As a gamer and a zombie aficionado, it pays to know what the 11 best zombie video games of all time are. Recent years have seen the rise of the zombie culture, where we see a zombie related media releasing in hordes. In the past few years, films, television series, and video games have all been getting life because of the undead menace.
A lot of us are used to the modern take on zombies popularized by filmmaker George Romero. This form of zombie is created by a virus or some sort of microorganism that can take control of a body post-mortem. This body retains its basic instincts and also relies on the virus’ base desire, to propagate itself. Hence, the zombie is always bound to feed and infect others, mostly driven by its new viral host.
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Of course, much like any form of media, only a few zombie video games stand out among the thousands that have been released. It’s not surprising since video games can earn a company a lot of money if done right. However, some resort to unusual tactics such as selling expensive virtual items through their games, as seen in our list of 11 most expensive virtual items in video games. How do we determine the best zombie video game? While opinions may vary depending on each individual, we can use certain metrics to give us a measured take on the best zombie video games of all time.
The first metric we’ve decided to use is Units Sold, a standard measure of how successful video games are. The more units they sell, the more money the video game company makes. While video game companies tend to release sales figures separately, we have video game websites such as Gamespot to compile all the information for us. Capcom, one of the biggest video game publishers, also released figures on its many zombie-related video games. Games that are available via the platform Steam also have websites such as Steam Spy which tracks numbers and statistics.
The second metric is an overall video game rating. There are hundreds of reviews per game available, but thankfully we have the website Metacritic to gather all of the information. Metacritic does calculations and weighs the overall rating of a video game based on the rating of reviewers online. The ratings vary depending on how influential a critic or a video game website is, giving us the closest we can get to rating accuracy. If multiple ratings are available, then we take the average of all those ratings. Now that we’ve established that, let’s head on to our list of 11 best zombie video games of all time:
10. Dying Light
Units Sold: 5 million
Metacritic Score: 74
Dying Light got a large amount of hype after the open world action-adventure zombie game got a lot of media exposure. One of the features that were heavily promoted in the game was the ability to do Parkour as well as craft various weapons and items. Dying Light marked the second zombie franchise from Techland after Dead Island.
10. Dead Island
Units Sold: 5 million
Metacritic Score: 74
It’s interesting to note that both Dead Island and Dying Light got the same amounts of units sold and Metacritic score which is why they both take the 10th spot on this list. Their equal score is a testament to some consistency from their developer. Dead Island was one of the first major games to promote an open world feature. The story is about four survivors trying to escape the island of Banoi which has been infested with zombies. A sequel is currently in production.
9. Dead Space
Units Sold: 5 million
Metacritic Score: 87.67
Nothing captured horror in space quite like Dead Space that’s up next in our list of best zombie video games of all time. Being alone on a ship surrounded by various horrors and eerie environments, it is definitely a game that pulls you in. The zombies here aren’t the traditional form in that they are more like mutants or aliens.
8. Dead Space 2
Units Sold: 2 million
Metacritic Score: 88.67
We are continuing our list of best zombie video games of all time with Dead Space 2 that does justice to the original, gaining even better praise than its predecessor. The game is set three years after the original, and it finds the main character Isaac fighting off a new outbreak in a space station. It also introduced a multiplayer feature that allows people to play together and fight off hordes of zombies or necromorphs.
7. Doom 3
Units Sold: 3.5 million
Metacritic Score: 87.5
The reboot of the Doom franchise released in 2004, Doom 3 proved to be a huge success. It is considered id Software’s most popular release and uses horror elements to great effect. Much like its prequels, Doom does an over the top shooter that somehow feels just right in the world they’ve created.
6. Resident Evil 4
Units Sold: 3.9 million
Metacritic Score: 87.25
Considered one of the most critically successful games from Capcom, Resident Evil 4 changed the franchise entirely with an introduction of a new style to the third-person survival horror series. Zombies that have thought and use weapons is a scary idea indeed. The game went on to receive numerous Game of the Year awards, and many definitely consider it as one of the 11 best zombie video games of all time.
5. Resident Evil 5
Units Sold: 7 million
Metacritic Score: 79.4
While a lot of people criticized Capcom’s direction for the Resident Evil franchise, a lot of critics felt that the fifth installment was still well done. While Resident Evil 5 pushes away horror for more action, the story and gameplay make up for it. The game also sees the return of one of the game’s most popular protagonists, Chris Redfield. Interestingly, the fifth installment sold much more than the fourth one which may have been a testament to the success of Resident Evil 4.
4. Resident Evil 2
Units Sold : 4.96 million
Metacritic Score: 89
Riding off the success of the first Resident Evil game, Resident Evil 2 takes place two months after the events of the original where Raccoon City residents have been transformed into zombies. The game has been critically acclaimed and is Capcom’s most successful title on a single platform. Nearly every aspect of this game has been given praise by critics.
3. Telltale’s The Walking Dead
Units Sold: 28 million episodes/ 4.7 million copies
Metacritic Score: 89.25
If there was a single game that put Telltale on the market, it would be The Walking Dead. The game has the same setting as the comic series though tells the story of a different group of survivors in Georgia. The game feels more of an interactive story where players’ decisions can change the outcome of the game. The game was released over five separate episodes and its success, helped create a sequel.
2. Left 4 Dead 2
Units Sold: 12 million
Metacritic Score: 89
Considered one of the best cooperative video games of all time by many, Left 4 Dead 2 that ranks 2nd in our list of best zombie video games of all time focuses a lot on cooperation and pits four players to survive a zombie infested scenario on their way to safety. The game is procedurally generated, meaning that no game will be the same giving it more longevity and replay value. This second installment introduces the use of melee weapons as well as more special infected.
1. The Last of Us
Units Sold: 6 million
Metacritic Score: 95
The Last of us was created by Naughty Dog which is also responsible for the highly successful Uncharted series. The zombies here are quite different, in that they are infected by a type of fungus which transforms dead humans into cannibalistic creatures. It is the highest zombie game ever rated on Metacritic and won numerous awards during the year of its release. The Last of Us became one of PlaysStation 3’s best-selling games and definitely deserves the top spot of the 11 best zombie video games of all time.
