World War Z: Aftermath
Saber Interactive · Shooter, Horror, Action
Overview
World War Z is a heart-pounding coop third-person shooter for up to 4 players featuring massive swarms of hundreds of zombies, focused on fast-paced, gruesomely spectacular action.
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World War Z is a heart-pounding co-op third-person shooter for up to 4 players featuring swarms of hundreds of zombies that has now captivated over 25 million players. Based on the Paramount Pictures film, World War Z focuses on fast-paced gameplay while exploring new storylines from around the world.
Humanity is on the brink of extinction. From New York to Moscow to Japan and Jerusalem, the undead apocalypse continues to spread. As the end looms, a hardened few band together to defeat the horde and outlive the dead.
Battle swarms of hundreds of zombies
The Swarm Engine™ seamlessly renders hordes of zombies in incredible firefights. Advanced gore systems offer gruesomely satisfying action. In-game Zombie Hordes behave like real crowds, getting stuck in narrow corridors and climbing on top of each other to reach players on higher levels. Hordes become increasingly more difficult to defeat and behave like single entity bosses as players progress through the game.
Coop story-driven campaigns
Survive around the world, as unique groups tell their stories of perseverance.
Choose Your Class
Level up to 8 unique classes – Gunslinger, Hellraiser, Slasher, Medic, Fixer, Exterminator, Dronemaster and the new Vanguard class in WWZ: Aftermath – each with their own unique perks and play styles.
Deep Progression
Grow stronger – unlock powerful weapon upgrades and level your character class to take on greater challenges.
PVPVZ
Fight other players for survival – several intense Player vs Player vs Zombies game modes complement the coop campaigns.
From the game's Steam store page.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT9,873 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
Players describe hundreds of fast zombies pouring down streets, stacking into pyramids and climbing walls while four players cut them down with machine guns, turrets and explosives. Swarms come up in 16% of the longer reviews and co-op with friends in 20%. Left 4 Dead is named in 30%, and reviewers who take a side call World War Z a worthy successor far more often than a lesser copy. The class and perk system, weapon upgrades and Horde mode give people a reason to replay, and some long-time players are glad the game is still getting updates and new episodes years after release.
On the other side, players find the missions repetitive (18%), call the bot teammates useless for solo play (14%), and report crashes and bugs (13%), disconnects and empty matchmaking (10%), unfair special infected (9%) and trolls or teamkillers in public lobbies (9%). Money is the other sore point: the base game holds only part of the campaign, first-person mode requires the Aftermath edition, and "buy it on sale" is common advice. Recommendations often come with the same condition attached: bring friends, or expect a much weaker game.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
Co-op with friends is where it shinesHigh
20% of the longer reviews mention friends, a squad or a group, often as the condition for recommending the game at all. Players describe yelling over voice chat, coordinating classes and holding a gate together as the core of the fun, and several couples, siblings and parents call it their shared game. One reviewer put the condition bluntly: "Either you and 3 friends buy this game or you do not buy this game". Solo play with bots and public lobbies with strangers get much worse marks, as the frustrations below show.
The zombie swarmsHigh
The swarms come up in 16% of the longer reviews. Players describe tidal waves of zombies flooding streets, falling off roofs and piling into towers to reach a defended position, and say other zombie games don't do this. "The zombie AI is great; the way they pile up into a meat tower and climb to the top is rarely seen in other Zombie games," wrote one player, and another said "No other game scratches the itch of overwhelming hordes and the ability to shred them." Some negative reviews concede the hordes are the highlight before complaining that the novelty wears off.
A Left 4 Dead successorHigh
30% of the longer reviews mention Left 4 Dead. When reviewers take a side, most of them call World War Z the closest modern follow-up (6% use words like "successor", "L4D3" or "scratches the itch") rather than a weaker copy (under 2%). "the left4dead successor everybody says it isnt...but is," as one player wrote. Back 4 Blood comes up in 8% of the longer reviews, mostly in late 2021 and 2022, and players who compare the two more often prefer World War Z. The minority who disagree say the special zombies, characters and gun feel fall short of Valve's games: "I just don't see the point in playing L4D2 at home, when I already have L4D2."
Horde mode and replay valueHigh
Horde and Horde XL modes come up in 11% of the longer reviews, usually as the mode players sink time into after finishing the campaign: endless waves, traps and turrets, and a shared economy for defenses. Some reviewers ask for more Horde maps, and a few note Horde XL bugs (a round 26 soft lock on Tokyo, disconnects mid-run).
Classes, perks and weapon buildsMedium
Classes and progression come up in 31% of the longer reviews, and 7% explicitly praise them. Players like that each class (Medic, Gunslinger, Hellraiser, Fixer, Slasher, Dronemaster and others) has its own role and perk tree, which matters on higher difficulties: "the vanguard tanking a lane, or he hellraiser clearing the swarm with C4, every role feels vital." The same system drives the grind complaints covered under the split section.
