Zombie games have been popular for decades, and we’re still nowhere near bored of killing the undead. They’ve shuffled, sprinted, and occasionally exploded their way into just about every genre imaginable over the years. On Steam alone, you’ll find hundreds of rogue zombie games to choose from.
If you’re wondering which ones are worth a shot, we’ve put together 10 of the best rogue zombie games currently available. There’s plenty of variety too, from turn-based RPGs and survival games to twin-stick shooters, base builders, and survivors-likes.
Whether you want to carefully lead a group of survivors through the apocalypse or mow down several thousand zombies before they finally overwhelm you, here are 10 games worth checking out…
1. Yet Another Zombie Survivors
Yet Another Zombie Survivors came out of Early Access on August 20th and it throws you into increasingly large hordes of the undead, but you don’t have to deal with them alone. Instead of controlling a single character, you can build a squad of up to three survivors, each bringing their own weapons and abilities to the fight.
Runs start relatively simple, but it doesn’t take long before you’re adding new survivors, choosing upgrades, evolving weapons, and putting together a build capable of dealing with the thousands of zombies filling the screen. Characters can be promoted into different specializations too, giving you more control over how your squad develops.
There’s plenty to work towards between runs, with new characters, weapons, abilities, and permanent upgrades to unlock. Once you’ve become powerful enough, you can increase the difficulty and make the virus stronger, giving all those upgrades something considerably nastier to deal with.
2. The Last Stand: Aftermath
The Last Stand: Aftermath doesn’t give you much hope of keeping your current survivor alive. Every character you play is already infected, meaning the real challenge is seeing how much you can accomplish before the virus eventually takes over.
Each run sends you further into the apocalypse, exploring abandoned buildings, scavenging for supplies, crafting weapons, and searching for fuel to reach the next area. You’ll also have to deal with plenty of infected along the way, with limited resources making it difficult to simply shoot everything that gets in your way.
Death isn’t the end of your progress. Once your current survivor is gone, another volunteer takes their place, with knowledge and upgrades carrying over to make future attempts a little easier. It gives each run a clear purpose: get as far as you can, find something useful, and leave the next survivor in a slightly better position.
3. ZedFall: Outbreak
ZedFall: Outbreak is a twin-stick roguelite built around taking on huge zombie hordes alone or with up to seven other players. You’ll choose a class, head into a run, and gradually collect upgrade cards that change your abilities as the number of infected continues to grow.
There are several modes that change what surviving actually involves. Wave Survival has you fighting through increasingly difficult hordes before reaching extraction, while Tower Defence gives you a generator to protect and turrets to build. Scavenge opens things up further, sending you around the map to complete objectives before finding a way out.
Classes give players different roles when playing together, while evolving cards and character upgrades leave plenty of room to build something stronger as a run progresses. There are bosses, daily quests, unlockable items, and Endless modes too, giving you several ways to test how long your squad can last.
4. Death Nomad
Death Nomad gives you a procedurally generated world to survive in, then makes sure you can’t get too comfortable in it. Contamination gradually spreads across the map, forcing you to keep moving rather than building one enormous base and staying there forever.
While you’re in an area, you can gather resources, craft equipment, grow food, trade with other survivors, and build defenses capable of holding back the regular zombie hordes. Vehicles can also be found, repaired, and customized, becoming an important part of getting yourself and your supplies somewhere safer when it’s time to move on.
The longer you survive, the more dangerous those hordes become, with zombies getting faster and stronger as the world deteriorates around you. It turns the usual survival-game routine into something much less permanent, where even a well-defended home is eventually somewhere you’re going to have to leave behind.
5. City Defense Z
City Defense Z splits the zombie apocalypse into two fairly straightforward parts. During the day you build a city capable of keeping everyone alive. At night you find out whether you did a good enough job.
Preparation means placing factories, barracks, ammunition buildings, houses, and laboratories, while managing the resources needed to keep everything running. Buildings and units can be merged into stronger versions, expeditions can bring back additional supplies, and soldiers need to be positioned where they’ll actually be useful once the zombies arrive.
