Gaming's Unique Take on the Zombie Oversaturation Problem

Even since Victor Halperin's White Zombie was released in 1932, zombies have been a constant target of fascination in pop culture. On a slot burn for decades, George Romero's work raised them to the mainstream, and that is where they stayed and then exploded in popularity. 
 
Our fascination with zombies is simple; they let us enact our fantasies of saving the day completely free of consequences. Combined with the bombastic opportunities that video games have, this provided an avenue to engage in wild scenarios with various methods of introducing brains to sporting equipment. There is a little problem here in that with popularity comes oversaturation. To solve this issue, the gaming industry has had to get creative.

A Zombie's Not Always a Zombie
At first, there was the slow zombie. Then zombie media set the world on fire with an entirely new approach – a zombie that wasn't slow. From there, gaming developers got more creative, a great example of which is found in The Last of Us. As covered by ExpressVPN, zombies in The Last of Us evolve the longer they are infected and become larger threats.
 
Starting as regular runners, these creatures eventually lose their sight, tracking by sound as they become clickers. In the late stages, like bloaters, they grow, becoming far stronger, more intimidating, and harder to put down. Taking this approach, zombies aren't a monolith but an entirely new set of lifeforms with their own strengths to overcome.
 


An Approach of Genre
Films are a passive medium, but because video games are interactive, they present various ways to engage. Understanding this, developers moved to extend zombies into every genre imaginable.
 
Numantian Games developed a unique zombie strategy front; They Are Billions. This game has players building villages, expanding their bases, and collecting resources to prepare for a final enormous and destructive enemy assault. You don't have to fight off billions, but if you manage to survive through the final round, it sure feels like it.
 

 
Getting more involved and methodical with the zombie concept is Project Zomboid, developed by Redwire. In an isometric survival game, Project Zomboid has players develop RPG skills and fight off fatigue, thirst, hunger, and injuries to avoid joining the undead ranks. If you fail, you can even find your old characters, which is equally fun and depressing.
 
We have the more unusual indie games; zombie sports games, zombie racing games, and yes, even zombie dating simulators put a spin where the creatures don't always fit. Still, if you're looking for illustrations of flexibility, no undead enthusiast will ever be left lacking.
 
The age and evolutionary trajectory of zombies within video games have created a situation where players are open to anything. Creativity rules supreme, changing the entire gaming spectrum. From zombie type to zombie dating preferences, the interactive nature of zombie media finds a natural home in video games, and it will only get bigger. And weirder.