The dead simply won’t stay dead, and to be honest, they have outstayed their welcome. Zombie media has always been a hot commodity, no matter the era in which it is being released. And despite their prestige and countless examples of well-executed undead media, to say we are inundated with ghoulish content feels like an understatement
.Sure, the hits will always stick out: Dawn of the Dead, Left 4 Dead, The Walking Dead, World War Z, and on and on and on the list goes. So given the overabundance of zombie media, it’s easy to understand why games such as ZombiU (aka Zombi) are somewhat forgotten over time.
Beginning life as a Wii U launch title, ZombiU, released in 2012 (re-released as Zombi in 2015), this mature-rated title was an enigma from its genesis. A mature-rated, hardcore survival horror launch title made it an outlier, to begin with, but even on a revisit, Zombi remains notable amongst the hordes of zombie games.
Whether it be the game’s 28 Days Later vibes thanks to its London setting, its surprisingly hardcore emphasis on survival mechanics, or crafting a story reflective of its world, all these years later, Zombi does leave a distinctive mark. And while it certainly has a few detrimental genre trappings, such as shoddy shooting mechanics and stock standard zombie types, Zombi delivers a hardcore experience within the confines of an unassuming zombie title that has more than a surprise or two up its sleeve.
We unpack this and more in this week’s episode! – Jay Krieger
Safe Room is a weekly horror video game discussion podcast with new episodes every Monday on
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Next week is the latest episode of our weekly review show The Inventory. We’ll be reviewing some of the latest horror and genre game releases. So far that will include discussions on gory Metroidvania Elderand, DreadXP’s latest game Red Tape, freaky point n’ click adventure Birth, and Mundfish’s retrofuturistic shooter Atomic Heart.