There’s a good reason that zombies are as popular in modern media like movies and games as they are: it’s a convenient, less morally gray way to pit man against man, have a statistically significant portion of humanity turn against the other portion. Whether it’s a small-scale outbreak or a full-on zombie apocalypse, once people start turning, it’s everyone for themselves.
However, and maybe this is just my OCD talking, I like to think about zombies from a more scientific perspective. Different zombies from different franchises are dangerous for different reasons, whether it’s because they possess some unusual characteristic or ability, or they’re just really, really plentiful (or both).
In the interest of scientific pursuit, and because I just like ranking common fictional tropes, let’s consider the zombies from a few major zombie-centric games and categorize them based on their actual danger level. Who knows, a little extra quantification might just save your hide if we ever have a real zombie outbreak to put up with.
A couple of clarifications: the following ranking is only about the zombies. The actual quality of the games has no bearing here. Also, we’re only talking about zombie-centric games, not games that just happen to have zombies in them (Dark Souls, Castlevania, etc.).
10 Telltale’s The Walking Dead
Bog-Standard Walkers
As the thesis statement behind the entire Walking Dead franchise is “how would the world actually fare in the midst of a real-life zombie apocalypse,” it makes sense that the titular Walkers would be as close to traditional zombies as possible. This thesis statement, of course, extends to the Telltale Walking Dead series as well.
Walkers follow most of the typical zombie playbook: they’re slow, shambolic, and have no particular higher brain functions. They can group up or sneak up on you sometimes, but it’s mostly just a matter of being generally quiet and showing up when you aren’t expecting them to, rather than deliberate strategizing. Individual zombies aren’t particularly hard to kill, as one good blow to the head will usually do it.
As for infection and propagation, the first and most obvious means is through an infected bite, though as we see in the game, the effects of a virulent bite are not instant. I’m ballparking a bit here, but for an individual with a fairly strong constitution, it seems to take around half a day for the infection to actually kill and turn.
The only differentiating factor is that the contagion is airborne, so anyone who dies under any circumstances will also turn. This does give Walkers an extra surprise factor, though this can be mitigated with some planning.
9 Project Zomboid
Clumsy, Yet Persistent
I don’t know precisely who popularized the concept of zombies, but the most frequent accreditation goes to the works of George A. Romero, particularly Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and so forth. It was the particular subset of undead introduced in these films that the zombies in Project Zomboid are most heavily inspired by, though while they take a cue from the classics, that doesn’t mean they’re without threat.
The origin of the zombie-producing Knox Infection is shrouded in mystery, with the only crumb from lore being that it apparently originated somewhere in Kentucky. It was originally only transmitted via fluids as usual, but then it mutated into an airborne strain, and things got out of hand pretty quickly. An infected individual will experience severe flu-like symptoms for about three days, after which point they’ll drop dead and swiftly reanimate.
The subsequent zombies aren’t particularly smart or hearty, but they’re very persistent. When they get the slightest hint of fresh humans in the vicinity, whether through sight or sound, they’ll start shambling toward them, and they won’t stop unless something else catches their attention. This can quickly result in a proverbial mass of moving flesh encroaching on unfortunate survivors, one that can’t be broken through with a gun or knife alone.
8 Dead Rising 2
Fragile, Yet Plentiful
The zombies of the Dead Rising series have both natural and unnatural origins. Their first outbreak in the city of Santa Cabeza arose from an accident in which a mutant species of wasp that was being studied for meat production purposes got loose and infected a human. The Willamette outbreak in the first game, followed by the Fortune City outbreak in the second, were deliberately engineered via existing zombies rather than just the wasps. It’s generally not the kind of thing that can just happen on its own, which is a point against the zombies’ overall danger factor.
The zombies themselves are noteworthy for how seemingly fragile they are, with Chuck able to smash, dismember, and otherwise brutalize them with whatever random junk he finds. This could just be a matter of gameplay and story segregation, as we see Chuck get bitten plenty of times in gameplay without getting infected. What makes these zombies dangerous is just how quickly they seem to crop up and congregate, making navigating them dangerous for the unprepared, especially at night when they become more aggressive.
