Talk:List of zombie video games/Archive 1

Request for MUD/MMORPG listings
Now I know there's hundreds of them out there, but I'd love to see some MUD/MMORPG listings with a post-appocalyptic zombie (be they viral or voodoo) theme on here. Anyone willing to help and contribute some? Jachin 19:00, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

>shouldnt bloodrayne and fable be on the list? in bloodrayne you fight zombies, then nazis, then zombie nazis. in fable you have to go to the graveyard and fight through a ton of zombies. also i think nearly every zelda game had redeads, gibdos, or (in majoras mask) an anubis. and final fantasy 10 had seymor who was killed and reanimated so i guess he was technically a zombie. sphinx had the mummy of tut in some levels. jade empire had deaths hand (reanimated by his brother). prince of persia had every person in the castle killed by the sands of time and maximo is full of zombie killing joy. even pokemon has some zombie type species. fatal frame was more of a ghost game but the "ghosts" can act solidly (they can strangle/push you around). in metal gear was solid a "zombie" in one of the games? hope these get added to the list ^ ^ *ashy-kun*<

Should "Zombies ate my Neighbors" be on there twice?

Vanguard:Saga of Heroes has many instances of zombies. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.109.255.7 (talk) 11:44, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Needs some clean-up
By its own definition, this should be a list of games that prominently feature zombies. Unfortunately a lot of games which just feature zombies at some point (or even zombie-like enemies, particularly from sci-fi games) seem to have been clagged in. 10 out of 10 for enthusiasm, but zombies have become ingrained in pop culture to the point where a huge amount of games will feature a token zombie enemy. RPGs in particular feature zombies and skeletons as regularly as the generic bat and slime enemies. I'm going to start trimming a few of these entries which are clearly not games prominently featuring zombies. QuagmireDog 07:51, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree, and also possibly organize by genre; for example a 'Fantasy role-playing games' header with a brief explaination that most of those games include zombies as a monster type, and then a list of those that are actually zombie themed. Marasmusine 08:44, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Once we get some more titles that'd be a great idea. I'm continuing to remove the tenuous links. If something is borderline then I'm leaving it in, at this point in time removing the games which feature a zombie 'somewhere', either as one of a hundred different monsters to fight, or as a pop-culture nod to Romero are going. I should also point out that there's more games to go on the list, I know of 3 or 4 for the PS2 alone which aren't featured, so it's not just going to get depopulated. QuagmireDog 02:27, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Alternatively, we can list by 'zombie archetype', which means defining the archetypes:


 * Traditional (as inspired by Romero and other zombie films)
 * Parasitic (Headcrabs etc)
 * Fantasy
 * ..? Marasmusine 20:56, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I've gone ahead and tried something, based on some types given in the main Zombies article. I've not re-listed them all yet. Marasmusine 21:21, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Good job, it's looking a lot more cohesive, we can keep picking up the slack and fiddling as we go along. I'll keep checking as many of the 'other' games as possible to weed out games which don't belong here, when I get a minute I'll try finding some new games too (just searching WP brings up new games). QuagmireDog 10:10, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Definitions, Goals of list, please participate
Can I suggest two things that would save contributors time:


 * The goal is to create and maintain a list of all commercially released and notable freeware/MMOG games, on all formats, where zombies are the main focus of the game.
 * The goal isn't to list every video game that contains a zombie.

Some agreement on what exactly constitutes a zombie would also help

Contributors should consider zombies to be -
 * Corpses reanimated by any means, which behave in the typical zombie manner.
 * Corpses possessed by demonic entities that demonstrate relentlessly violent behaviour (like the Doom series).
 * Corpses or living hosts possessed by a parasite and forced to behave in a zombie-like fashion (headcrab zombies for instance)
 * Reanimated corpses who are referred to as zombies by the game, whether or not the behave as a zombie or possess normal intelligence (Stubbs the Zombie would be the typical example, as would 'comedy' zombies "BRAINS!").
 * Voodoo type zombies.

