Highlights
- Unturned, developed by a 16-year-old, is a popular game with millions of players that offers intense zombie survival action.
- Other similar indie games like Death Road to Canada, Project Zomboid, and Sir, You Are Being Hunted also provide challenging and immersive experiences.
- No More Room in Hell 2 and Stranded II offer darker and grittier survival gameplay, while Castleminer Z ramps up the intensity with aggressive enemies and a focus on resource management in multiplayer mode.
Considering that the game has been played by over 30 million players and always has a significant number of people playing it on Steam, it's astonishing that Unturned was developed by a teenager who was just 16 years old when the game launched. While the game is often compared to Roblox for its blocky visual aesthetic, this is largely where the similarities end as Unturned is a much more intense and competitive game that tasks the player with trying to survive in a world full of zombies.
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Collecting resources, avoiding radiation, and investing in upgrades are all at the center of Unturned's gameplay, with it being fairly straightforward to understand, but still a challenging experience, especially on the harder difficulties. For anyone who may have enjoyed their time spent with Unturned but might be looking for a new zombie survival indie game to get stuck into, the good news is there are plenty of them to enjoy, and these are among the best ones available to try out right now.
6 Death Road To Canada
In a world that's been completely infested by terrifying zombies, a band of trusty heroes must fight their way through the endless hordes to reach the only safe haven left, Canada. What ensues is a chaotic bloodbath where players must stick together to stand any chance of making it all the way to Canada in one piece, but while it's definitely a little more hectic than Unturned, Death Road to Canada still has that comical edge to it that makes it a joy to play through.
One of the core features of the game is the car which players will need to hop in between areas, but as they drive along, they'll come across various strangers who they can either pick up or leave behind. Since the game plays as a rogue-like, players will begin a fresh run each time they start, but thanks to the randomly generated areas, it ensures that the game never gets boring or predictable, even after several hours of playing.
5 Project Zomboid
Project Zomboid has come a very long way since it was first released for early access back in 2011, with the game having received constant support and updates by developers The Indie Stone to make it as polished and fun as it can possibly be. While there are plenty of weapons, fortifications, and extra tools to utilize, the aim of the game is simple, survive as long as possible against mindless hordes of brain-hungry zombies by any means necessary.
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Once players spawn into a map after picking their character's traits and appearance, they will not only have to find a place to hunker down before the zombies arrive, but will also need to keep a close eye on their personal needs like hunger, stress, and even boredom. While this certainly sounds intense, and it certainly can be once enough time passes, because the Romero-style zombies will only slowly walk towards the player similar to those found in Unturned, it gives the player plenty of time to react, making for an extremely immersive experience that only gets better as it goes on.
4 Sir, You Are Being Hunted
Rather than zombies being the main enemies featured in Sir, You Are Being Hunted, it's maniacal robots dressed as Victorian gentlemen which are just as frightening and will use everything at their disposal to snoop out the player. While Unturned can definitely make the player feel fairly ill-equipped at first, after a few days go by, and they begin investing in upgrades, it's not long before they're able to deal with any enemies that step in their way with ease which can become a little boring after a while.
Sir, You Are Being Hunted ensures that the player is always on the backfoot, but still encourages them to scavenge for supplies and tools to escape their pursuers. It's actually very impressive just how advanced the AI in the game is, making them seem truly obsessive in their hunt. For example, if the robots stumble upon a mechanical part that the player can use, they will guard the area with sentry guns to stop anyone from getting close, and if they haven't seen the player in a while, they'll even set out in hot air balloons and send guard dogs to sniff them out instead.
3 No More Room In Hell 2
No More Room in Hell 2 is a much darker and grittier zombie survival experience when compared to Unturned, but its focus on immersion and resource management really helps it stand out as one of the best games in the subgenre today. Because the maps are randomly generated, it ensures that the player can't just learn the tricks of the trade and hide in the same place every game. Instead, the game forces survivors to use their intuition, as if they really had been dropped into a post-apocalyptic world and must now use their quick thinking to stay alive.
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Where the game really captures that sense of fun and excitement, though, that can be found in Unturned is when banding together with a few buddies online. Frantically looking for a house to stay in and looting everything in sight will be what most survivors will resort to doing in the first few moments of a game, but as the team grows and their equipment improves, it creates a sense of comradery that so many other co-op games fail to achieve quite as well as this one.
2 Stranded II
Stranded II is quite a bit different from Unturned in the sense that it doesn't actually feature any zombie enemies, but what it does share is an addictive gameplay loop of finding creative ways to survive in a desperate situation. Therefore, it's a lot more peaceful and serene than Unturned in its tone, but for anyone who enjoyed building bases and constructing tools in that game more so than the zombie slaying, Stranded II is a must-play.
While the first day or two may seem pretty easy when loading into the map for the first time, players will quickly realize that their thirst and hunger bar will begin to drop extremely quickly if they don't take the time to seek out resources. Since it's a deserted island though, it won't be long until all the food has been picked, so players will need to think outside the box to find more and will also be forced to go hunting after the sun goes down to stay alive long enough to, hopefully, make it off the island in one piece.
1 Castleminer Z
Alongside sharing the same blocky art design from Unturned, Castleminer Z is also incredibly similar in the way it plays, though things can go wrong a lot quicker in Castleminer Z due to just how aggressive the enemies are. In classic Castleminer style, players must mine the resources that they will need to use to build structures and construct weapons, and if they don't start doing this as soon as they spawn, they can expect to get surrounded by hungry zombies very quickly.
Where the game really shines, though, is when playing with up to 7 other players online. Of course, everyone's aim should be to, first and foremost, survive the hordes of zombies and demons headed their way, but don't be surprised if some of the humans also start turning on one another for their own selfish gain. Castleminer Z is essentially Unturned ramped up to 11 with scarier enemies, a much bigger focus on resource management, and a fantastic multiplayer mode that never gets old.