I've written before about how Project Zomboid is one of the scariest, most impactful games in the undead survival genre, primarily because of when it's set – as opposed to a lot of its contemporaries, which begin months or years after the apocalypse has wiped out society, Zomboid takes place right on the cusp of the collapse, so you can actually watch the normal world dying in front of your eyes. This is also where Quarantine Zone, which is already speeding up the Steam wishlist charts, mines its horror. With elements from The Forest, petrifying horror game The Mortuary Assistant, and Lucas Pope's Papers, Please, Quarantine Zone's new demo is already getting raves.
It's the end of the world as we know it, and the civilian survivors of the zombie outbreak are fleeing from the cities. In Quarantine Zone, you're a government agent stationed at one of many military checkpoints. Each day, people arrive at your gates hoping to be itted to one of the heavily guarded safe areas. But there's a problem. Some of them have already contracted the zombie virus and they're trying to hide it from you. Using a variety of scanners and diagnostic tools, you need to examine each would-be survivor for symptoms of the undead contagion.
Are their eyes going red? Is their breathing labored? Do you see any unusual marks on their body? If you think they're safe, send them through. If you're not sure, put them into temporary quarantine. And if they're definitely infected, summon a guard, and he'll take them out the back and shoot them in the head. You also need to deliver supplies, build upgrades for the checkpoint, and ration provisions among the staff and civilians. Quarantine Zone becomes a combination of strategy games, as you balance the budget between more guns or more food.
The new Quarantine Zone demo arrived on Thursday May 22. Already, it's attracted a peak of more than 17,000 concurrent players, and a 91% positive rating on Steam. Added to that, the game has jumped up the global wishlist chart; more than 600,000 people have bookmarked Quarantine Zone, meaning it's higher on the rankings than even State of Decay 3. If you want to try the demo for yourself, head here.
Otherwise, try some of the best horror games on PC today.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We've also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with of the team and fellow readers.