Summary
While a few minor zombie-related movies were released between the 1930s and 1940s, it wasGeorge A. Romero’s 1968 classicNight of the Living Deadthat really popularized the zombie genre for the first time in mainstream media. Pretty much as soon as the medium appeared, zombies would quickly find their way into video games, with the early 1980s gameZombie Zombiebeing one of the first major examples to feature them. But while zombies continued to creep in and out of video games for the next decade or so, the real onslaught began in 1996.
In1996,Resident EvilandThe House of the Deadwere both released, making a gigantic impact on the gaming landscape and opening the floodgates for more zombie-themed video game projects. Since then, zombies have remained a staple of video games. But all these years later, zombie video games are starting to feel a little stale, though hopefully the upcomingInto the Dead: Our Darkest Dayscan light a fire under its competitors.
It’s Time for More Experimental Zombie Games Like Into the Dead
The Zombie Video Game Genre Is Stagnating
While there have been plenty ofdifferent types of zombie video gamesover the last few decades, the genre as a whole seems to have found itself in a comfortable rhythm recently, with its biggest games tending to fall into the same clear categories time and time again. These categories have often appeared soon after a zombie game has hit major levels of popularity, and rather than experiment with new genres, many subsequent zombie games have decided to just repeat the same formula.
There are a few key examples of this pattern in the last decade or so, and it all begins with Valve’s belovedco-op zombie shooterLeft 4 Dead. Released in 2008,Left 4 Dead- and its arguably more influential sequel - began a new trend that resulted in a swathe of middling AAA co-op zombie games, some of which have come out as recently as 2021.Dead Island’s release in 2011 is another key example, essentially establishing the formula for the majority of first-person zombie action games ever since.
While there are still a handful of zombie games every year that try their best to experiment, they’re often quickly overshadowed by thenewest AAA zombie gameto follow the same old formula. It’s obviously not the gaming industry’s biggest issue right now, but it is clear that the zombie gaming genre is stagnating somewhat, repeatedly choosing to iterate rather than innovate.
Announced back in December 2022,Into the Dead: Our Darkest Dayshas a chance to really break the mold for the zombie video game genre. A 2D side-scroller,Into the Deadblends survival, stealth, and managementmechanics together in an attempt to produce a truly unique zombie video game experience. WhileInto the Deadisn’t the first side-scrolling zombie survival game - withDeadlightbeing it to the punch over a decade ago - it does look like it could be one of the most expansive, and if it ends up being good, and ends up gaining a lot of traction upon release, then it could end up sparking a chain reaction that gets other developers to start experimenting with new genres of zombie video games.