Surviving every night gets progressively harder, and eventually the horde is likely to get the better of you. Research earned during your attempts can be used for permanent upgrades, giving you more options the next time you rebuild. It’s part base builder, part tower defense, with the roguelite progression giving each failed city something useful to leave behind.
6. The DeadLine
The DeadLine puts you aboard the last subway heading towards City Hall, where there’s a chance your family might still be waiting. Getting there isn’t as simple as staying on the train, though, as every stop sends you into another station filled with zombies.
You’re working against the clock each time you step off. You need to fight through the infected, search for weapons and materials, activate the fuse needed to get the train moving again, and make it back before your time runs out. Skill Chips collected along the way provide new abilities, letting you gradually shape your build as the journey continues.
Taking too long has consequences too, with zombies from previous stations able to join the horde chasing you. There’s an Endless Mode once you’re done with the main journey, removing the destination entirely and seeing how far you can travel before the subway finally becomes your last stop.
7. Endless Deaths
Endless Deaths is a top-down twin-stick roguelike that sends you through procedurally generated levels filled with zombies and gives you plenty of weapons to deal with them. You’ll choose from several playable characters, each with their own abilities, before heading out to see how far you can make it.
Weapons range from rifles and shotguns to explosives, while upgrades found during a run let you improve your equipment and passive abilities. The levels change between attempts too, so you won’t simply be memorizing the same route every time you start again.
It’s a much more action-focused take on zombie survival than games like Death Nomad or Dead Age. There’s no camp full of survivors to manage or crops to worry about. Most of your attention is spent finding better gear, improving your character, and making sure the growing number of zombies stays on the other side of your gun.
8. Stories from the Outbreak
Stories from the Outbreak puts you in charge of a group of survivors trying to escape Latvia after a zombie outbreak. Your destination is the western shore, where the last ferry offers a way out, but getting everyone there is going to take more than simply winning a few fights.
Combat is turn-based, with different survivors bringing their own skills to your party. Outside of battle, you’ll choose where to travel, manage supplies, collect trinkets, and deal with events that can change what happens to your group. With more than 25 enemy types, different routes, and plenty of decisions to make, attempts can play out very differently.
Not every survivor is guaranteed to reach the ferry, and sometimes nobody will. New trinkets can be permanently unlocked for future attempts, while additional challenge modes give you another reason to head back into the outbreak with a new group.
9. ZED ZONE
ZED ZONE drops you into a procedurally generated post-apocalyptic world after your plane crashes inside an exclusion zone. With zombies and mutated infected roaming around, your main objective is to stay alive long enough to find a way out.
That involves scavenging abandoned buildings, gathering resources, crafting equipment, improving your skills, and building somewhere relatively safe to stay. Vehicles make exploring much easier, but they come with their own problems. Fuel, batteries, damage, and even the type of tires you’re using all need to be considered if you don’t want your escape vehicle becoming another abandoned wreck.
The infected come in several different forms too, including enemies that spit venom, explode, or rely on considerably more brute force than the average zombie. There are even mysterious mechanical enemies roaming around, adding another problem to an already fairly unpleasant place to be stranded.
10. Dead Age
Dead Age combines turn-based RPG combat with survival management, putting you in charge of a camp that’s trying to make it through the zombie apocalypse. Keeping everyone alive means doing more than winning fights, with food, equipment, injuries, jobs, and relationships all needing your attention.
When you leave camp, you’ll search for supplies and encounter groups of infected in turn-based battles. Different weapons and character skills give you several ways to build your party, while bombs and traps provide some extra help when a straightforward attack isn’t going to be enough.
Survivors can die permanently, and decisions made throughout the story can change relationships, events, and which of its six endings you eventually reach. Your own death sends you back to the beginning, but medals earned during previous attempts can be spent on advantages for your next survivor, giving you a better chance of keeping the camp alive next time.
Ready for More Dead Good Fun?
There’s clearly no shortage of ways to survive a zombie apocalypse, and the games above only cover a small part of what’s out there. You can spend hours carefully keeping a group of survivors alive, build a base capable of holding back the horde, or forget about survival entirely and see how many thousands of zombies you can take down before they finally get you.
With so many rogue zombie games already available, and plenty more still on the way, we doubt we’ll be running out of reasons to head back into the apocalypse anytime soon.