Runs smoothly with hundreds of zombies on screenMedium
4% of the longer reviews praise the optimization, often surprised that low-end PCs, laptops and the Steam Deck hold up with so many enemies: "Runs very smoothly even with huge hordes." A smaller group (2%) reports stutter, flickering on Intel integrated graphics or frame drops after specific updates, and several players recommend switching to the Vulkan renderer.
Crossplay and save transferMedium
5% of the longer reviews mention crossplay, mostly as a way to play with friends on Xbox or PlayStation and to keep matchmaking populated. "The cross platform code makes it so easy for us to party up and play," wrote one reviewer. Players who moved from Epic, Xbox or PlayStation are glad their progress could be transferred. The complaints are narrower: console players can't read PC text chat, and some cross-platform invites fail.
Still updated years after releaseLow
3% of the longer reviews thank the developers for continued support, from new episodes and Horde XL to The Walking Dead crossover. "It's surprising this game STILL receives updates (at least once a year)," one player wrote. A minority counters that updates bring new skins and paid content while old bugs stay.
Where players are split
The grindHigh
12% of the longer reviews mention grinding. Some players treat it as part of the appeal ("It's a grind to level up, but mowing down hordes is the best kind of grind"), while others call it the game's worst design choice: slow gold and blue coin payouts, perks that must be rebought after each prestige, weapon perks locked behind documents from specific daily challenges, and a class XP cap. "the grind is scarier than the zombies," as one reviewer put it. The topic comes mostly from players with dozens of hours in the game; reviewers in their first hours rarely raise it.
Price: worth it on saleHigh
12% of the longer reviews talk about sales or price, and the usual advice is to buy the Aftermath edition at a discount. Reviewers who bought it cheaply in a sale or bundle tend to call it good value; those who paid full price for a short base campaign plus separate episode DLC are less forgiving. "an ok game, worth buying during sale only," reads one review. Around the 2021 Steam launch, players who already owned World War Z on Epic complained about paying again, and one negative review said Aftermath was "advertised as a new game but is basically a glorified dlc".
First-person modeHigh
First-person view comes up in 11% of the longer reviews. Players who have it often say it makes the game much better, and some bought Aftermath for it. Others object that it is locked to the Aftermath edition (3%), with no true aiming down sights and a switch back to third person for melee and vaulting: "The first game I have ever played where you have to pay $40 to unlock first person mode."
Gunplay and feelMedium
5% of the longer reviews praise the shooting as tight and satisfying ("Absolutely fantastic gunplay, very solid mission design"), while 2% say the guns, explosions and melee lack weight, with complaints about tinny sound, airsoft-like impact and stiff movement: "they sure managed to make the whole shooting part feel terrible and impossible to enjoy." Several players also miss a free jump or a dodge.
The Walking Dead crossoverLow
2% of the longer reviews discuss The Walking Dead crossover DLC, nearly all of them written in 2026. Fans call it a faithful adaptation ("The Walking Dead DLC is excellent, probably the best videogame adaptation there is"), while critics say it is short and padded with elite zombies, "essentially filling the new levels with Elite Squad zombies & calling it done."
Story and charactersLow
Few reviews say much about the story. Those who do split between liking the globe-trotting episodes, voice acting and character backstories, and calling the plot thin and the characters forgettable. Most treat the story as a light frame for the shooting.
What frustrates players
Repetitive missions and a thin base campaignHigh
18% of the longer reviews say the missions repeat or that there isn't enough content. Players describe every chapter following the same loop of moving forward, pressing switches, setting up defenses and holding out against a wave: "If you played episode one, you played them all." Reviewers say the base game's four episodes take only a few hours, which feeds the DLC complaints, and long-term players say the endgame comes down to replaying the same maps on harder difficulties. Some ask for more episodes, more Horde maps and mod or workshop support.
Useless bot teammates and a harsh solo experienceHigh
14% of the longer reviews complain that the AI teammates cripple solo play or that the game is too hard alone. Players say bots walk into the line of fire, don't pick up medkits or use defenses, stand still during defend events and are slow to rescue a pinned player: "Not to mention the NPC are constantly walking right into your line of fire blocking your shots." Another player summed them up as "AI bots with the instincts of a Ham Sandwich." Players can't choose the bots' classes or loadouts, and a few say the bots got worse after specific updates. A small minority finds them adequate on easy and normal difficulties.
Crashes and long-standing bugsHigh
13% of the longer reviews report crashes or bugs, rising to 19% of the longer negative ones. Reports include crashes on launch or at mission end that wipe the match's XP, black screens, Intel integrated graphics flickering, multi-monitor crashes, 100% CPU in menus, objectives that fail to trigger, invisible "ghost" zombies, and Steam Deck crashes despite its compatibility label. Several veterans say the same bugs have been there since launch, and a few report wiped progress.
