How do you feel about spending time on video games?

I simply love this game. Its basically every zombie mod of every popular FPS (Counter-strike for instance), with a added sprinkle of realism. It's literally the only multiplayer shooter I never rage at. Its a game which "forces" you to work and rely on others, because a lone survivor might get chomped down in a second (unless he is really good at hiding) and a lonely zombie going against a group is certainly going to die again. In the Survival gamemode, survivors have to grab ammo, weapons, and hole up somewhere on the map, while zombies go after the survivors and do stuff zombies do. Survivors win when the time runs out and when the zombies drain their "life pool" (how many times zombies can respawn, can be fueled with extra survivors), and zombies win when they chomp down the survivors. Objective gamemode has survivors running across the map completing objectives such as "collect the fuel" or "start the generator" or even "await extraction", and zombies go after them to stop them. Zombies spawn indefinitely, so survivors cannot camp out (ammo can run out very soon).

In the end, its a very tense, but at the same time, fun and calming game. Every round is akin to a zombie movie. There are plans to be made on the spot, resources to gather, spots to protect/hide in. I love how the inventory system works. You might find a weapon, but you certainly won't find the right ammo, unless you are lucky. So when you spawn as a survivor, and you see a double-barreled shotgun in the corner, if you are experienced, as soon as you spot shotgun shells for it you are going to grab the shotgun and ditch the pistol. Too much ammo and weapons drags and slows down survivors. Besides, you don't want to haul assault rifle rounds when holding a pistol while having a zombie chase you right? Simple aspect, bit of skill in logistics and you are set for the time being. Although all the survivors can scavenge are ammo, weapons and barricading planks, that alone is enough to provide fun for the logistical thinker.

This all sounds simple and bland on paper, but when all of these elements mix you get a helluva experience. Cooperating with survivors, teaching newer players how to and what to, banding up with random strangers over where to go, it starts looking like a real life situation at hand. It gets really entertaining to "form a group" of survivors and clear-and-sweep a hallway, and alternatively, everyone getting the right idea over what to do, there would be a pistol-wielding scout speeder who would run back and toggle his flashlight on and off in case of emergency, or a scavenger who gathers all the planks and brings them over to the spot survivors holed up in. There would also be a rather scared newbie sitting in the corner pointing his pistol everywhere, or a lookout with a assault rifle sitting on top of the barricades and looking over the zombies. People cooperate because they have to. It feels like a game specifically designed to get better over time. I really love banding up with someone in the server, bringing them rounds for their revolver and getting pistol rounds in return, then exploring the map together for resources like the aforementioned planks, and bringing them over to the spot other survivors holed up in, all while talking about stuff.

What is oh-so-diffrent with this zombie game than the others, you ask? Well, for the fact is that it isn't a open-world spanning survivor-vs-survivor-vs-zombies game. Its a rather closed in game, across several maps (similar to Counter Strike in size, dimensions and design), and the only war in here is consisting of survivors-vs-zombies. So survivors are pretty much forced to cooperate if they plan on winning, and camping is a legitimate strategy. Frankly, the only toxic players in this game are the newbies. They press the panic key, start running away, grabbing all the wrong ammo and all the wrong weapons, and run off to fight the zombies alone, while being crushed by half his weight in munitions. I didn't do this as a newbie, rather, I would just grab some ammo and follow someone armed better, occasionally flashing my flashlight in case of danger and shooting back at zombies. It took me a while to understand how to cycle munitions, how to give them away to other players, and how to take guns, and unload their ammo for my gun, and most importantly, how to properly push objects to serve as barricades (there is a button or so for this thing, incredibly useful). That being said, newbies can learn quick on their mistakes and start cooperating, or they can rage off and leave the game altogether. There aren't any toxic pro players who rage at those less skilled for making mistakes, because anyone experienced knows that the newbies will eventually stop, listen and follow people. There aren't any pro hermits who haul off all the ammo, and take over a position and camp, while not letting in other survivors. If the survivors die, they turn into zombies, and more zombies = more trouble.

Zombie gameplay is simple. Zombies cannot have guns, and they cannot operate doors (unless the custom map/server has them do so), so they have to rely on mob strength of other zombies to make ambushes and cause panic. It can get tense when the zombies bust through the barricades and start mauling away at survivors. Even if all the survivors are intact, there is the problem of the open barricade that needs to be patched up, but that can be hard when zombies just keep coming and coming, it takes concentrated tactical effort to do so, one survivor has to push that couch back while the other survivor blasts off with the shotgun. That sounds easy, but in practice it gets tense and difficult. Either way, zombies are weak, yeah, have as much as health as a survivor does, but they can respawn (and in cases of the Objective gamemode, infinitely), adding pressure, as tadaah, all zombies are real players. Yeah, zombies are not bots. There aren't bots at all in the game. Every round starts with a single player or two being zombies, with one being the Carrier, effectively the leader of the zombies who can guide them using his special horde-guiding abilities. So, any zombie player with enough wit will know where the survivors are holing in, if they had been shot beforehand over there. They would just respawn and notify other zombies of where they are hiding, adding pressure for survivors who had their hiding spot blown open.

So yeah, I dunno why, I just don't rage at this game. In fact, I love playing this simply because I can help my team, and not be called a "tryhard" or "noob" in process. Despite being a survivors-vs-zombies game, there is 0 competitiveness. No ranks being gained, no reputation to uphold, just as you keep growing in skill you keep being a better human being. I don't mind getting mauled by a zombie no matter how stupid the situation was, I probably deserved it. In fact, when I turn zombie, I don't freak out or get mad, the game treats it as if I had changed teams, so why shouldn't I as well? And yes, I just strike back at the survivors I was friends with, because no one likes friendly zombies. Friendly zombies are often those people who cannot make it up for their skills so they want to attack survivors when they least expect it, that is just being dickish. Besides, the real fun part about being a zombie is forcing the survivor to reload and then attack, or somehow sneak by or find a hole in the defenses and destroy it all from the inside, causing panic and distress as whoop whoop five zombies coming at your face and you didn't reload your pistol (not like it would matter). All in all, a fun cooperative game with 0 competition, and 0 toxicity = 0 rage fuel. There is literally nothing to freak out over unless you are a noobface, however, one can be proud when they manage to jump back into the survivor hole with zombies on their back and reach safety. Fighting zombies is fun, but retreat is nothing to be ashamed of either, as in fact, it makes for a good zombie movie, seeing your fellow survivors clawed down, leaving you without bullets, all you can do is run for your life. And it gets tense. Ever seen that parkour zombie pov movie-that-kinda-turned-out-to-be-a-ad? That. That can be the game sometimes. Sometimes its hide-and-seek, and sometimes its a barricade defense. The formula consisting of simple elements created a complex and beautiful thing.

I should stop writing about it