Project Zomboid Reviews

I played over 1500 hours on build 41, and I absolutely loved it. But build 42 turned into a frustrating mess. After each patch something new is broken. Or something everyone loved is changed or removed. Making that you need to download mods to fix what they broken. Sadly I think I will be uninstalling the game after this review after hours of fun that I had on the game. I hope the devs can restore the game back to the game e once loved in time.

Meh... How is this game still an Early Access Game? I've lost faith in the Dev Team. Promised build 42 almost a year ago and what is released, is unplayable and in shambles. A total disaster and they are slow to make any progress. On the Multiplayer side, most server owner just throw hundreds of mods together and fingers-crossed they all work. Normally they don't. Problems with poor server balancing ranging from XP, to loot and zombie population respawn rates. Too high or too low. Servers with admins that are over zealous, self entitled and not community / player friendly focused, playing favoritism and host events just to abuse admin powers against the players. This use to be a fun game with a fun community.

You will never see the end of this game's life cycle, nor the completion of core gameplay aspects. Also, good luck with b42 and beyond. Your kids are gonna love it.

I have owned this game since nearly 2013. In that time I can honestly say the dev team has made maybe 10-15% more progress on the game writ large. There are (not exaggerating) hundreds if not thousands of promised features still not added to the game. 9 million copies sold and this game still does not have -NPCS -Vehicle Customization -Weapon Customization -Events -Story -Radio -Music -Zombie Variants -Dynamic Weather -Seasons -New Maps -New Weapons -New Vehicles -New Traits This game is Star Citzen levels of bloat and mismanagement.