Contributors should consider the following not to be zombies -
 * Animated skeletons, whether intelligent or not. They're a different beastie altogether.
 * Ghouls - humans mutated through corpse-eating, or semi-intelligent undead which feast on flesh. Again, these aren't zombies and usually don't act like them either. Examples being the undead factions from the Warcraft series and the radiation-ghouls from the Fallout series.

The reason I suggest that ^ is that I'd like everyone to have fun adding to the list rather than feeling down that their addition has been removed because it doesn't fit in with the list. Anyone have any thoughts? QuagmireDog 06:12, 8 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I concur. Furthermore, I see your Zombie Revenge and raise you a Beast Busters. Marasmusine 09:10, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Candidates for inclusion
I'm creating this section for debate on games which are borderline for inclusion, or where an interested party would like some other opinions, or even for zombie games which are not currently in the wiki but may be eligible for their own article. It's also a good place to dump items of interest for later tinkering. Settled discussions and games which are included should be deleted so the talk page doesn't get bloated. If you find a zombie game that's not listed then just put it in - be bold!, this is just here if you're not sure.QuagmireDog 09:57, 6 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Possession (video game) looks like an ideal candidate. If this is the same game I'm thinking of (and I'm pretty certain it is), it's currently looking for a publisher. It features a 'zombie mob' similar to Stubbs. QuagmireDog 09:57, 6 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Infected (video game) seems to be good for inclusion, but the article is a little patchy and I'm not familiar with the game. Will be seeking further info from reviews. QuagmireDog 09:57, 6 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Hunter: The Reckoning (video game) came out of a WP search for 'zombie' + 'game'. There seems to be a lot of zombie enemies, but again I'm not familiar with it - zombie game? QuagmireDog 09:57, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Proposed rename
We are seeing a lot of games on this list that feature zombies on maybe one level, or have them in passing (e.g. in fantasy RPGs). I propose renaming the article to List of zombie-themed video games, reducing the list to games in which zombies are the main theme. A tighter list with less trivialities means a stronger list. (Also considering vampire-themed? ghost-themed?) Marasmusine 12:02, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Good call, I'd fully support the move. --McGeddon 12:10, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Okay, let's make this a list of undead-themed game. I've removed most games that feature zombies incidentally. I've also removed all games which state they have "zombie like" enemies (the comparison would be original research, anyway.) We can expand on the games that include other types of undead (Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Ghosts n' Goblins) We can either keep or remove the current headers. Marasmusine 08:31, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Bolding
Should the most well known titles like Resident Evil be put in bold? --AnY FOUR! 06:16, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
 * No. --McGeddon 12:10, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Dead Space and Halo
The Necromorphs and The Flood are aliens, however, they do create zombies. I would like to know why they were deleted off this page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.247.235.10 (talk) 21:44, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Because it is not the theme of the game. It is not a game totally centered around the undead. --Sonicandtails 21:48, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
 * The Necromorphs are the only enemies in the game. every enemy you fight is a Necromorph, and therefore a type of undead, with the possible exeption of the "Pregnant" type of enemy. The Flood I can now understand why they were deleted, I am used to the old page. my computer went meltdown about three months ago, so i'm out of the loop.

Online Zombie Games
While I'm no hardcore editor, couldn't someone past some online zombie games (Zombie Horde 1,2,3)? I mean, you don't have to, but it would make it so much more complete. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ultimate Chuck (talk • contribs) 12:27, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
 * If they haven't got Wikipedia articles, then they shouldn't be listed here. Feel free to create an article for the series if they're notable games that meet WP:WEB, though. --McGeddon 12:32, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Doom3 zombies.jpg
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BetacommandBot (talk) 07:02, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Video games with small zombie roles
I moved several of the games in the main list to a minor list below "Video games with small zombie roles" I don't think anyone would call Castlevania, Doom, or Quake a Zombie game.

