the clunky and unintuitive combat. Destinies does not look great. Character models look nothing like their live-action counterparts, and the textures look like they were pulled from a PlayStation 3 title. There are also no cutscenes, just semi-static stills that convey the major plot points. Choices, the main selling point, are shallow, and the consequences don’t feel impactful. The Walking Dead: Destinies pays homage to the worst shovelware of yesteryear.
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The Walking Dead: Destinies
Systems
- Released
- November 17, 2023
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- GameMill Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- AMC
- Engine
- Telltale Tool
2 Amy Is a Technical Disaster
Get Ready for One Long Escort Mission
Games rarely have almost no redeeming qualities, but Amy achieves just that. Released in 2012, this Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 survival horror follows Lana, a woman with supernatural abilities, tasked with escorting a young autistic girl, Amy, through a city ravaged by a mysterious disease. Escort missions are notoriously tedious and frustrating even in well-made games, and developer VectorCell decided to craft their entire gameplay loop around this flawed structure.
Protecting Lana’s ward becomes frustrating due to Amy's clunky controls, unresponsive combat, and benign stealth sections. The AI of both the enemies and Amy is nearly as lifeless as the zombies they’re meant to avoid, often leading to unfair checkpoint resets. Lana’s abilities, healing, shockwaves, and cloaking, all feel underdeveloped and lack impact. Visually, the game is unappealing, with levels drenched in dull grays and browns that fail to create atmosphere and instead become an eyesore. Technical issues are frequent, including a faulty infection meter that falsely signals safety before Lana succumbs. Amy is a misstep in survival horror, best left in the past.
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Amy
Survival Horror
Stealth
- Released
- January 11, 2012
- Developer(s)
- VectorCell
- Publisher(s)
- Lexis Numérique
- Engine
- PhyreEngine
- Number of Players
- Single-player
1 The Day Before was a Scam
The Day Before's Shady Marketing Fooled Players
The Day Before headlines this list simply due to the sheer gall of developer Fntastic. The hype for this zombie-survival MMO was palpable, and that was due to a very carefully curated marketing campaign that represented a fictional game. Things kicked off with the first trailer for The Day Before, which was was released in 2021, showing off a highly detailed post-apocalyptic world that granted players immense freedom. It became one of Steam's most wishlisted titles even as more questions were raised about its legitimacy. The Day Before even snagged a coveted spot at the Game Awards, showcasing a next-gen game that looked gorgeous.
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However, upon release, it became apparent that most of the budget for the game went into its marketing campaign. What players received was a broken and buggy mess with a graphics downgrade that made the Watch Dogs controversy irrelevant. Many Steam users labeled the game as a scam, with some pointing out the blatant reuse of Unity assets. Like the enemies, the map was lifeless and didn't make good on the promise of an expansive, open-world survival game. Fntastic pulled the game from Steam four days after it launched and moved to close down the studio. Former employees later recounted the harsh working conditions at the studio, which saw them being fined for underperforming, and many working for little to no pay. The failure didn’t stop the founders of Fntastic as they quickly launched a Kickstarter for another game.
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The Day Before
Open-World
ZombieSystems
1.0/10
- Released
- December 7, 2023
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Fntastic
- Publisher(s)
- MYTONA
- Games
- Video Games
- zombies
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