Project Zomboid, the isometric survival title from independent studio The Indie Stone, recently received one of its biggest updates yet. The game has had a long and difficult development over the past decade, but is now seeing a surge of popularity with the new addition of multiplayer.
Every game of Project Zomboid begins with character creation, during which players will do their best to build the ultimate zombie apocalypse survivor. The huge list of positive traits can offer powerful bonuses, but they must be paid for by taking equally punishing negative traits. For the best chance of survival, players will want to balance the most effective positive traits with the least detrimental negative traits.
The Four Best Positive Traits in Project Zomboid
Positive traits in Project Zomboid give players a specific advantage. Though all of them are useful in their own ways, the following traits are the best to pick up.
1. Wakeful
No one can fight zombies while they're half asleep, and more hours to scavenge means more loot gathered each day. The Wakeful trait reduces sleep required by 30% for the low cost of 2 points, allowing players to remain active and working for as long as possible.
2. Dexterous
Project Zomboid players will spend most of their time scavenging and storing supplies, which means a lot of dragging items in and out of the inventory. Unlike in many survival games, this process isn't instant, so the Dexterous trait can save a huge amount of time by increasing the transfer speed by 50%.
3. Keen Hearing
One of the many realistic features in Project Zomboid is a vision cone, meaning players can't see what's behind them until something comes close enough for them to hear it. Given that a single bite is fatal, being snuck up on by a zombie is one of the most dangerous threats in the game. The Keen Hearing trait greatly reduces the risk of this happening by doubling the size of the perception radius, giving players a few vital seconds of extra warning.
4. Lucky
Although players will spend a lot of their time looting zombie-infested locations in Project Zomboid, truly useful items can be few and far between. The Lucky trait will increase the chance to find rare loot by 10%, giving players an extra shot at finding that life-saving medicine or perfect weapon. As a bonus, Lucky also lowers the chance to fail item repairs by 5%, making it easier to maintain the essentials in the long run.
The Four Best Negative Traits in Project Zomboid
The opposite of positive traits, negative traits give players a specific disadvantage. Although having zero negative traits is ideal, the following four are the easiest negative traits to manage.
1. Weak Stomach
The number one negative trait, Weak Stomach's effect is so easy to avoid that it's practically free points. Weak Stomach increases the chance of food illness, but food illness is only a problem if players are eating rotten or ill-cooked food. Seeing that eating bad food is a terrible idea in a zombie survival game anyway, Weak Stomach barely counts as a weakness.
2. Underweight
There are some negative traits in Project Zomboid that can be overcome with a little effort, making them essentially free points later in the game. Underweight and Very Underweight may seem like terrible choices, but it isn't that hard to lose them simply by eating well and often.
3. High Thirst
Although it does become more problematic once the zombie apocalypse causes the water to be shut off, the High Thirst trait is really just a penalty to carry capacity. This is because players will find the trait fairly easy to deal with by simply carrying an extra water bottle, and making sure to keep it topped up.
4. Smoker
With a well-built character, Smoker might actually be considered a secret positive rather than a negative trait. This is because, in addition to its downside of giving constant stress gain, it boosts the stress loss from smoking. There are plenty of things to get stressed about in a zombie apocalypse, but as long as players can keep up a steady supply of cigarettes, they'll easily be able to keep their anxiety under control.
Project Zomboid is out now for PC.