I had the original Steam release of Stubbs the zombie in my library for years but barely played it because it was a terrible port which didn't recognise controllers and it was a pain to get running on Windows 10. Then it got removed from Steam.

I guess someone bought the rights to it because today completely out of the blue i see there's an update for this game and now it runs with zero problems and recognises my PS4 controller without having to remap a single button. It also now has Steam achievements and trading cards.

If you own the old version of the game you get this version for free as well.
That is awesome.

The history behind this game is so bizarre. Co-founder of Budgie and Head of Halo: Combat Evolved makes his own studio, Wideload Games, as an experiment to see how being the head of an indie game dev studio would be. The goal in mind with the studio was to create conservatively-budgeted game titles that would sell well in the games market; Stubbs was the game that would test that premise. Only 12 employees actually worked on the main components of this game, while the Boss would hire up to sixty contractors to work on the rest. Being the only other game I know of that uses the Halo engine besides Halo, they ran into problems with development because the Halo engine was such a piece of ♥♥♥♥ to develop with; they had to provide training for their contractors just to work with the thing. This lead to there being, "A lack of cohesion" in the office; teams running off with their own ideas and interpretations of how things should be implemented.

In the end, that's the biggest flaw with Stubbs: lack of cohesion. A whole bunch of cool ideas half-baked and never fully realized, level design that isn't all that good, the complete lack of music during many levels. In the end, this is a sandbox game that doesn't fully realize it's sandbox potential, creating this half-dead mediocre game that's better as a proof-of-concept than anything else. Hell, the studio that MADE this game was a proof-of-concept. Get this for around 6 bucks on sale.

As for this remaster, it works fine for Nvidia users. If you're Team AMD (like me), you'll have to use dxvk to get the framerate above 30.

Now, how about Wideload studios? Well, Stubbs sold...okay-ish. They then made Hail to the Chimp, which is complete shovelware garbage. After that, they made a branch of their studio called Wideload Shorts, to go after the oh-so-lucrative market of those XBox 360 arcade games. I tried to find info on their arcade games, but literally no one cared about any of Wideload Short's games so there is nothing. Inexplicably, they were bought by The Walt Disney Company and made a couple of shovelware games for them too on the wii and mobile. Finally they were shut down in 2014; Stubbs is the only game from them really worth talking about.

I've waited 15 years to kick the Chief of Police's ass in a dance-off again...

Worth it?

Pffft - talk about a no brainer.

Plays really well and is a decent, if barebones, remaster but there's a pretty big issue; the music has been stripped out. There are a lot of parts in the game where there should be the 50s covers recorded for the game playing and they're gone, no more shambling into a diner and eating brains to There Goes My Baby on the jukebox. It's a little bizarre that you can buy the MP3 soundtrack to the game as a bonus but not be able to hear that same music ingame anymore.

It might be a small issue to some but as someone who played it when it was first released and also bought the CD at the time from loving the ingame music so much, it's pretty disappointing that it's now stripped out. It really added a feel to the game. The remix versions remain in an essential part of the game that they couldn't strip for obvious reasons but that's all you get to hear of them now.

Still, I'm glad it's here again and properly playable, but I feel a little disappointed.

I demand a sequel!!

You take a piss in the water supply so that the whole city gets infected. It can't get better then that

It's straight up Stubbs the Zombie. Not remade. Not really even enhanced. Just the old game ported to a modern OS with a few modern features we're used to. Runs well. Looks like it did. If you liked it then, you'll like it now.

Edit as of beating it again: This game is rough. If you know EXACTLY what you're getting because you played it already years ago and you want that again, then yeah I recommend it. If you're in the mood for an old game that is as balanced as Master Chief fighting a lone Grunt? Then sure, go for it. If you want a fun time, don't. This game, even for 2005, is NOT well done. I forgot just how poorly balanced and full of BS this game is. It has its fun parts, and its humor, but so much BS that isn't just annoying by today's standards, but by 2005's as well. It's rough. If you already love it, great. If you don't.. then it might not be for you.

After beating it all these years later I can tell you with 99.99% certainty that I will never play it again.

A diamond in the rough from a time when games were actually fun and not a second full time job where you need to grind out a battle pass every 4 months.

Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse is a modernised re-release of the 2005 classic, complete with a nice sharp resolution. It has no real improvements over the original, but this isnt needed! the game has a lot of charm within its simplistic gameplay and combat. There is also a co-op to play with friends, and alot of achievements. Overall the game reminded me that there was a time when games didnt need a massive openworld and 300 skins per gun to be considerd good.

The extremely creative gameplay makes it hard to imagine that this is a game released in 2005. Considering the age of the game, Stubbs the Zombie is definitely unique in the zombie genre for its gameplay.

However, the experience of this game is hardly perfect. Whether it is the rigid game character operation or the headache of the game navigation system, it is a fatal flaw for this old-school game.

Overall, this game is unique in terms of plot and gameplay design. But the gaming experience may not satisfy the players. Unless you are a fan of old-school games and zombie games, I don't recommend this game, because other players can easily get bored during the game.