Last Updated on Sep 3, 2026 @ 18:31:44 PM.
Throughout the years, there have been dozens, if not hundreds, of survival games that have already made their mark upon the video game industry, but now Zeverland has entered the fray, and with its unique gameplay loop and cutesy art style, it could be a huge contender for a fun game.
Although the general surviving gameplay is pretty standard, Zeverland does a lot of new things when it comes to the genre, as it brings in NPCs that can help you during your ventures; you can even give them items to sherpa around for you. There are numerous quests you can follow, and the map is absolutely huge depending on the server you select. Along with this, there are various buildings for the player to explore, a whole base building system, and even a base building system that works with cars to make a mobile base! The options are limitless.
Sadly I wasn’t able to enjoy too much of Zeverland, as I only had an hour to play through the game, but during this time I was able to explore the game world a fair bit so that I could see what was in store for me, while also meeting one of the NPCs and having them follow me around, and I just simply enjoyed the gameplay loop and all that was buried within.
A big feature for me while I played the game was that the world was entirely free to explore with no limits for miles, as every house was accessible with things to search through, every car was stealable if I had the key or lock picks to take it, and driving through the woods, albeit dangerous, was completely fun to do, as it shortened my journeys by a drastic amount.
When it came to actually driving around, it was actually quite satisfying, as all the enemies and people within the streets were either an obstacle or a speed bump. Although it did damage the car, it was a lot of fun just simply driving through a crowd of zombies in order to push through and head to a new location.
Sadly, not all the zombies were as easy to take down, as they do have a health bar that means that if I am not strong enough or hit them with enough speed in the car, they would be able to stand back up, so this wasn’t a perfect situation. Because of these different zombies and the fact they could use equipment and weapons, I was constantly having to be careful with how I approached a situation, as running face first towards a zombie that was using a gun wasn’t always the best idea, the same with an enemy that was using a riot shield.
This meant that each encounter was something new and encouraged me to think before I acted but also made surviving a big challenge, as fighting every enemy wasn’t the best idea, but to clear out areas I would have to fight the enemies to make it safer for me to be there.
However, once you defeated these enemies, collecting their items was quite realistic, as their held items would fall to the floor rather than being found in their inventory, and once you actually loot their general items such as clothing, you would actually remove it from the enemy’s body rather than it just ending up in your inventory and no in-game situations taking place. This was also helpful, as it showed you which enemy you looted rather than having to guess.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test out the games’ base-building aspects, as there wasn’t enough time, but from what I have seen and been told, the base-building is incredibly in-depth with a lot of opportunities for the player to either expand a building or a vehicle and even the option to completely start something new if they so wish, which provides so much freedom to the player.
Another feature the game boasts which I got a small glimpse into is being able to craft unique weapons from all sorts of different parts, such as being able to turn a stick into a javelin, but rather than a sharp spike at the end, it is instead a fish or a zombie’s head, which to me was absolutely hilarious, and the combinations don’t stop there, as there are dozens of combinations that you can bring together in order to create some really bizarre and fun weapons.
Finally, I again wasn’t able to take part in this, but the game does provide the option to play together with friends if you so wish, with dedicated servers being something the devs are working towards, but sadly there is no PVP, so if you plan to feed your friends to the zombies in some way, you would have to get creative.
Even with the game’s unique take on the player turning into a zombie once they die, sadly, it doesn’t include PVP, as the player can either wait 15 minutes to turn back into a human or they can roam around helping their friends as a zombie, which for some might turn them away from the game, but I instead think of it as the ultimate form of helping.
Again, sadly I wasn’t able to experience this player zombie experience due to timing, but from what I have been told, the gameplay is very fun and allows the player to alter their zombie form if they find better or bigger body parts and can even be extended if you eat the flesh of NPCs within the game.
At the moment, Zeverland doesn’t have an official release window, but there are some playtests coming for those who are looking to test the game out with more information coming soon.
For your next read, why not check out our article that talks about Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy and what we thought of the game during Gamescom, or check out our article that talks about the Nintendo Switch 2 release of Stellar Blade.
Liam is a Senior Editor, Writer, and Critic for Thumb Wars and has been working with the team since day one. Liam is a big fan of all things gaming, as you will catch him playing all of the new releases from every genre you can imagine. Whether you find Liam gaming just for fun or spending his free time streaming, you will always find a smile on his face when it comes to all things gaming.
