Project zomboid more or less... set the settings to avoid zombie respawning.
this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2025
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There’s a fun indie game called Atom Zombie Smasher where you kind of do the opposite. Each stage has humans wandering around an urban area and zombies start streaming in and converting people. Your job is to move rescue assets around to evacuate as many people as possible before everything is overrun. Fun game, fun sound effects, graphics are like MS Paint.
I see there’s a sequel now, too.
Not quite it but interesting in its own way.
The Rebuild series by Northway Games has this exact premise. Rebuild 1 and 2 are made using flash, while Rebuild 3 is available on steam.
I remember I played those flash games all the time
Project Zomboid, Infection Free Zone, and State of Decay.
State of Decay has respawning. That's not what OP wants.
Are the zombies in Zomboid a set number? I find that hard to believe.
I didn't know that about SoD, I just thought that's why you move on to a new location when you eventually clear a zone.
In PZ, there are game settings you can tweak, all the way down to which events will happen and how often. There's a couple pages worth of settings just for zombies, including turning respawning off. I don't know the exact number of zombies that usually spawn (as there's a "population" setting too), but it's a lot.
It's been awhile, i need to check how the game is currently. That's really cool
Project zomboid with some modified game settings can be like this.
Although you'll probably also want to disable loot respawning alongside zombies if you do this, as otherwise it's way too easy to clear out a large area and be safe and bored there forever.
cataclysm bright nights (et al) does that. and very configurable to how you want to play.
I'd say the main problem with that playstyle in CDDA is it's almost a requirement to clear cities early, as leaving them be for too long will have enemies mutate into their higher tier forms. Past a few months you won't be able to make significant headway into a new city until you're nearly geared for endgame due to nearly every basic zombie having transformed into a special monster of some sort.
I feel like this game would end up being pretty grindy towards the end. Like -
First 10% - you battle your way into the city and set up a base of operations. You must ferociously hack your way through the hoard, making runs for food and ammo. 90% of the time you end up getting pinned down somewhere, and die. Sometimes, with the right skill, planning, and luck, you break out.
Next 10% - you found the military base, fuck yeeeeeeaaaaahhhhh!!!! Drive a tank around the city and light em up with the mini gun, wooooo!!!!
Next 30% - Go building by building, clearing each floor, room, etc.
Final 50% - "God fucking dammit, there's only 15 zombies left, uuuugh... have I checked this broom closet before? Yep..."
Middle of the 30% section - What do you mean Soandso disappeared after coming back from the mission with a possible bite? Why is there an alarm going off?
During the 'final 50%' - What do you mean there was an unchecked root cellar in the area where we just set up the orphanage? How many child zombies? So, how many sections are now possibly infected on the wrong side of the wall?
Honestly, with Frostpunk kinds of despair vibes, that would kick ass.
It could make for a real emotional rollercoaster. Yay, we cleared the first full neighborhood! Shit, we started a fire and it took out three blocks of possible stuff and a mile long section of our wall! Yay, we found an enclave of survivors. Shit, they're cannibals! Yay, we finally captured all but one burrough. Shit, the first neighborhood we captured let in what they thought were more reinforcements from HQ, but they were hit on the way and have no equipment, food, or supplies, just a lot of worrying wounds.