[b]So what does it mean to engage with PZ's EA then?[/b] [h1]Natural and Unnatural lifetimes[/h1] I onboarded on B40 and B41 was to me a major step up both in terms of added features and systems as well as graphics and animations. In many respects, B41 was the most massive build they ever released to date. It released to critical acclaim in October 2019 and is still currently the stable build for PZ. This is the first point of note. The development schedule is nothing if not agonizingly long and you should know it is that way before you engage. Below is a handy chart of timeframes in the past builds up to now. As per the latest communicated roadmap, at least 48 builds are planned, so i will simply let everyone do the maths based on the below and imagine when you may or may not see this come out of E.A. Build Release Final Release B42 Dec 2024 (No ETAs) B41 Oct 2019 Dec 2022 B40 June 2018 Dec 2018 [h1]What vision?[/h1] So you may now consider okay, i am going to have do to a lot of waiting, but i do enjoy the current build. Surely it's okay right? Well here are examples from my (slightly) longer experience to demonstrate that with The Indie Stone more than other EA indie companies, you may very well find yourself in a situation whereby you enjoy a particular build, then find the next one to be a dramatic shift in vision on many design aspects and spaces and you just simply no way of knowing ahead of time... Because in the last 5 years+ it simply was not the direction this was going. I have witnessed complete 360s on many game loops, from foraging, fishing, firearms, crafting, etc. Some of them may have been positive in my eyes i will concede, but some are just puzzling because they really give you the unshakeable feeling that this is a company which navigates without visual and without a definitive idea, or vision of what it is that they seek to achieve exactly, or more specifically what shape it will have. As a matter of fact, in many, many ways I find build 42 to thus far be a whole step down from 41 in terms of enjoyability and design. Buyer beware, simply liking the current build here is not indicative that you will enjoy this long term at all. [h1]What is B42?[/h1] B42 overhauls crafting (though not completely. View it as a tentative incomplete draft), in a way that is so far poorly thought out, tedious and unfun. It's also dramatically at odds with previous builds designs both in terms of philosophy and quality of life. It also adds sometimes questionable features that depending on your affinity for randomness may vary from mildly amusing to annoying or pointless (ragdolling, animal husbandry, fluid mechanics, weapon parts system) But it also brought some positives: map update, engine update, more verticality, lighting update. You may like B42 but come to strongly dislike subsequent builds because TIS does not know where it's going with PZ, and if they know, they sure aren't telling you. [h1]EA is for community feedback, right?[/h1] Well not in this case, sorry to say. My experience with it shows TIS is one of the companies doing EA that are the least interested in even registering your feedback (positive, or negative, by the way). They seem to have a very, very high opinion of themselves and as such they simply do not require your input. As an EA buyer, you're not even in on the beta branches. See builds go through 1 release, then they get polished for a year or two. This is referred to by TIS as the Unstable > Stable scheme. In reality long before there is such a thing as an "unstable" release, beta branches are issued, but they're not opened to you, thus simply defeating the point of E.A in the first place. You are welcome to voice your opinion about unstable builds but it will never be acknowledged, or feedback be considered. They're simply not interested in what you have to say. (in fact, it would be convenient if you said nothing at all) [h1]EA as a business model.[/h1] Project Zomboid was barely a bleep on the radar before build 41. They've since then benefited from a virality of note and they do surf on it. TIS has acknowledged multiple times that in all ways Build 41 was a ready-for-release game, but they've since figured out that they could benefit from the hype-surfing tied to EA, the multiple build releases virality and the relative mild scrutiny tied to it being an EA title. They even acknowledge it in their publicly available filings and strategic investor reports as such. They are also fully aware they're circumventing the Steam Guidelines for EA which state that EA is not for crowdfunding development of a product that is ready for a release. This is now by far the title holding the record for longest game in EA and there seems to be no end in sight for it, given that this "vision" of theirs seems to be ever shifting and undefined over the years. They simply figured they do better staying in EA and enjoying the mild-scrutiny and repeating cycles of launch hypes compared to releasing once and then continuing development to polish their title. It's not a bug, it's a feature. [h1]Constantly reinventing the wheel[/h1] Well this is where i casually drop the fact that this game is coded in LUA and Java, (yes, in 2025) and that TIS has announced (not to the community, but through their financial statements for the fiscal year ended 24) a full rewrite of their code to be in the cards for the future following the release of B42 (no ETA™). Given the roadmap for future builds anticipated 48 builds, all dedicated to implementing NPCs (and finishing the implementation of the incomplete crafting overhaul. You can then imagine how much further a full code refactor will delay the release of this title. This perpetual reinventing of the wheel can also be seen through the 360s taken over and over again on loops such as fatigue, crafting, fishing, foraging, zombie placement, etc. An unfamiliar eye could see this and view it as a will to always do better, but over the years i've started to see it for what it actually is: Proof they simply do not know where they're going, and a will to milk the fact Valve does not enforce their own EA policies. Yet something more to be cognizant of fore you buy. [h1]Communication[/h1] TIS was known in the past to commit to Weekly-turned-monthly "thursdoids" to touch base with their community, and it was a very welcome and appreciated thing, given that with TIS it's a 1-way communication channel where they drip-feed you news during the year(s) long periods of waiting between builds. Those have gone the way of the dodo for the last 8 months. This has been replaced with nothing. Word on the street is they may or may not resume once B42 comes out of "unstable". So judging by B41 and past releases, the situation may continue for the next 2-3 years. [h1]Conclusion and TLDR[/h1] Judging from my playtime, it's safe to assume i have had my money's worth with this game. I've enjoyed B40 and B41 and I will survive PZ's current downward trend. But to the prospective buyer i'd just like to reiterate the various warnings you ought to be aware of in a short-form. [h3]+[/h3] B41 is fun and can give you hundreds (or thousands) of enjoyable playtime [h3]-[/h3] B42 is a full step down from B41 in many game design aspects [h3]-[/h3] Development times are beyond agonizingly slow [h3]-[/h3] TIS simply does not care for your feedback. [h3]-[/h3] TIS does not communicate well with their community at all. [h3]-[/h3] in 2025, TIS appointed a community moderator who is on a bullying and harassment power-trip, though i'm sure they'll draw the attention of their supervisors for it eventually. Best of luck to TIS for the future, though grateful for the many enjoyable hours, I think it's fair to call out issues for what they are. TIS has some very talented people on board and there is still hope for this title. But i trust by reading this you get a sense for why i just can't recommend this as it is.

If you hate yourself and want to get touched up by more zombies than you can handle and lose tens of hours worth of progress to 1 zombie because you didn't sweep a building and check every corner like a navy seal then this is the game for you. 10/10, would cry myself asleep again

The game is painful, annoying, and will bust your balls. If you're okay with that. Very fun zombie game.

The best Z-Game ever. Especially in Coop and Multiplayer. Cant wait for the stable Build 42.

I start playing, expecting to be some zombie slaying legend. Instead, I get bit and slowly start dying after my first fight with zombies. Probably the most realistic scenario I've ever experience in a zombie game. 10/10

After over 100 hours of this game, i have only now started having fun. edit: i take it back i hat this game with my whole heart and you should never play it. 10/10