Disconnects, ping and empty matchmakingMedium
10% of the longer reviews describe disconnects, high ping or trouble finding a match. Players report losing connection mid-mission or right at the end, with no way to rejoin: "the constant disconnect in the middle or at the very end of a mission or hoard session is very frustrating". Others land on servers across the world with no way to filter: "It's insane you can't set the maximum ping for quickplay." Around the 2021 Steam launch, Australian and Southeast Asian players complained there were no regional servers, and players in Russia and Ukraine describe needing a VPN. Some also mention long queues on low difficulties and a near-empty PvP mode, though other players say crossplay keeps matchmaking fast.
Special infected and unfair spawnsMedium
9% of the longer reviews complain about the special zombies. Lurkers and Creepers pin a player until a teammate frees them, Bulls and Juggernauts charge through defenses, and rats can only be stopped with certain weapons. One player described being pinned as a state where "you can perform no actions and do nothing but sit and watch your health slowly go from full to zero." Players also report specials spawning behind them in cleared rooms, zombies hitting from too far away, and specials that are hard to tell apart from regular zombies.
Trolls and teamkillers in public lobbiesMedium
Random teammates draw complaints in 9% of the longer reviews: always-on friendly fire, teamkillers, players who hoard supplies or never ready up, and high-level veterans who turn on newcomers. "In my third game playing I was team killed by a level 500 midway through the match for no reason at all," one player wrote. Players add that there is no report button, kicking is limited, and low-level players get placed in high-difficulty matches.
Campaign content locked behind DLCMedium
6% of the longer reviews object to how much content is sold separately: later episodes are DLC on top of the Aftermath edition, and there is no single edition with everything. The complaint grew sharply in 2026, appearing in 14% of the longer reviews written that year against 4% to 6% in earlier years. "If I were the developer or publisher, I would have bundled everything into a single edition by now," wrote one player. Players do note that only the host needs the DLC for a group to play it.
The weapon progression reworkLow
2% of the longer reviews complain that the reworked weapon progression reset upgrades they had already earned and added more grind: "all of the cool weapon variants with cool effects i grinded hard to get have been taken away with the weapon rework." Some players found the system better after later adjustments.
Quality-of-life gapsLow
Solo offline play can't be paused and kicks idle players ("Can't pause in solo. It's almost like some of us have lives and need a pause function."). Other smaller complaints: the preferred character resets between chapters, starting weapons can't be chosen, there is no lobby browser and no in-game friend requests, and no tutorial explains perks and currencies.
Platform and account issuesLow
A few reviews describe problems outside the gameplay: controllers other than Xbox pads not being detected, Steam Deck crashes, and online play being blocked unless the data collection option is left on.
3. The player conversation
Reviewers mostly write in a practical register, and positive reviews often attach conditions: bring friends, buy it on sale, get the Aftermath edition. Negative reviews seldom reject the idea of a horde shooter. They come from players who found the loop shallow and repetitive, players worn down by solo play with bots, and players hit by technical problems.
Different groups raise different things. Reviewers in their first hours tend to talk about first-person mode, the size of the base campaign, and whether it beats Left 4 Dead. Long-term players write about the grind, balance changes to classes and weapons, bugs that have lasted for years, and toxic public lobbies.
At the Steam launch in September 2021, 81% of reviews were positive, held down by Epic owners who felt they were rebuying the same game, missing regional servers and broken controller support. From 2022 to 2024 yearly positive shares held at about 86%, with brief weekly dips in early 2023, when reviewers were discussing the Horde Mode XL update and weapon progression changes. In 2025 and 2026 the share eased to 83% and 81%. Reviews from 2026 bring The Walking Dead crossover into the conversation, from both fans and critics, along with more complaints that the campaign is split across too many DLC packs. Comparisons to newer co-op shooters such as Space Marine 2 and Toxic Commando appear from 2024 onward.
4. What the developers could do
- Fix the bot teammates. In 14% of the longer reviews players say bots block shots, ignore medkits and defenses and leave pinned players to die, which makes solo play the weakest way to experience the game.
- Stabilize online sessions and let players rejoin. Disconnects mid-mission or at the end cost players a full match of XP, and reviewers ask for a maximum ping setting for quickplay and better regional matchmaking.
- Clear the long-running crash and bug list. Crashes on launch and at mission end, Intel integrated graphics flicker, ghost zombies and Steam Deck crashes show up often in negative reviews, and veterans say some date back to launch.
- Sell the campaign as one complete edition. Reviewers ask for all episodes and first-person mode in a single package, and the DLC complaint more than doubled its share in 2026.
- Add mission variety and more Horde maps. The complaint raised most often in the longer reviews is that every chapter follows the same press-switch-and-defend loop, and players ask for new episodes, Horde maps and mod support.
- Give players counterplay against special infected. Players want a way to break free of Lurker and Creeper pins, clearer audio cues, and an end to specials spawning in cleared rooms.
- Add tools against trolls. Reviewers ask for a report button, reliable kicking, level gates on high difficulties and penalties for intentional teamkills.
- Ease the grind and add basic comforts. Higher coin payouts, no perk rebuys after prestige, a pause in offline solo play and a saved preferred character would answer the progression and quality-of-life requests above.
