Why didn't the zombie boom ever hit RPGs?

[rusty_shackleford]

The zombie boom is long over now and infected nearly everything, except it left behind only a handful of zombie RPGs(e.g., Dead State: Reanimated)
What's the reason for this?

[J1M]

Wouldn't have been novel. Most RPGs already have zombies. Players would expect it to quickly escalate to vampires.

[Valter]

The zombie boom is long over now and infected nearly everything, except it left behind only a handful of zombie RPGs(e.g., Dead State: Reanimated)
What's the reason for this?

Necromancers have always been a thing in RPGs. The average RPG enjoyer is already well familiar with undead and I would assume remain unaffected by the zombie craze that took over normies

[Tweed]

Because making a zombie rpg requires making a survival game on top and that takes a lot more work.

[Oyster Sauce]

The appeal of zombies is that there's exactly one type of enemy copy/pasted forever, something that isn't positively associated with most types of RPGs.

[rusty_shackleford]

The appeal of zombies is that there's exactly one type of enemy copy/pasted forever, something that isn't positively associated with most types of RPGs.

Plenty of zombie games have good enemy variety.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Games where you fight hordes of enemies were already a thing, and enemy factions that provided a visual variety of mobs (ie the alien not-zerg from Warframe) were preferred.

[Norfleet]

Because making a zombie rpg requires making a survival game on top and that takes a lot more work.

Honestly, the entire "survival game" genre is a sham. "Survival" is something you either solve within the first hour or so of the game, or you have already died and the game is over. From that point on, survival is merely an afterthought because you've already solved it. For "survival" to be a factor, game timescales would need to run WAY slower than they presently do, because otherwise, every survival need must necessarily be solved within the first hour or so, or else you don't survive.

The zombie boom is long over now and infected nearly everything, except it left behind only a handful of zombie RPGs(e.g., Dead State: Reanimated)
What's the reason for this?

Because in a traditional RPG, we expect a greater variety of undead than just ONE.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Honestly, the entire "survival game" genre is a sham. "Survival" is something you either solve within the first hour or so of the game, or you have already died and the game is over. From that point on, survival is merely an afterthought because you've already solved it. For "survival" to be a factor, game timescales would need to run WAY slower than they presently do, because otherwise, every survival need must necessarily be solved within the first hour or so, or else you don't survive.

IIRC the Long Dark during its beta had limited resources on the map, and you would have to move from place to place as you exhausted the local resources. So you would eventually die if the game went long enough, but you were supposed to try to get rescued before that happened.

[Oyster Sauce]

The appeal of zombies is that there's exactly one type of enemy copy/pasted forever, something that isn't positively associated with most types of RPGs.

Plenty of zombie games have good enemy variety.

It stops being a zombie game when you add enemies that fill the roll of a big ogre or a goblin or a ghost. You could call it a mutant game, I guess.

[rusty_shackleford]

The appeal of zombies is that there's exactly one type of enemy copy/pasted forever, something that isn't positively associated with most types of RPGs.

Plenty of zombie games have good enemy variety.

It stops being a zombie game when you add enemies that fill the roll of a big ogre or a goblin or a ghost. You could call it a mutant game, I guess.

left4dead isn't a zombie game?

[maidenhaver]

What if I could be a zombie knight and collect stuff to get my humanity back.

[Oyster Sauce]

Plenty of zombie games have good enemy variety.

It stops being a zombie game when you add enemies that fill the roll of a big ogre or a goblin or a ghost. You could call it a mutant game, I guess.

left4dead isn't a zombie game?

No, it's a fast infected game

[Tweed]

Honestly, the entire "survival game" genre is a sham. "Survival" is something you either solve within the first hour or so of the game, or you have already died and the game is over. From that point on, survival is merely an afterthought because you've already solved it. For "survival" to be a factor, game timescales would need to run WAY slower than they presently do, because otherwise, every survival need must necessarily be solved within the first hour or so, or else you don't survive.

plsstop.png

[asf]

zombies are boring

[J1M]

What if I could be a zombie knight and collect stuff to get my humanity back.

