Once upon a time in the gaming universe, there were inhumane creatures which were somewhat of a rarity and this helped create some of the best gaming series which we have ever had. Resident Evil was launched with the success of these creatures as was the arcade hit House of the Dead. These inhumane creatures I am talking about are of course zombies. Everywhere you look in gaming these days it’s “Undead this, undead that,” or “Hey, that looks a lot like the Walking Dead TV show.” There are many things which contribute to the sheer overkill of zombies which we find in gaming today. With the amount of undead roaming around in our industry, it is a surprise that many titles are still among the living and haven’t been inducted into a flesh-ridden death.

It is without a doubt that everyone has at least one memorable gaming moment which involves zombies. Whether it is the first zombie in Resident Evil 1, being chased down by hundreds of the undead in Left 4 Dead or battling against the Nazis in Call of Duty: World at War. These days in gaming it seems as though there are no memorable zombie experiences due to the high number of games which feature these creatures.

As a fan of the zombie genre, I am disappointed with some developers who have merely jumped on the bandwagon and used the popularity of the zombie genre to boost their own sales. Call of Duty with the “Horde” style, Red Dead Redemption with the “American Nightmare” add-on and, more recently, Sleeping Dogs with its “Nightmare” add-on, zombies are everywhere in the gaming industry.

I believe that in order to move forward as a genre we need to take a step back and create more games which don’t look to the zombie way of thinking. Instead look to games such as Alan Wake, Silent Hill (to an extent), The Walking Dead and Dead Space to get a fresh take on how survival horror should be portrayed. Alan Wake was such a well written game with enemies who kept you on your toes, could strike at any time and, at the same time, brought in a sense of fear that the shadows were out to get you. Silent Hill’s enemies have always been that of a strange design but offer something much different to traditional zombies. My worst nightmare is what I think of when I think of Silent Hill. The Walking Dead is one of my favourite games of this year and even though zombies are a major, major part of the story, the gameplay surrounds decisions you make and the storytelling is phenomenal. Dead Space, one of my favourite games, and, much like Alan Wake, made the player look at the psychological side of a thriller and was terrifying at the same time.

It is my belief that we don’t need countless zombie themed games for zombie fans to get their thrills from. There are many more titles which are similar but, at the same time, very different. Call of Duty itself has damaged the undead’s reputation with Nazi zombies alone. We need originality back in the genre and even though Resident Evil 6 attempted to do it, the other enemies let the game down slightly. So please gaming industry, stick to what you know best. War shooters can you make war games? Sandbox games can you make free roaming games? And adventure games can you please continue to make games such as Uncharted and Tomb Raider?

@SimonMarshall6

the author

23, Scotland, Great Britain, Enjoys Football (Soccer), Basketball and Running, Manchester United are the team for me!

  • http://www.GameNTrain.com/ Eric Hoff

    Nice article. I personally have never really gotten big into the whole zombie scene besides the Walking Dead show and game series. Never messed with Nazi Zombies and I didn’t really enjoy Left 4 Dead so much. I do see the over use of the zombie idea. Something new will come ant take their place. Mutant rodents possibly.

  • SSP

    Stopped reading once you mentioned that Alan Wake was “scary”…but I think your point about zombies being over used is valid though

  • http://www.facebook.com/H2OPanache Lou Wagner

    Alan Wake was a poor excuse of a Twin Peaks rip-off. It wanted to be David Lynch so bad, and it was kinda cool the first few chapters, but then it trailed off into some very self-absorbed nonsense. Not to mention the controls were absolutely terrible. But anyway, yeah, zombies. I love zombies. I remember seeing the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead when I was 11 years old and it scared the pants off of me. Not only were the zombies grotesque and gory and nasty, but because it was all so plausible. IF this were to happen (emphasis on IF), this is the way it would go down. It was terrifying and though provoking at the same time. I think that’s always the key to a good zombie movie/game/whatever. Like Barbara says at the end of the film as she watches the locals make sport of hunting the undead, “They’re us. We’re them and they’re us,” and it’s the truth of that statement that is scary.

    Unfortunately, today, zombies are an easy way to add a little pizzazz and make some fans happy. They’re an easy go-to bad guy because you don’t have to risk offending anyone by making humans the enemy. Whether it be in movies, games, or television, you can get away with doing a lot more horrible things to the undead without getting ratings boards in a tizz. I think that’s part of the reason they are often sequestered to be DLC add-ons or bonus content. It’s easy enough, it’s fun enough, and usually you’ll attract some quick attention. I do agree that they are being overused in a lot of cases. Remember Crackdown 2…that was the definition of generic, uninspired use of zombies. At least with Red Dead’s Undead Nightmare (which I didn’t think was all that bad) and Sleeping Dogs, they are just add-on…you can take them or leave them. Call of Duty zombies I’m a bit ambivalent about, but again, they aren’t the main focus of the game. They are a fun add-on mode that gives some great fan service (Call of the Dead!!).

    The Resident Evil series kinda started as a zombie game, but has long-since gone off that path. Whatever the hell those bad guys are, they certainly aren’t zombies any more. Silent Hill, Dead Space, cool games, but nowhere close to being zombies. If you want to talk survival horror then that’s a whole new topic. Yes, I agree, you can have great survival horror games without zombies. There should be, but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be both.

    In order to make the whole zombie thing work, it has to be done right and it has to be the focus of the game. I think Left 4 Dead did a fairly good job with its campaigns. They were interesting and unique and packed full of great little details. If you haven’t played through the commentary modes on the games, I highly recommend it. You’ll find so much stuff you never noticed before. Telltale’s The Walking Dead is by far the best zombie game we’ve had in a long, long time, but I’ll be talking more about that soon enough.