It’s noteworthy that these zombies also appear to be highly susceptible to direct biological manipulation, as we see in the climax of Dead Rising 2. A special gas causes them to rapidly mutate and become more dangerous. As with an outbreak itself, this can only be deliberately caused by a third party, so it doesn’t really count.
7 Resident Evil 2 (2019)
Slow, But Sturdy
In the original Resident Evil trilogy, the means by which zombification spreads is the Tyrant Virus, better known as the t-Virus. It was deliberately engineered as a bioweapon, something that could create an extremely resilient scourge within the ranks of an enemy army. While this research was eventually shelved to focus on creating the intelligent Tyrants, it’s a fact that the t-virus is good at what it does, as we see in Resident Evil 2.
Zombies created through a t-Virus infection, spread either through the standalone pathogen or an infected bite, have a naturally sturdy constitution. They’re still slow and shambolic like the usual undead, but it’s also notably harder than you’d expect to put them down, even with a shot to the head. Additionally, the t-Virus has several different strains that can induce stronger mutations, with the strain in the Racoon City PD in particular creating the wall-crawling Lickers.
The zombies of the t-Virus are weapons, first and foremost, meant to debilitate and destroy an army or society from within. Yeah, they’re slow, but when you need to pump a whole clip of ammo just to take down one, it becomes much harder to organize a resistance against them.
6 7 Days To Die
More Than Just Humans
In a lot of zombie media, you mostly just see humans putting up with the undead menace of the day, while all the rest of Earth’s creatures just kind of get on with their business. Human undead is a big enough problem as it is, so if we throw a statistically significant portion of sentient life into the mix as well, things start to get a bit more dire, as we can see in 7 Days to Die.
In 7 Days to Die, not only has the vast majority of humanity succumbed to zombification due to an unidentified virus, but that same virus has also affected various species of animals, including dogs, wolves, vultures, and even bears. With so many viral vectors out and hungry for meat, there’s basically no safe place in the entire world, which I guess makes a pretty naturally good setting for a survival game.
As for the human zombies, they come in a multitude of variants based on the kinds of lives they lived before turning. Many zombies are mostly decomposed shamblers, but there are also more muscular ones capable of sprinting, some parasitized by bloodsucking insects, and symbiotic ones that howl to attract attention. These zombies have effectively become the dominant species of Earth, and slowly or quickly, they are the apex predators.
5 Dead Island
Dangerous Even Before Turning
A zombie setting that revolves around some kind of virus usually comes with the assumption that, even if someone is bitten or otherwise overtly infected, they’re not actually a threat until they die and turn. Of course, virology is a diverse scientific field, and if Dead Island is any indication, you should never assume even similar kinds of viruses will work exactly the same.
When an individual is infected with Pathogen HK, a bioengineered agent derived from a neurological disease, the actual zombification process has several phases. At an indeterminate point after infection, the infectee will be driven into a frothing rage from a combination of constant pain and diminished mental faculties. They’re technically not a zombie yet, but they’ll attempt to charge at and brutalize anyone who happens to be nearby, so they might as well be.
Once the infectee dies, that’s when they’ll be reanimated as an actual zombie. They lose most of their speed and muscle density, but they’re still capable of short bursts of powerful movement, usually for quick lunges toward unsuspecting humans. Both infected and zombies can experience unusual physical mutations, mostly revolving around increased body and muscular mass that make them more dangerous at close range.
4 Dying Light
Mutations And Simple Tools
The infected individuals in Dying Light have been exposed to the Harran Virus, a rabies derivative that can be easily spread through most bodily fluids, such as blood or saliva. Like typical zombies, they lose most of their higher reasoning and seek to spread their infection through bites. However, what distinguishes these guys from their contemporaries is the fact that there’s still a little bit of a flicker in their noggins.
