Project Zomboid

• Hardcore Sandbox Zombie Survival Game with a focus on realistic survival.
• Online multiplayer survival with persistent player run servers.
• Local 4 player split-screen co-op
• Hundreds of zombies with swarm mechanics and in-depth visual and hearing systems.
• Full line of sight system and real-time lighting, sound and visibility mechanics. Hide in the shadows, keep quiet and keep the lights off at night, or at least hang sheets over the windows.
• Vast and growing map (loosely based on a real world location) for you to explore, loot and set up your fortress.
• Vehicles with full physics and deep and realistic game play mechanics.
• Use tools and items to craft weapons, barricade and cook. You can even build zombie proof forts by chopping trees, sawing wood and scavenging supplies.
• Deal with depression, boredom, hunger, thirst and illness while trying to survive.
• Day turns to night. The electricity falters. Hordes migrate. Winter draws in. Nature gradually starts to take over.
• Farming, fishing, carpentry, cooking, trapping, character customization, skills and perks that develop based on what you do in-game.
• Proper zombies that don’t run. (Unless you tell them to in the sandbox menu).
• A ton of amazing atmospheric music tracks by the prodigy that is Zach Beever.
• Imaginative Challenge scenarios and instant action ‘Last Stand’ mode, on top of regular Sandbox and Survival 
• Full, open and powerful Lua modding support.
• Xbox Controller Gamepad support on Windows. [Others pads can be set up manually. Gamepad support not currently available on Mac]

Project Zomboid has an array of mechanics in place to up the survival & realism of gameplay. Environmental (day/night, seasons, weather), traditional (food, water, injury), mental (depression, boredom) and more. It can be very intricate to balance.

Project Zomboid was released waaay back in 2013, but I honestly only started hearing about it in the start of 2022. It turns out that in December of 2021 they released a massive update to their (previously released but badly flawed) multiplayer system, causing the game to take off like a rocket. If you’ve dicked around my website or podcast for longer than five minutes you know I never watch any videos on a game beyond whatever the developer happens to add to their Steam/GOG store page. So I did pick the game up on sale and screw around with it a little, just to see what all of the fuss is about.

Observation wise. I’m not traditionally a fan of pairing survival with top down view- I guess I just like feeling that first person point of view when being munched on by a critter or zombie. On paper I love their feature list- seeing depression and boredom listed as things to balance is pretty cool. In practice the few hours I spent within the game felt really clunky. For me personally it's hard to go from the gorgeous visuals of something like Icarus into something cartoon like or illustrated. The controls also seemed kinda clunky to me but that could be because I was also trying to adapt to the point of view from above. Either way I benched the game fairly quickly- I can see why folks love it, but it doesn't click with me at this time. Either way though, I'll give it a thumbs up and encourage folks to check it out.

There is no additional Hashtag Survival content on this game at this time.