I also added years to all of the main zombie games. Trav (talk) 16:35, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

The four zombie based Half-Life mods are listed both in the main video game table and the list of video games with small zombie roles. As the mods themselves might not be considered as having "SMALL" zombie roles, I don't feel they should be on that list, and since they are modifications to previously published games I'm not sure if they even belong in the larger table. Forgotten Lords (talk) 19:59, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Ah I see, missed this discussion before. I'm currently working through the minor list, moving or removing the games there, to steer the focus away from games which have little correlation with the other games. Rather than having multiple entries for the same game, if the focus is on a particular type of undead but others are also present it's easy to put it in the most relevant section and mention the other types in the description. There are a great many games which don't strongly correlate with any type of undead but have a general undead theme, or a strong undead theme alongside monsters in general, so putting them in a general section prevents them from becoming bones of contention.


 * I've stuck the mods/expansions back into the main section, as they are separate titles and can potentially be worlds apart from the original games they are based on, making referencing the original game redundant. If a game/mod/expansion is realted to any of the lists here then it should be OK to list it. For instance, Oblivion features vampirism in a pretty big way; players fight vampires, major NPCs are vampires and players can become vampires and alter the way the game plays. It's not perfect and some games are likely to need discussion, but hopefully we'll get there. Someoneanother 16:45, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Death, demons and werewolves
Since these aren't undead, the presence of these lists is broadening the scope of the article too far. I think they should be removed. (Some of the entries are pretty tenuous too. Morrigan, a succubus character, on a list of Undead video games because her name is a reference to a celtic goddess? That's stretching it.) Marasmusine (talk) 18:10, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree, when i saw those listed i was a bit surprised. --68.51.72.144 (talk) 16:12, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Agreed as well. I wouldn't mind a list of werewolf-related games (I'd be interested in fact!), but it's outside the scope of "undead". 74.248.211.97 (talk) 02:00, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Why Was Sonic The Hedgehog added? The creature he transforms into is neither a werewolf nor an undead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.98.253.180 (talk) 18:24, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I think it needs to go even further. The list is currently not too long, but only because it isn't anywhere near complete. I would suggest the following:
 * List of demon and devil-themed video games (this could easily be as big as the undead list as it currently stands).
 * List of Death-themed video games (Probably not as strong, but there are plenty of games with Death as the primary antagonist)
 * List of lycanthropy-themed video games (Not just werewolves, all lycans, making Sonic's werehog entry relevant. Bloody Roar is another example. Probably shorter than the other two for all that).
 * List of vampire-themed video games (Could easily eclipse this list as it currently stands, there are tons of them).
 * List of ghost and spirit-themed video games (If you stepped back and thought about it, it would become apparent how massive this could be. Pac Man is one of the most obvious missing titles but there are numerous others like Bubble Ghost and Blinky's Scare School lying around out there).
 * List of zombie-themed video games (I think that's what this was? Anyway, there were plenty of nudges to Romero's gift to fandom in video games back in the day, but since Resident Evil there has been a massive resurgence of zombies in popular culture and it isn't slowing down, could easily warrant a list on its own).

That leaves revenants, skeletons (currently nowhere) and liches (ditto). They, along with the 'general undead' section here could remain as the List of undead-themed video games with the other articles being pointed out in the article lead. How does that sound? Someoneanother 18:36, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Grim Fandango?
There is no mention of Grim Fandango in this page :( —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.99.57.151 (talk) 15:10, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
 * They're not undead, they're just dead. 71.231.55.200 (talk) 03:13, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

Skeletons?
There is also no mention of skeletons, which should be considered undead alongside the other monsters. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.24.14.191 (talk) 05:16, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed, both liches and skellies could share a section. Someoneanother 16:33, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Zombie Master in 'small roll' section?
Is there a reason why Zombie Master is listed under the small roll section? 66.191.19.68 (talk) 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Because the list is knackered. Doing my best to fix and expand it... Someoneanother 16:33, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

