Last Updated on Jun 25, 2026 @ 17:24:09 PM.
Over the past few days, I have been playing the brand-new game Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf from the developer Maple Taco as their debut title. Within this game, you play as a golfer as you attempt to play golf in a rather unfortunate situation, which is within the zombie apocalypse.
Within the game, you and up to 3 friends are able to take on the undead as you try to get a brain in a hole through ever-changing courses while using vehicles, items, and more as distractions to screw over your friends. While playing Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf, I played both on my own and with a friend of mine as we took on this golfing world full of death, decay, and chickens.
The Gameplay for Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf is Chaotic and Bizarre, but Not in a Good Way
While playing through Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf, both in multiplayer and on my own, one of the biggest things I noticed was simply how the gameplay was not up to par with the general idea of a golf game in which you are being chased by zombies, but instead just felt like a good idea that was being paired with rather generic party game chaos.
During my time I often found myself suffering from various bugs that caused me to struggle throughout the game, whether it was the game randomly sending me into the stratosphere, leading me to need to leave the game and start again; the enemies that would appear/disappear in my face, making them invisible while still doing damage to me; the “distractions” laid out throughout the game world, both the vehicles and the chicken item having next to no effect on the zombies; and just general ball-hitting things that didn’t exist, causing random bouncing and annoying problems.
This, for me, was a big letdown when it came to Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf, as I felt it would be a good party game to play with my friends and enjoy some chaos, which, in a manner of speaking, it was, but not for the reason the developer likely intended.
When I played with my friend, we did have a good time playing through the game as we enjoyed hitting the zombies, both to defeat them and treating them as golf balls instead of the brains that we were already hitting, but when it came to actually trying to get to the end of the game while being chased by a purple wall of death, we weren’t able to enjoy that side of the game, as for us, the enjoyment was in the chaos, not in the idea of beating the game, so being rushed was something we didn’t overly enjoy.
That being said, even when we did try to progress through the game and actually put the brain in the hole, it was such a challenge due to the numerous glitches that were present throughout, causing us to get annoyed constantly rather than having fun.
To add to the annoyances, the sounds during the game were also rather buggy, as well, as often the sounds either wouldn’t play when triggered, so upon hitting vehicles, they sometimes didn’t play a sound, or on the opposite side of the spectrum, when they did play, they just sounded connected to the game with crackles, static, and just glitching in and out.
The Zombies Were Either Very Aggressive and Constant or Never Present and Boring to Fight When They Showed Up
When you play a game with zombies involved, there are quite a few challenges that take place to make the game both fun and overwhelming without making the player angry. Whether that be ensuring a decent amount of enemies spawn in, keeping the enemies at a reasonable pace so the player can outrun them, making the enemies weak enough to fight, or even providing ways to distract them, each of these concepts is important in Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf, but sadly, they weren’t all done to a passable level.
In terms of what the developers did right, I will say that the enemies being quite easily defeated is a big yes, as the enemies weren’t overly challenging, especially in the early stages of the game, but as the game went on, they did gradually get tougher to deal with, requiring more hits, more evasion, and simply a lot of avoidance. This was really good for me as it allowed for a challenging experience, especially when more zombie variants showed up, but when I played alone, this led to the game being nearly impossible, but with my friend, it was rather doable, at least for a while.
Sadly, there is little to say when it comes to being able to lure the enemies away, as there are ways to do so, but they weren’t very effective, whether it was throwing a chicken, which only lasted barely a second, or the vehicles spread around that you can hit to draw them away, which again barely lasted a few seconds, leading it to be essentially pointless.
When it comes to how many enemies that spawn within the game, it is safe to say that a horde of zombies is quite literal in Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf, as when the enemies actually spawned, there was essentially a near-infinite amount of them. After killing a few dozen zombies, you turn around, and there are another dozen running straight to you.
When playing with friends, this isn’t too bad, as your 3 friends can take on the enemies while you play golf, which my friend and I did do for a while, but upon getting the brain in the hole, zombies would spawn around us and slowly take us over for a short while. However, playing alone was simply impossible, as zombies were just an ever-present problem that constantly got in your way, causing you to die before even completing one hole, let alone the 10 needed to win.
This, for me, was something that massively drove the game away for me, as I was constantly trying to enjoy the game and have fun with my friend, but when it came to the numerous bugs, the unrelenting horde, or the terrible golfing mechanics, we were unable to have fun unless we made up our own, which simply isn’t a good thing in a game like this.
Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf
Summary
When it came to my time with Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf, sadly, I was very underwhelmed with the game, both on my own and even with my friend, as I was constantly stumbling into glitches that broke the game.
Although these glitches could be considered minor, combining them all together essentially made the game unplayable. Whether it was the glitch that sent me flying into space, the ball hitting random things, or the sound going haywire, there were just too many problems for such a simple game.
Even trying to play Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf with my friend wasn’t enough to make these issues disappear, as we eventually began making up our own fun and ignoring the main game objective for as long as we could until we were forced to take action or lose due to the purple wall of death.
HOURS PLAYED: 1
PLAYED ON: PC
- Fun with friends when you make your own fun
- Very glitchy golfing with the ball hitting random things.
- The zombies are annoyingly challenging especially on your own.
- Sounds within the game are very glitchy and don't work often.
For more Thumb Wars Gaming coverage, check out our article talking about the Jackbox reveal for its full lineup to Jackbox Party Pack 12, or our article talking about the new game from Warhammer 40K: Speed Freeks devs, Grip XR.
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.
