Zombies have been a staple of the horror world for decades now, with iconic movies like White Zombie and Night of the Living Dead cementing their place in history.
It’s not just the movie world that’s obsessed with zombies, either. The undead hordes have stumbled their way into game developer’s brains (mmmm, brains) and there are scores of incredible games to pick from as a horror or action fan.
To help you pick out the best of the bloodthirsty bunch, I’ve handpicked the 10 best zombie games for Nintendo Switch that you need to play this year.
With everything from iconic action games and RPG titles, to simulation games and a heap of brilliant indie gems, there’s sure to be a zombie-themed Switch game to tickle your fancy.
Zombie Night Terror
Starting off strong, Zombie Night Terror is a puzzle game that’s reminiscent of older titles like Lemmings. This indie title will be great if you’re a fan of spooky, silly puzzles, and it’s ideal for B-horror fans.
In Zombie Night Terror, you’ll have to control an ever-growing horde of the undead to work your way through different levels and puzzles. You can infect new people and use special skills to interact with the puzzles, like making specific zombies explode. Each stage has different requirements, and it progresses in difficulty nicely.
This game looks great, with a charming pixel aesthetic and a color scheme that consists of black, white and lots of bloody red.
It plays decently on the Nintendo Switch, although it’s worth noting that the controls can be a bit finicky in places and the touchscreen controls seem to work much more efficiently.
Zombie Night Terror is a fun, puzzling game with a decent difficulty curve. If you’re willing to sink in a little time to get the hang of the controls, this is one of the most entertaining zombie puzzlers on the Nintendo Switch and I highly recommend it.
Deadcraft
It took me a while to think of what genre to put Deadcraft in, and I’m still not entirely sure. This game involves farming, hack-and-slash combat, survival and crafting, alongside obvious zombie and apocalypse themes.
In Deadcraft, you play as a half human and half zombie character named Reid, guiding him away from dangerous enemies and out of a mysterious city called the Ark. Reid ends up in an abandoned wasteland, and has to survive from there by gathering resources, fighting enemies and maintaining a hideout.
Deadcraft follows a simple gauge management system that’s common in survival games, with you having to maintain stats like hunger.
There’s a twist, though: eating human food means you lose some of your zombie abilities, and eating humans as food means you lose your ability to blend in with people. It’s a neat mechanic.
Other than that, there’s a wanted system which can bring about new enemies, and a decent crafting system as well. Resources gathering and management can feel cumbersome at first, so I’d lean towards recommending this game for experienced survival game fans.
Deadcraft is a unique addition to the bank of the best zombie games on Nintendo Switch, and it’s worth checking out.
On the whole, it plays well and looks decent. There’s plenty of content to keep you busy, and it has a good sense of progression to it as well.
Dying Light
Dying Light is an iconic title in the world of zombie games, and this Nintendo Switch port is a must-play for any fans of FPS and RPG hybrid titles. It’s fast-paced, bloody and a lot of fun.
In Dying Light, you play as Kyle Crane, who is a member of the post-apocalypse organization Global Relief Effort. Kyle ends up almost being bitten by a zombie while searching for someone who apparently has a cure for the virus, and ends up joining a group of battle-weary survivors in the role of a scout.
This game has the perfect amount of narrative sprinkled into the mix. The story is well-written and easy to engage with, but it’s clear that the focus is meant to be the combat and the city exploration/survival elements.
Dying Light plays well on the Nintendo Switch, with no notable performance quirks. It looks decent, and the in-game systems like the skill trees have been organized in a logical manner.
I’m a big fan of this game, and I’d absolutely recommend checking it out. It’s got a heap of content for you to sink your teeth into, and contains just enough of a good story to make defeating zombies and doing parkour even more fun.
Death Road to Canada
If you’re a fan of roguelike titles, this action-adventure game is one that you can’t miss out on. Death Road to Canada is funny, bloody and full of memorable characters.
In this game, you’ll need to tackle each randomly generated adventure and try to get your party of survivors through a horde of zombies to the safety of Canada. The results depend on the actions that you choose, and each survivor has different abilities.
There’s plenty to keep you busy in this game, as it requires you to manage supplies, maintain your party’s wellbeing, organize scavenging trips and fight zombies, as well as making you deal with difficult scenarios like bandits or potential survivor camps.
Visually, Death Road to Canada is wicked. A lot of indie games opt for this sort of retro art style, and this game pulls it off perfectly. It has intuitive controls and plays decently in both handheld and docked, with no notable performance issues.
Roguelike games might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re looking for an interesting spin on a zombie survival game, I suggest taking a peek at this one. It’s goofy and fun, but has plenty of action and replay value too.
Resident Evil: Revelations Collection
Resident Evil is a household name when it comes to battling the undead, and it wouldn’t have been a complete list of Switch zombie games without the Resident Evil: Revelations Collection.
This is one of the best horror collections on the Switch, combining both Resident Evil Revelations and Resident Evil Revelations 2 into one neat package.
Both games follow interesting storylines, with the first game taking place on an abandoned cruise ship that’s full of zombies and the second game taking place on a disarmingly remote island.
Each game features fan favorite characters like Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine.
I was happy to see that both games play well on the Switch too, with no performance issues to report. The controls take a moment to pick up (as with any Resident Evil game, honestly) but it’s worth it.
The Resident Evil: Revelations Collection offers great value for money, coming with extra unlockable content, a bonus game mode and character costumes, too. Resident Evil is a legendary franchise in the world of horror and survival games, and this zombie collection is a real powerhouse.
