The Worst Zombie Apocalypses In Gaming, Ranked

Summary

• Not all video game zombie apocalypses are the same, with each possessing varying and unique takes on infections and outbreaks.
• Some zombie games have compelling plots and detailed settings brimming with lore, making them harrowing and terrifying experiences.
• From Dying Light to The Last of Us, we look at how games can feature different types of zombies, from plodding slowpokes to unstoppable hordes of nature.

Not all zombie apocalypses are the same. Sometimes, zombies in movies like Night of the Living Dead are plodding and rarely dangerous if you can keep your wits about you. Other types of zombie hordes, though, are unstoppable forces of nature.

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There have been various renditions of zombie apocalypses in video games, with some not even directly referencing zombies. The varying and unique takes on infections, outbreaks, and unsettling plots can be harrowing, terrifying, and may even inspire you to build an underground bunker.

Updated on April 15, 2024, by Zackary Wiggs: Zombie games aren't going anywhere. No matter what you call them: Walkers, Creepers, Shamblers, Infected, or anything in between, there is always going to be a new zombie game on the horizon.

They are so close to being human, and yet so far. It's this binary that makes them such a creepy monster, especially when you're considering the action or horror genre. As cool as they are as monsters, you definitely wouldn't want to get caught in one of these zombie apocalypses.

15 Minecraft: Creeper Infestation

Some Explosive Encounters

Minecraft is a fun, relaxing, resource gathering and building game, right? Wrong. It’s actually a zombie apocalypse simulator that makes you fear the night. From the very first night in Minecraft, zombies spawn in the dark, in the mines, and in any other areas that aren’t properly lit.

This spawning power alone makes the Minecraft zombie apocalypse particularly terrifying. While you can build great bases with plenty of anti-zombie measures, it takes just one creeper (which is close enough to a zombie) to ruin all your work.

14 Dying Light: The Harran Virus

Not Your Normal Night Out

Dying Light starts the series with one city: Harran. The city is plagued by a viral outbreak that turns people into zombie-like creatures. While things eventually get better for the city’s residents, and the world starts to feel more hopeful, it's discovered that the Global Relief Effort seeks to weaponize the virus and bomb the city’s survivors.

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Rargh! Gurh- *Chomp*

After the first game’s events, a variant of the Harran virus escapes a GRE lab and devastates the world - leaving just one human city, Villedor, surviving. Humanity is on the edge of extinction and outside the city walls, there is very little left of a once great civilization that brought this downfall on itself.

13 Resident Evil: T-Virus

From Raccoon City And Beyond

The Resident Evil series is another self-inflicted zombie apocalypse. The Umbrella Corporation develops the T-Virus and other chemical agents that eventually result in the destruction of Raccoon City and outbreaks elsewhere in the world. Perhaps what's most terrifying about the T-Virus zombies is a single bite or scratch means you’ll turn into one yourself.

These monsters are also extremely tough and can even walk-off gunshot wounds. Though the other types of monsters that come around later in the series are something we would like to avoid altogether.

12 Zombie Army: Occult-Fueled Nightmare

As If Normal Nazis Weren't Bad Enough

This seems like the worst possible combination of baddies: zombies and Nazis. The Zombie Army series presents an alternate history where, in the final days of World War 2, Hitler somehow succeeded in using occult rituals to raise an undead Nazi army of the dead.

After the brave actions of Allied soldiers results in the death of Hitler, he comes back as a sentient zombie. Soldiers are able to send zombie Hitler to hell, but the zombie hordes push the Allies out of Germany. Eventually it’s found out that Hitler is running his Nazi army from Hell, using Hell’s supernatural energy to supercharge his army. Where the heck is BJ Blazkowicz when you need him?

11 World War Z: Solanum Outbreak

Hordes Unlike Any Other

The original book portrays a victory of mankind over a zombie outbreak, but the Brad Pitt movie and the 2019 World War Z video game focuses more on the horror of the hordes. The video game showcases waves of fast-moving zombies that can pile on top of each other to get over large, physical obstacles.

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The game throws various types of zombies each with unique abilities at the player; meaning survivors would need to be extremely well-versed in how to deal with them. With thousands of zombies rendered on screen at one time, World War Z's zombie apocalypse would be very difficult to overcome.

10 Dead Island: Pathogen HK

Nothing Ruins Your Vacation Faster

Dead Island armed you with whatever you could find nearby and asked you to try and escape a zombie horde that ruined your peaceful tropical getaway. How dare they.

You've got your classic shambling corpses, which are more than enough to kill an under-equipped survivor, but where this apocalypse gets you are the various special infected. Some explode, some sprint, and some can kill you in one punch; either way, they're no fun. Plus, it doesn't help that the virus seems to also have spread to the continental U.S.

9 Left 4 Dead: The Green Flu

Some Impressive Special Infected

The Left 4 Dead series gives its unique take on a zombie apocalypse via the Green Flu. The game throws wave after wave of infected at you, so survivors would have to contend with many types of zombies, making it unlikely that most, if not all of us, would survive.

Massive Tank zombies can absorb a horrifying amount of bullets and wreak havoc, while the Witch, one of the most terrifying creatures in the game, can kill some players with one hit. Left 4 Dead may be fun to play, but would be hell to live through.

8 Project Zomboid: Knox Infection

They Come Out Of Nowhere

Project: Zomboid is more recent than most titles in this list, but one that takes a less modern approach to the idea of zombie games. At first look, you may think this came out years back, but don't let graphics fool you.

Project: Zomboid can run a lot of things at once, which sounds cool, until you realize that means hordes of zombies can hear any sound you make and aren't shy about clambering into that house you're looting to find you.

7 Blight: Survival

Zombies In Ye Olden Times

Despite the horrific nature of zombie apocalypses, there are typically hidden gems of modernity you can still count on. From foods with long shelf lives, firearms and ammunition that easily dispatch zombies from a distance, or medicines that can treat or protect you from various illnesses and diseases, survivors can occasionally cash in on a bit of luck.

In Blight: Survival, the same can't be said; you're thrown into an alternate medieval reality set in the 14th century. Even worse, zombies aren't the only thing you have to worry about: you're in the midst of a war between two kingdoms with only your armor, sword, and bow to protect you. Suddenly, the black Plague of the 1300s doesn't sound so bad.

6 The Last Of Us: Cordyceps Virus

Being Immune Doesn't Help Much

The Last of Us portrayed how the zombie apocalypse spreads in a particularly nasty manner. A fungus that can spread via airborne spores, while also contaminating food to make its way into a host. When a person becomes infected, they mutate into different types of monsters as the infection continues to take hold.

Civilization is reduced to a few quarantine zones and settlements, as survivors wander an apocalyptic nightmare. And if you want to survive, you should probably carry a gas mask to avoid infection. Oh, and if that wasn't horrifying enough, infected persons are still conscious and aware of what is happening to them.