I can make this sell 10x as many copies by changing it to a vampire knight that collects stuff to get his humanity back.

[rusty_shackleford]

You could make a perfectly good resident evil-style survival horror RPG

The chassis for this stuff is already there: System Shock 2

[Valter]

Hell, even outside medieval fantasy RPGs zombies are prevalent. Fallout had ghouls, Mass Effect had husks... Hmm, did KOTOR have their own take on them? What about Rogue Trader? Any of you space RPG enjoyers know about this?

[rusty_shackleford]

Hell, even outside medieval fantasy RPGs zombies are prevalent. Fallout had ghouls, Mass Effect had husks... Hmm, did KOTOR have their own take on them? What about Rogue Trader? Any of you space RPG enjoyers know about this?

Kotor has the plague ghouls, yes.

[Norfleet]

I can make this sell 10x as many copies by changing it to a vampire knight that collects stuff to get his humanity back.

You know, I've never understood that one. Why would vampires want their humanity BACK? Being a vampire is a generally an upgrade, unlike being a zombie. You don't really want to be a zombie because being a zombie is generally bad, but being a vampire is generally neutral-to-good.

[J1M]

I can make this sell 10x as many copies by changing it to a vampire knight that collects stuff to get his humanity back.

You know, I've never understood that one. Why would vampires want their humanity BACK? Being a vampire is a generally an upgrade, unlike being a zombie. You don't really want to be a zombie because being a zombie is generally bad, but being a vampire is generally neutral-to-good.

You'll have to buy the game if you want to know more about the mysterious and brooding antihero.

[Norfleet]

You'll have to buy the game if you want to know more about the mysterious and brooding antihero.

No I don't. Someone will post it on the Youtube shortly before release anyway. Besides, a man of the sea never buys.

[Manny V]

this one doesn't seem like it'll be an RPG, but still, medieval zombie knights

[Roguey]

Dead State is a demonstration of why it's a bad idea. All you do is loot and kill zombies, it's repetitive and boring.

Chris Avellone tried to turn Dying Light into an RPG but what he wanted to do was far beyond the ability of the team.

[Ranselknulf]

The zombie boom is long over now and infected nearly everything, except it left behind only a handful of zombie RPGs(e.g., Dead State: Reanimated)
What's the reason for this?

The Last of Us was too good of a game for other zombie games to make it.

[Acrux]

How come no one has mentioned the long-awaited (overpriced) hit game Urban Strife?



I remember when the game was announced the consensus being the focus on zombies was weird because that fad is long over.

[Rand]

I would have thought it would be obvious, but...

Zombies are stupid. All they have is the horde and possibly an unprepared person vulnerable to their weak, easily defended against attacks.
With any good medieval weapon, they're meat for the slaughter. With modern machinery, they're almost literally grist for the mill.
Even adding in magical-mutant variants doesn't change this much.
This kind of thing appeals to normies, who have generally simple minds and like blam - enemy dead gameplay.
Normies rarely play RPGs, and often not for long. Look at BG3's completion rate.

By the way, have none of you recognized how the modern post-apocalypse zombie shows/movies and games (but especially the shows/movies) are blatantly anti-white?
I never see this mentioned. Which is odd, because it's kind-of obvious.
I'll leave it for an exercise to figure out. It's not too hard.

[J1M]

A zombie RPG might work if you were directing the zombies by playing as a necromancer. Similar to Overlord.

[enisey]

Because making a zombie rpg requires making a survival game on top and that takes a lot more work.

I think you're right. The appeal of a good zombie RPG wouldn't be the zombies or combat with them, it would be the survival aspect.

Not to start yet another RPG definition argument, but is Project Zomboid an RPG?

In PZ, you can level up practically everything related to surviving a zombie apocalypse, and that's where the RPG dopamine comes from. The zombies add tension to the world, but killing them to level up combat skills is a rather minor part of end-game goals. For the rest of the game, they're mainly there to force you to strategize.

[maidenhaver]

A zombie RPG might work if you were directing the zombies by playing as a necromancer. Similar to Overlord.

Was this the only Pikmin rip-off?