Zomboid is a very unique game in an over saturated genre. Where others have speed and cleaness in their mechanics, Zomboid has patience and weightiness to it. Where others have PvP, Zomboid has good old fashioned survival. Despite its look, it is safe to say Zomboid has by far the most realistic and in depth zombie survival. While yes there is multiplayer, the focus will still be on the environment and how to get around its multiple curve balls.

It seems decently challenging in the first few days with deadly zombies that will bite you but also an abundance of food and water. Then one day, you wake up, and you go to drink from the tap and see "water 13/20". This is where it gets real; this is where you see exactly how much the game was holding your hand. At first, it may seem a little bit trivial. Sure the lights went out but not something to worry extensively about. Finding water is at first easy and canned food seems to be in every counter you look in. All of this overlooking one thing, it's all limited. Since you never took the time to look for the "How to Use Generators" manual, your saved food starts rotting. It's harder to clear buildings due to the lower light, that stock of canned food you had is now half the size it was, and most importantly, you start running out of nearby places to scavenge from. This is where the absolutely massive map comes into play. Eventually, you have to move. You pack whatever you can fit in the car and book it to whatever town you see fit.

For some action, you decide to go to Louisville. After all, you've made it this far without dying. Why not be confident? As you get closer, the zombie numbers steadily increase. You keep pushing through and get to a checkpoint with long lines of body bags and zombies lying by the side of the road. When you finally reach the city exteriors, you finally begin to realize the death trap that is Louisville. When you turn around and comprehend how bad an idea it was to come here, you hear the faint rhythmic “thump thump thump” of a helicopter's blades.

You start to head back, after all the best way to avoid the helicopter is to keep driving. With the worst possible timing your engine starts to sputter and die. This is not a curve ball, this is a fast ball aimed right at your head with “fu.ck you” written on it with a dollar store Sharpy. Most important is to get inside, hunker down. You've made it this far, you've heard of the terrors that the helicopter brings. You get out of your car and start to book it into a random house, thinking about how many supplies you are leaving back in the trunk and CRUNCH. In that house, the one house you blindly stepped into… was a zombie. That zombie bit into your flesh and pathetically fell to the ground with one push and stab. You fix up the wound and sit back in horror as you think about what you just lost. You didn't just lose the car. You lost a character you have grinded to level up for hours and days of your time. All because you made one small mistake. You didn't go out in a blaze of glory. Even if you go out and start rampaging it won’t change the simple fact that you got bit by one pathetic little insignificant zombie. You're not the hero of this story.

This is not Left 4 Dead, this is not Unturned, and this is not DayZ

This is Zomboid.

This is how you died.