I'm tired of zombie games. Period. The last of us, Dying Light, Dead Island, Dead Rising,... Okay we get it, things are dead and or dying. It's a trend right now, a hot trend that most people are starting to get sick of. Heck, even my plants battle zombies occasionally, because they want to be part of the action.
Over the past 3 years there has been more hype about games that deal with zombies than any other genre. Not that these games aren't bad, in fact most of these games get their audience involved, they even have a great thought out story instead of just the usual 'survive.' This also seems to be the reason that in the recent years, movies dedicated to the idea of the undead weren't taken as seriously as they used to be. The subject is getting old and it's time to pick up a new one.
Over the past 3 years there has been more hype about games that deal with zombies than any other genre. Not that these games aren't bad, in fact most of these games get their audience involved, they even have a great thought out story instead of just the usual 'survive.' This also seems to be the reason that in the recent years, movies dedicated to the idea of the undead weren't taken as seriously as they used to be. The subject is getting old and it's time to pick up a new one.
What brought me to actually start my rant was, when my fiancée decided to plug in 'The Last of Us' after just watching him play through Dying light on the PS4. Even before that, we had been playing 'Yet another Zombie defense' and 'State of Decay' on steam. It seemed like everything that I had picked up in the past year was about mindless, decaying zombies that I had to defend myself or others from. It got me frustrated, yes I know there's a ton of other games available, but I wanted something that would pull me in and keep my attention for more than a few hours.
To escalate the subject, I'd like you to take games like Call of Duty, Sniper Elite, or even Red Dead. Each have their own concept, they've been worked on until fit for release, only to have people mention or complain that it's not enough, so a zombie concept for the game is later produced and introduced. I'm just starting to scratch the surface on how many titles have come out in the past few years, but to save all of us some time, I've decided to showcase only the better known ones.
To escalate the subject, I'd like you to take games like Call of Duty, Sniper Elite, or even Red Dead. Each have their own concept, they've been worked on until fit for release, only to have people mention or complain that it's not enough, so a zombie concept for the game is later produced and introduced. I'm just starting to scratch the surface on how many titles have come out in the past few years, but to save all of us some time, I've decided to showcase only the better known ones.
Selfie!
What made this topic so popular? Come with me now for a journey though time and space (hopefully some of you get that reference), and let's see where it all started.
The term 'zombie' started way too long ago, and I'd rather not bore you on a ton of details. Just know that at some point black magic may or may not have happened, something came back from the dead and then hundreds of folklore started being produced. Eventually, as we all know, it progressed into books, audio, television and short films. That pretty much takes us up until about 1968 when zombies starting hitting it big. Everyone who's anyone has Night of the Living Dead somewhere in their house. The first major picture dedicated to our undead brethren and the scare tactic that starts many major storylines in video games today.
ZX Spectrum's Zombie Zombie is considered to be the first video game focusing on zombies. It was a simple computer game, released in Europe during 1984, and the genre fame didn't really grow until around 1993. This is when a certain classic, entitled 'Doom', entered the stage, and every year since then, more games have been produced to satisfy the appetite of fans. To make matters even more interesting, colleges are now studying newly released games, to figure out the best way of survival, in the event that a zombie apocalypse should happen. (That's another topic for another day)
Now, not to waste any more time, I come back to my point. The genre itself seems to be hitting an apex, where it just seems overused and even Twinstiq's own Andrew asked, "What is it going to take to finally bury this corpse of a trend?" That was horribly cheesy Andrew, but it cuts right into the main point. I guess we just have to wait until the next major trend comes out, to kick zombies off the top of the totem pull. I'm stuck with forging weapons, scavenging for food, saving others who haven't been turned into a brain eating psychopath, plus sneaking around and stealing other survivors necessities. I think I accidentally just described about 10 different games in that last sentence. I better leave before the mobs come after me.
The term 'zombie' started way too long ago, and I'd rather not bore you on a ton of details. Just know that at some point black magic may or may not have happened, something came back from the dead and then hundreds of folklore started being produced. Eventually, as we all know, it progressed into books, audio, television and short films. That pretty much takes us up until about 1968 when zombies starting hitting it big. Everyone who's anyone has Night of the Living Dead somewhere in their house. The first major picture dedicated to our undead brethren and the scare tactic that starts many major storylines in video games today.
ZX Spectrum's Zombie Zombie is considered to be the first video game focusing on zombies. It was a simple computer game, released in Europe during 1984, and the genre fame didn't really grow until around 1993. This is when a certain classic, entitled 'Doom', entered the stage, and every year since then, more games have been produced to satisfy the appetite of fans. To make matters even more interesting, colleges are now studying newly released games, to figure out the best way of survival, in the event that a zombie apocalypse should happen. (That's another topic for another day)
Now, not to waste any more time, I come back to my point. The genre itself seems to be hitting an apex, where it just seems overused and even Twinstiq's own Andrew asked, "What is it going to take to finally bury this corpse of a trend?" That was horribly cheesy Andrew, but it cuts right into the main point. I guess we just have to wait until the next major trend comes out, to kick zombies off the top of the totem pull. I'm stuck with forging weapons, scavenging for food, saving others who haven't been turned into a brain eating psychopath, plus sneaking around and stealing other survivors necessities. I think I accidentally just described about 10 different games in that last sentence. I better leave before the mobs come after me.
Oh just get over yourselves already.
-Tisnight
(Photos courtesy of Mojang, Capcom, and Turtle Rock(Valve))