As a rule, I absolutely detest zombie games. You can't throw a dead cat into a Steam new releases list and not hit five different ones every day. On the other hand, holy crap do I love XCOM (I played the Microprose original that came on four 3.5" disks), so against my better judgement I took a chance on this WotZ.

I have been very, very pleasantly surprised by what I got, too. The tactical game, while seemingly simplistic (real-time only), is still fun and it really does create that cinema feel of trying to hold off an endless horde against all hope. But it was the strategy aspect that really won me over. A lot of work into planning & executing a solid stragey layer to this - one of the best I've seen in a long time, in fact. You begin with an aircraft carrier - a mobile base, if you will - from which to launch your missions. Over time, however, that won't cut it as it can't be everywhere at once, and you will need to be every where at once. So you can build up to four land bases and kit those out as well. In other words, they combined the base building of the original XCOM with the mobile base concept of XCOM2 at the same time. Woot!

In the tradition of The Walking Dead you'll soon find that after a while the zombies are no longer your worst enemy - other people are. As cities and nations slowly collapse into anarchy you'll see rebel groups appearing everywhere. They have access to tons of stolen military hardware, up to and including nukes, and they don't like you. Local governments will petition you to help them deal with the rebels... or not. Sometimes the government itself is hostile to you and will send it's planes out to attack your carrier.

Luckily you can respond in kind, with TLAM and airstrikes of your own - all of which is done by a realistic supply system that makes you earn & worry about every expensive plane and missile that you buy. Oh, and land vehicles as well - from Humvees to APCs to baby tanks. A bit overkill for zombies, but again, the zombies aren't the only threat out there.

But wait, there's more - especially for an old XCOM fan like myself. Of course you get to build laboratories, a factory, and recruit Scientists to design & build new and better stuff for you to use. Or sell, if that suits your fancy. You can just mass produce the stuff and unload it only whatever government bids the highest for it that week. That's right, you get to become an international arms dealer on top of everything else. Crazy? Not half as crazy as the world itself becomes.

As the world goes mad the nations of the Earth naturally do exactly what we expect and decide to turn the zombie apocalypse into an excuse to settle old grudges (and make new ones). Black market agents will be petitioning you to do covert air strikes on their rivals, as well as offer contracts to train up soldiers for their own nefarious black projects. People will offer to buy your salvaged equipment and to help juggle all this they've decided to add Diplomats to your crew roster of Marines and Scientists.

Oh but wait, your people will get injured along the way, so you'll need some Doctors to help deal with the wounded. And why not just throw in some recruitable Advisors along the way to give xp and efficiency bonuses to your projects? And if you find yourself with too many of one and not enough of another, no problem - you can just have them switch jobs and eventually they'll get good at whatever you assigned them, given enough time.

Eventually you'll find yourself rushing around the globe, trying to put out zombie infestations before they can grow out of control, while rescuing civilians (recruitable civilians, no less), dealing with hostile governments attacking you, deciding whether to attack them back or try to smooth it over with your diplomats, deciding who to bribe, whom to take bribes from, and whether or not you're really trying to save the world or just become the ultimate sleeze and exploit the zombie apocalypse for personal profit. Did I mention that you can deliberately help spread the zombie infection into cities that honk you off? And then drop a nuke on them once they get overrun?

I haven't even mentioned the hidden plot, and you know what? I'm not going to. I'm just going to let you wonder. Because if this isn't already enough to convince you then I don't know what to say.

Now I'm not saying the game is perfect (what game really is?). It does have it's flaws. The zombie cleaning missions tend to get downright tedious after a while, the maps get kind of repetitive, and often missions tend to fall far too the side of either too darn easy or too dang hard. Zombie AI is lacking, and they tend to pile up on corners because they can't figure out how to exit a building, but then again... they're zombies. They're not really supposed to be smart. The rebel AI is wicked enough to make up for it, that's for sure. And the entire project is apparently done by just one guy. Normally I'd call that a big red flag, as that sort of thing usually carries the stench of Early Access (which almost invariably turns into Never Finished) but, again to my pleasant surprise, this product looks like something that came out of a proper studio. Not a big studio, but a studio none-the-less. About what you'd expect from a six or seven person team, basically.

Which bring me to my last note: It's actually finished and playable right now, but the developer still shows strong interest in expanding & refining the game further. It's good to see that he's still interested in his project and wants to it get even better.

So all in all this game has turned out to be a lot more fun that I was initially expecting. Well worth the modest price even if you're not into zombie games. Take it from me, because I'm not into zombie games either. Yet I like this one, and that's pretty darn impressive.

Great game - but cannot seem to find a way to save or continue a game???

Had it on mobile, always wanted it on a desktop due to cumbersome controls on a phone.

It's like real time x-com with zombies.
Pretty neat!

People are saying this is like XCom, but the combat is kind of like real time with pause. I'd compare the management layer to XCom and the combat layer to Door Kickers.

But such a comparison gives the impression that this game is a lot better than it really is. The soldiers are not as detailed as what you see in Xcom. The missions look somewhat linear - it doesn't feel as dynamic as an XCom campaign.

And the combat interface is very unintuitive and sloppy. It seems to borrow nothing from other games of its type. If you're controlling a guy and want to control someone else, your instinct is to just click on the other guy. But here, that would just move your current character. To select and move someone else you have to click on his image at the bottom of the screen, then that brings up a menu, which you have to shrink, and THEN you can move the guy. Honestly I just selected my entire group and kept them all together because after a short time, you don't want to be messing around with that anymore.

The combat is probably closer to a game called Infested Planet if you've played that, but less exciting and with a poorer interface.

I'm giving this game a rough time because it's being compared to fantastic titles in Xcom and Door Kickers. It's nowhere near that level. But still I'm recommending this because it's not the worst game I've ever played. It does provide an experience of sorts, and it goes on sale. I got it for $6.50 and it's worth that. I wouldn't recommend it at full price.

Like the best indie games this would be a well remembered classic had it been released twenty years ago.

Currently it plays like a mixture of X-Com in the turnbased strategic element and Microprose Special Forces (from the early 1990's) in the realtime tactical battles. "Z-Com" is a quite accurate fan description.

While this is a port from a mobile game it is quite good already and the developers are planning to expand it into "PC possibilities" beyond the limits of the mobile original. The developers are quite active and responsive on the forums and there is already more content than there was in the mobile original with even more planned.

10/10 would play a 2nd version of it if it came out specifically for PC. I believe this started on phones than was ported over. Hope they release a second version of it though. Damn good game, would highly suggest playing it.

WAR of the ZOMBIE

love it but could use some more story

It's like X-COM but with zombies instead of aliens. You get to build bases all over the world and the layout of base building is like that of X-COM.

Also, there are human enemies like rebels and hostile nations. You get to intercept and shoot down enemy fighter jets kind of like in X-COM where you can intercept and shoot down UFOs.

Did I mention how this game is like X-COM but with zombies?

But it's a more casual version of X-COM where base building is easier and the missions are more about action than strategy.

Steam's learning thing suggested this and I was perfect for me. It is pretty ingenious and fun. I would have never guessed it was a mobile game since it reminds me more of the obscure eastern bloc games in style.