What type of creatures does Resident Evil 5 have?
I haven't played Resident Evil 5, but maybe someone who has, or someone who is familiar with it, could inform us about what type of creatures it has, because it isn't on this list. 74.66.227.110 (talk) 07:42, 22 March 2009 (UTC)
 * The zombie-type enemies in RE5 are the same as RE4 - caused by Las Plagas, a parasite. RE5 Las Plagas are engineered to resist sunglight, unlike their RE4 counterparts, but they're basically the same. When the list is more complete and in better condition perhaps they could split into the 'other zombie' section with an explanation. Someoneanother 19:32, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

not parasistic zombies
the in  resident evil 4 and 5  and there other  things like lickers  crimson heads  there futor mutation user name dwanstephen  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dwanstephen (talk • contribs) 21:12, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Removed Left 4 Dead
Since, according to the article: "An important distinction is that the infected are not traditional undead zombies, but rather living humans infected with a rabies-like pathogen. They are never seen eating human flesh or brains, as traditional zombies are generally portrayed to do, instead simply single-mindedly attacking the survivors." DP 76764 (Talk) 17:28, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Similiar, lengthy discussions have occurred regarding 28 Days Later in relation to classifying it as a zombie movie. While I would agree that L4D does not depict traditional zombies, it does contain nearly every other element of the undead and Zombie apocalypse genres.


 * Furthermore, the infected look and act like zombies in many respects. True, they don't eat brains or flesh, but there are plenty examples of zombie and undead fiction in which the that element is missing altogether.  A good example in the film world would be the original White Zombie.


 * In the final analysis, I'd like to see it continued to be listed as it is an important entry into the genre. This is a genre that continues to grow and evolve and L4D is on the vanguard.  It's inclusion or not, will have to be left to consensus.


 * I would agree, however, that the differences should be noted in the entry. Surv1v4l1st (Talk 18:51, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
 * On further consideration, I believe you are correct. Though, perhaps, the description of the definition in this article could be expanded to mention that the genre is still growing (a similar statement appears in the epic film article); a quick glance through this article kind of implied that the genre was well defined and fairly static.  Boldness isn't always borne up. ;)  DP 76764  (Talk) 19:37, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds good on the description idea. Thanks for the note. :) Surv1v4l1st (Talk 20:48, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Kyros, Pathways Into Darkness, Chiller
Please consider adding adding these three games. --Radical Mallard June 17, 2009, 2:17 AM EST
 * Kyros
 * Pathways Into Darkness
 * Chiller (video game)
 * I'll take a look at all of them when the main work with the list is done. There are a great many games not on this list, either due to lacking a WP article or because nobody made the connection yet. Someoneanother 19:33, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately none of these is proving possible to do anything with ATM. I can't find any decent sources for Pathways to Darkness, so can't be sure it belongs and can't cite any description. Kyros seemingly has no reliable sources available at all, neither does ''Chiller'. Hopefully this will change in the future :/ Someoneanother 13:01, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Undead themed?
Half of these games are not about zombies. What a load of bullshit! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.96.118.177 (talk) 23:56, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Clive Barker's Jericho
Clive Barker's Jericho has what appears to be a rude comment attached to it. Please rectify. 96.23.202.155 (talk) 00:05, 18 November 2009 (UTC) It appears that user 192.249.47.70 made the comment and has previously made erroneous entries to wiki. Changes have been made since his last entry and I am loath to revert back to before the edit. 96.23.202.155 (talk) 00:09, 18 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Reverted, thanks for pointing it out. Someoneanother 18:33, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Heroes of Might and Magic
I'm wondering whether the HoMM series should be added to the list or not. Zombies aren't a "central theme" in all of the games per se, but there's an necro faction, and the undead are featured in many of the large, important campaigns. Any views on this? 84.202.252.37 (talk) 20:07, 19 November 2009 (UTC)
 * In my humble opinion it would dilute the relevant items here, as similar series/games in the list are already doing. For instance, having Dungeons & Dragons listed isn't very helpful, there are scads of them yet very few are undead themed, those which I found are listed separately. The list still has a lot of listings which need deleting and others which need clarifying (for instance, Oblivion isn't here just because there are vampires in it, the player can play through the game as a vampire if they wish, and are damaged by sunlight etc). The more weak examples and seemingly weak examples which haven't been clarified, the more difficult it will be to prevent even more weak examples being added. Someoneanother 12:51, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Proposed split
After having thought about it for months now I think it's time to pare this unworkably large idea back to basics and split out into three specific lists:


