Best open-world zombie games on PC, from big studios to indies
The best open-world zombie games on PC give you a large map, a reason to explore, and a danger that changes. This list has ten games. After our own game, you get five big-budget games with stories. Then come four indie and small-studio sandboxes where you make your own story.
What makes an open world good in a zombie game
A big map is not enough. The best zombie open worlds have three things:
- A reason to explore. Loot, fuel, or survivors are hidden in buildings that you must search.
- Danger that changes. Nights, hordes, weather, or seasons change how safe the world is.
- A way to travel. Parkour, a motorcycle, or a car changes how you see the map.
For each game below, we describe the world, what you do in it, and who the game suits best.
Route 48 (our game)
Full disclosure: we made Route 48, so we put it first.
Route 48 is a first-person driving survival game by HOLY STUDIOS, an independent studio. Every new game generates a new open world with different roads, towns, forests, loot locations, and encounters. You explore highways, forests, abandoned places, and hidden locations, and your car is how you cross the world. The game is in Early Access on Steam.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human
Developer: Techland. Released: 2022. Players: Single-player or online co-op for up to 4 players.
The world: Villedor, one of the last cities where humans still live. You cross it on the rooftops with parkour, swing across streets, and ride ziplines.
What you do: You play Aiden Caldwell, who searches for his lost sister. In the day, you explore and loot. After sunset, monsters take over the streets.
Best for: Players who want to move fast and high above the zombies.
Days Gone
Developer: Bend Studio. Released: 2019 (PC: 2021). Players: Single-player.
The world: A wild version of the Pacific Northwest, with forests, snowy plains, desert lava fields, caves, mines, and small towns. The weather and a day and night cycle change the world.
What you do: You ride a motorcycle that needs fuel and repairs. You scavenge abandoned settlements, craft items, and fight gangs and huge Freaker hordes.
Best for: Players who want a long story and a vehicle to care for. See our list of games like Days Gone for similar games.
Dying Light: The Beast
Developer: Techland. Released: 2025. Players: Single-player or online co-op.
The world: Castor Woods, a large area of wilderness instead of a city.
What you do: You play Kyle Crane, who now has beast powers. You explore and scavenge by day, and you run, hide, or fight at night. You can also drive an off-road vehicle through hordes.
Best for: Players who finished the earlier Dying Light games and want more. Read our list of games like Dying Light for other options.
State of Decay 2
Developer: Undead Labs. Released: 2018 (Juggernaut Edition on Steam: 2020). Players: Single-player or online co-op for up to 4 players.
The world: Several open maps. The Juggernaut Edition has a remastered Trumbull Valley and a new map, Providence Ridge, with forests.
What you do: You choose where your community settles, fortify a base, and send survivors on supply runs. You can also move the whole community to a new place.
Best for: Players who want to manage a group, not only one hero.
Dead Rising 3
Developer: Capcom Vancouver. Released: 2013 (PC: 2014). Players: Single-player or two-player co-op.
The world: Los Perdidos, an open city full of zombies. It is the first fully seamless open world in the Dead Rising series.
What you do: You must escape before a military strike destroys the city. You combine items into strange weapons and combine vehicles too.
Best for: Players who want chaos and creative weapons more than realism.
7 Days to Die
Developer: The Fun Pimps. Released: 2024 (version 1.0), after Early Access from 2013. Players: Single-player or online co-op and PvP.
The world: Navezgane, a fixed map, or a randomly generated world with cities, towns, lakes, mountains, and caves. Worlds can be up to 100 square kilometers, with five biomes.
What you do: You loot, craft, build a fort, and defend it. With the default settings, a Blood Moon horde attacks every seventh night.
Best for: Players who want to shape the world. The whole world is destructible, so you can dig, build, and break almost anything.
Project Zomboid
Developer: The Indie Stone. Released: Early Access on Steam since 2013. Players: Single-player, online multiplayer, or local split-screen co-op.
The world: A very large map, loosely based on real places in Kentucky, seen from an isometric view. Over time, the electricity fails, winter comes, and nature takes back the towns.
What you do: You loot houses, barricade a base, farm, cook, and drive vehicles. The question is not if you die, but how long you last.
Best for: Players who want the most realistic survival on this list.
Unturned
Developer: Smartly Dressed Games. Released: 2017. Free to play. Players: Single-player or online multiplayer.
The world: Large maps that you can cross by land, by sea, and by air. You find hidden secrets and NPCs to help and trade with. Players also make custom maps in the Steam Workshop.
What you do: You scavenge, hunt, build a base, and go out for airdrops and dangerous deadzones.
Best for: Players who want an open-world zombie game at no cost.
VEIN
Developer: Ramjet Studios. Released: Early Access since 2025. Players: Single-player or online co-op.
The world: A post-apocalyptic area in the north of New York State. The seasons change, and long random events affect the world.
What you do: You search abandoned buildings, set up safehouses, grow food, and drive cars and trucks that you must refuel and maintain. The zombies can see, hear, and smell you.
Best for: Players who like Project Zomboid but want a first-person view.
Near misses
- Dead Island 2 is a strong zombie game, but Los Angeles is split into ten open zones, not one open world.
- DayZ has a large open world, but you play it online with other players. Read our list of games like DayZ for solo options.
Quick comparison
| Game | World | Studio type | Players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Route 48 | New procedural world each game | Indie | Single-player |
| Dying Light 2 Stay Human | Large city | Big-budget | Solo or co-op |
| Days Gone | Pacific Northwest wilds | Big-budget | Single-player |
| Dying Light: The Beast | Wilderness | Big-budget | Solo or co-op |
| State of Decay 2 | Several open maps | Big-budget | Solo or co-op |
| Dead Rising 3 | Open city | Big-budget | Solo or two players |
| 7 Days to Die | Fixed or random world | Indie | Solo or co-op |
| Project Zomboid | Large Kentucky map | Indie | Solo or co-op |
| Unturned | Large maps, free | Indie | Solo or online |
| VEIN | New York State | Small studio | Solo or co-op |
How we picked these games
We chose zombie games on PC where you can travel freely across a large map, not only through levels or zones. We included both big-budget and indie games, because they give very different open worlds. We checked the developer, release date, and player modes on each game's Steam page.
Which one should you play first?
- Play Dying Light 2 Stay Human if you want to cross a city on the rooftops.
- Play Days Gone if you want a story and a motorcycle.
- Play State of Decay 2 if you want to lead a community.
- Play 7 Days to Die or Project Zomboid if you want a sandbox with no end.
- Play Unturned if you want to start for free.
- Play Route 48 if you want a new open world each game and a car to keep alive.
If a new world each time is what you want, read our list of the best procedurally generated survival games.