World War Z: Aftermath Review – Great in Co-Op

World War Z from Sabre Interactive has been a favourite co-op game of mine since its initial release back in 2019. Back then it was an Epic Games Store exclusive for PC gamers, and then World War Z: Aftermath bought the game to Steam. I spent many hours slaying zombies with my mates at release. This game gives you a bit more than just your run and gun shooter. There are plenty of things in the game that can turn a peaceful walk down zombie lane into an endless nightmare of bullets, explosions, corpses, and zombies who want to rip you apart for a light snack.

A favourite playstyle of mine in these first and third-person shooter games is “going loud”. Letting loose with every big gun and explosive at every chance. The great thing is that World War Z gives you that choice, but it comes with a flipside. Sneaking through an area using silenced weapons is great because you get time to search an area thoroughly for a better weapon or piece of equipment that will be handy later in the mission. Most times though a player accidentally fires a stray bullet into a car, the alarm sounds, and its go time. If you have seen the 2013 Paramount Pictures movie that the game is based on, once you awaken the horde, there’s an almighty raw as literally hundreds of zombies charge your position, clambering up and over each other forming zombie-walls as they try to get over obstacles to you and your team.

The Aftermath expansion brought a lot of new elements to the game. The Vanguard class is an interesting way to vary your zombie slaying styles. It’s basically getting up close and personal with the zombies by using a shield with electricity pulsing through it. Big blockage of zombies ahead of you? No problems. Whip the shield out and you can charge straight through them. It took me a little bit to get the hang of it but once I did, I had a lot of fun barreling through massive packs of zombies, watching as their corpses bounce off me as I charged.

One of the best additions the developers have added are the PvE campaign episodes. Each new area has an interesting story spread across the typical episodic style of game you experienced in the OG version. Two new maps were added with Aftermath, Rome (including Vatican City) and the Kamchatka peninsula, which added to full episodes in New York, Moscow, Marseille, Jerusalem, and Tokyo. I played both new maps for the first time and I loved them. They are short but fast paced and intense battles in fantastic new settings. The graphics and landscapes look incredibly detailed.

The first new area that I started my zombie slaying day off was the Kamchatka, Russia zone. This place is brutal if you don’t think about what you are doing and where you are going. The freezing cold weather adds an element of gameplay where the longer you stay out in the extreme weather, the colder you get. This of course affects your health in a big way if you don’t go and warm up near heaters that have been strategically placed around the map, then your history. It’s a bleak and miserable place but it has some of the best zombie engagements I’ve had in the game. Vatican City in Rome is the other new area in the game. The visual design looks great and the gameplay elements make for some exciting engagements that keep you locked, loaded and on edge all the way through to the end.

The story side of the game could still have been delivered better. I’ve read the book and watched the movie and feel the developers haven’t really tapped into that intensity that is prevalent in World War Z literature. I feel if that had been capitalised on through the game, like for example bringing a more intense feel of urgency and fear into the gameplay to survive these massive hordes of fast paced zombies, then it could have bought a better level of game engagement than what it delivers still today.

Aftermath introduced a first-person mode for players to experience the game with for the first time. It’s different to the third person style gameplay that I am used to and a lot of fun getting up close and personal, but I prefer my third person style for this game. More recently, at the end of March, the “Against All Odds” update was added for free and with this came new Jerusalem and New York horde mode maps, seven new mutators for Challenge Horde Mode, and a new melee weapon: the baton. You can read more about the latest update here.

One great thing about World War Z is that it delivers a bloody great coop experience with your mates. I am a massive co-op gaming fan, and this game continually brings a lot of fun into your gaming session. If you haven’t played the game at all or it’s been some time since you last had a crack at World War Z, I highly recommend you get into the game and give it a go. Cross-play also makes finding teammates a lot easier and while we always played two-player co-op with two AI units, it was never difficult to find groups to play with even today.

World War Z: Aftermath has added a lot of good improvements to the original version and keeps you wanting more. The insane situations the game throws you into slowly brings that “Oh my god there are thousands of them… we are so dead” type of fear into a crazy maniac smile as you grip hold of that .50 cal and let rip at the oncoming horde.

This review utilised Steam keys provided by Sandbox Strategies and World War Z: Aftermath is available now on Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox and PlayStation.

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