 * List of zombie video games (the existing list should be renamed to this)
 * List of vampire video games
 * List of ghost video games

Having worked on the list for a long time, trying to continue on the same theme by adding new sections, filling it out etc. etc. I've become increasingly aware of what this was at one time (just a list of zombie games) and ever more aware that we're missing a trick. The three lists above represent each real 'fandoms' and all have a lot of representatives which are still coming thick and fast.

If someone wants a list of zombie games then they want Zombie Revenge and all the rest of it, not these other vague varieties. For instance, what we're calling 'other zombies' could mostly be summed up as 'things which are kinda like zombies, but aren't', which really seems to be defeating the purpose. It's difficult to justify cutting them out since this list is so vague as it stands. I'm all for transferring 'modern horror zombies' across and letting that be the zombie game list, sod the rest, then adding links to the misc. zombie game articles which are missing.

Moving those three out would leave only groupings too small (mummies, liches), vague (revenant) or unrelated (werewolves), which could either be covered in general lists for monsters of that type or just folded away. In case anyone thinks "there aren't enough of each for separate lists" then rest assured that what's here is not what's available, there are scads of missing titles for all three lists.

If nobody responds I'll open this discussion to the videogame project or open an RFC, despite this list receiving over a thousand hits a day this talk page sees no action. I really hope we can move forward to some more organized and useful lists. Someoneanother 17:53, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

To clarify (sorry, I was tired when I posted the above):

I would like this list to return to what it was, a counterpart to List of zombie novels and List of zombie films. There are easily enough games which could be classified in this way to support a list. The vampire and ghost lists could be split out. That would eliminate the poorly-defined elements of this list and let zombie, ghost and vampire fans get their fix without wading through anything else. I would be happy to continue to work on all three, filling-out and citing, but the list as it stands is sapping my enthusiasm TBH. Someoneanother 00:44, 8 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Some heavy editing later and it's coming together. Having been chewing it over for a little while it has become apparent that the need to only include games which strongly feature zombies (/ghosts/vampires) is the right way to go (the same with any kind of list or category, weak examples mean weak lists). What has become apparent is that trying to focus on strictly Romero-zombies is going to cause consternation, even Left 4 Dead has a different variant of zombie. In a sense that's why the list as it is/was has been broken down into different types, the problem with that route is that it has encouraged well-meaning contributors to drag in ever weaker examples of what could be called a zombie game of any kind, exemplified by the addition of werewolves somewhere along the line.


 * The way to fix that is to incorporate into the main zombie game list any games which strongly feature enemies which are referred to as zombies or likened to them, and to remove games which don't strongly feature zombies/variants or to remove those with enemies which aren't strongly identified as zombies. Any game featuring what could be considered zombies can be backed up with sources to that effect, I'll try to do that as I go along. What we as editors can more accurately determine is which games strongly feature zombies of any variant. To this end I will be integrating Prototype and Dead Space into the main list, and working through the other zombie sub-lists by either integrating or deleting the entries. I've already removed most of the other general undead sub-lists and will be doing so with the general undead one. Someoneanother 07:50, 10 April 2010 (UTC)