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season
This collection of game episodes is a must-play for any zombie game fans.
The Walking Dead is a modern classic in the zombie world, with iconic comics, a hit TV show and games. This game is immensely powerful, with a story-driven style of play that makes every choice feel meaningful and every character feel important.
The game starts off following Lee, a former professor who is on his way to jail for murder. The apocalypse begins to unfold around him, and he manages to escape the police car. Lee ends up in a paternal role caring for a girl (Clementine) with missing parents, trying desperately to keep them both alive and to reunite her with her family.
This game is emotional, and has some incredible performances from everyone involved. I think it’s fair to say that this title contains some of the best voice acting on the Nintendo Switch, and it’s matched by some brilliant graphics and a decent technical performance too.
I won’t dive into the story much further as it would be too easy to spoil it and it’s something that you should experience first hand.
If you want a change of pace from the traditional zombie shooters and survival horror games, this is an absolute must and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Zombie Driver: Immortal Edition
This title is an updated port of an older zombie game that I think works wonderfully on the Nintendo Switch. Zombie Driver is a chaotic, goofy and fast-paced game with plenty of gore and carnage.
While this may not be the most sophisticated driving game on the Switch, it can’t be denied that Zombie Driver contains some satisfying core gameplay. Playing as a taxi driver in the middle of the apocalypse, you’ll have to help out other survivors and defeat zombies while driving a weaponized vehicle through the bloodthirsty hordes.
This game offers a surprising amount of value, coming with all previous DLC and multiple game modes to play through.
There’s a decent story mode, Slaughterhouse mode which is essentially a series of endless zombie waves and Blood Race mode which puts you in a gauntlet. There’s heaps of vehicles to pick from, too.
Visually, the game looks fine and it performs well on the Nintendo Switch. The graphics are endearingly silly, in my opinion, and they work perfectly for the style of play that this game offers. Certain elements like the mini map are a little out of place and hard to see, but the game plays well as a whole.
Zombie Driver: Immortal Edition is fast-paced, ridiculous and incredibly fun to play through.
Deadly Days
Deadly Days is a deceptively charming rougelite indie game that offers a steep difficulty curve and a whole lot of fun.
The premise here is simple. You need to get your band of survivors out of the zombie apocalypse, surviving the hordes of the undead. You have to manage resources, pick your battles and care for your survivors, all while dealing with the prospect of imminent death.
Deadly Days is difficult. It’s certainly not a game that I’d recommend for brand new gamers, but it does present a nice level of challenge for gamers looking for something more captivating to test their skills out on.
The aesthetic is great, and it looks wonderful on the Nintendo Switch. There are no performance issues or quirks to report on, and the overall user experience is pleasant. It’s clear that the developers had a lot of fun putting this game together, which is always nice to see.
If you’re looking for a challenge, Deadly Days could be the perfect pick for you. It offers plenty of replay value, with a daily challenge leaderboard to keep things interesting. It’s not the most accessible game in the world in terms of difficulty, but it is a lot of fun.
Resident Evil: Origins Collection
My bias as a Resident Evil nerd might be showing a little in this article, but it felt wrong leaving the Resident Evil: Origins Collection out of this list. This collection features both the original Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0.
Both titles in this collection combine everything that Resident Evil fans know and love about the franchise; puzzles that are slightly silly in nature, creepy monsters, creative camera angles and plenty of genuine scares.
Resident Evil 0 starts off on a train, and ends up hurtling towards an abandoned training facility associated with the nefarious Umbrella Corporation. It’s a decent intro for newer Resident Evil players to get to grips with the controls and inventory management,.
Resident Evil takes place in the iconic mansion in the Arklay Mountains, with Chris Redfield/Jill Valentine searching for the S.T.A.R.S Bravo team that went missing. Creepy shenanigans ensue, with plenty of puzzles to solve along the way.
I won’t go into the story too far, as I don’t want to spoil it. It feels very much like a B-horror film, in the best way possible, and I’d highly recommend checking it out.
These games both look and play well on the Nintendo Switch, although the controls can be fiddly and tricky to pick up at first. Arguably, finicky controls are just part of the RE experience, though.
This franchise is legendary for a reason and I highly recommend playing through this collection. The story is interesting, the puzzles present a decent challenge and the combat is a lot of fun, too. What’s not to love?
Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville Complete Edition
Changing pace entirely from the last entry in this list, Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville Complete Edition is a fun, engaging puzzler with plenty of zombies.
There are a large number of great puzzle games on this handheld, and this one is an absolute gem. In this game, you’ll have to work with the garden plants around you to battle against the shambling hordes of the undead, using various special skills and abilities to keep them at bay.
There’s a lot of replay value here, with 24 unique characters to play and individual upgrades for all of them. The game offers up decently hefty campaigns to play through as well, with medals and objectives to work towards.
It’s not just single player content on offer, either. This game has a great multiplayer offering, with different modes like capture the flag and team deathmatch.
Visually, this game looks great. The character designs are fun, and the levels look great as well. It is worth noting that there are a few drops in framerate when things on screen get too chaotic. It’s nothing game-breaking but can be frustrating, especially in multiplayer.
This game is a must-have for any puzzle game fans or people looking for a casual zombie experience. It’s not the most intense game on the market by any means, but it’s a lot of fun and provides heaps of content to keep players busy for hours on end.
That brings an end to our round-up of the best zombie games on Switch, I hope you find at least one to pass the time with!