Infected individuals are capable of using simple tools like bludgeons and blades when on the hunt for prey. They’re not exactly wielding them with finesse, but just the fact that they know how to hold a bat and either swing it or throw it at you with the express intent of causing harm shows that there’s still a bare minimum of humanity left in their bodies, which is both frightening and tragic.
Infected are also quite prone to spontaneous mutation in ways both big and small. Some infected can manifest unusual, yet simple properties like dribbling toxic substances, while others can have more overt transformations like massive muscle gain or explosive stomachs. This potential doubles at night, when infected become more akin to pack-hunting animals, roaring to alert each other of the presence of prey.
3 The Last Of Us
A Cohesive, Virulent Unit
The cordyceps zombies of The Last of Us are one of the more frightening examples of the undead in games because of a few major differentiating factors. Chiefly, rather than a pathogen turning people into mindless cannibals, the mutant cordyceps is a united organism with a singular goal and will. It’s not conscious, obviously, but it’s still a living thing with its own need to survive and expand.
Those infected with the cordyceps have a singular drive to spread their infection in whatever capacity they can, much like fungus crawling up a log. A regular “runner” infected has been strengthened somewhat by the cordyceps, as well as imbued with a need to bite and consume, but is still a mostly normal human, physically. As the infection spreads, the infected begin to develop fungal “armor”, which makes them physically stronger and harder to injure. They do lose their sight, but with a Clicker’s echolocation ability, that’s not really a problem for them.
The fungal armor is an infected’s greatest defense, as well as its ultimate weapon. When an infected is killed or reaches the end of its lifespan, the cordyceps don’t actually die. Instead, it transforms the body into a fungal colony and begins ejecting spores to continue propagating. If you don’t properly dispose of the bodies, the spot you left them in could turn into a spore-infested dead zone.
2 Left 4 Dead 2
Fast, Aggressive, And Extremely Adaptable
One of the longest debates between fans of zombie media is the important distinction between “slow” zombies and “fast” zombies, the latter mostly conceptualized in the film 28 Days Later. When you think of zombies, you think of the shambling variety, so the idea of a zombie sprinting at you full tilt is inherently unsettling. That’s exactly the kind of zombie you’re dealing with in Left 4 Dead 2, and that’s in the best-case scenario.
The common infected of Left 4 Dead 2 are humans who have had their higher brain functions destroyed by a virulent pathogen plague commonly known as the “green flu.” In this state, an infected will immediately sprint toward anything that catches its attention with full intent to kill, whether it’s an uninfected individual or just a loud car. Interestingly, the infected don’t seem to bother with biting, just punching, kicking, and scratching. The pathogen is exclusively airborne, so they don’t need to bother with biting you.
Of course, the most noteworthy aspect of the infected is their mutation potential, with multiple species of special infected cropping up seemingly at random with bizarre, superhuman abilities. In the Left 4 Dead comics, researchers note that the most dangerous thing about the green flu is its constant mutation and adaptation, which manifests both on the microscopic level and right in front of you. Both the virus and its victims are completely unpredictable.
1 World War Z
A Tidal Wave Of Flesh
Have you ever been stuck in the middle of a crowded crosswalk? Like, so crowded, you feel like you’re going to get trampled if you don’t keep moving? Well, what if there was an actual risk of you getting trampled, and that risk was the best-case scenario? That’s kind of what it’s like dealing with the zombies of World War Z. The game, specifically.
World War Z’s zombies, colloquially known as “Zeke,” are an exemplary instance of fast zombies. Not only do they sprint toward the subjects of their ire at full speed, but they have seemingly limitless stamina with which to do so, plus enough blinding rage to facilitate the process. Considering the virus in this setting only takes a few seconds to turn someone, it goes without saying Zeke has a bit of extra pep in their step.
Zeke can take on a variety of different mutations, gaining abilities like superhuman strength, toxic gas, and viral fog emission. Even a regular Zeke’s single-minded determination to kill and destroy makes them a persistent threat, as a crowd of them will surge forth and stack on top of each other to overcome physical barriers. It’s not just fighting zombies, it’s like fighting a gigantic serpent made of rotting flesh.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
