Who says the zombie apocalypse has to be hard, scary, and gloomy? Why fear zombies when you can hack into (what’s left of) their brains and make them your buddy? That’s what EKO Software and NACON’s Welcome to ParadiZe, where survivors can enslave zombies and survive the zombie apocalypse.
Welcome to ParadiZe is set in the middle of a global zombie takeover and the only beacon of hope is a place called ParadiZe, a community where zombies work for the humans and protect them from other zombies. After you arrive, it becomes clear that you need to make it what the ads promised.
Now, onto the game itself! Give yourself some time to get used to the controls as the tutorial machineguns instructions at you almost right away. There’s a codex that you can refer to at any time to look at past tutorials, always a nice touch when a game does that.
The game is in 3rd person, unfortunately, I don’t like it, mainly because you’re view is at a fixed distance, in these kinds of games I like to be able to zoom in. The art may look a bit cheap but the animations are good and at times funny.
The audio is good with some decent voice acting. The soundtrack is good and fits the game’s tone. Speaking of the game’s tone, it’s a comedy if you have not already guessed.
Gameplay-wise, Welcome to ParadiZe is fun. You gather resources, get a zombie buddy to help you fight, and have zombie slaves do your bidding such as patrolling an area, harvesting resources, and handling the upkeep of your bases. Pictured above is my character riding a zombie (after I found a saddle for him), it’s an option but it helps save on my stamina since my zombie has infinite. In the world, you have to face off against regular zombies and hacked zombies that are malfunctioning, all the while completing quests.
Overall I feel Welcome to ParadiZe is a fun game for those who like strategy games and the best part is the game is co-op so you and a buddy or two can hop in and make your own ParadiZe! On my scale of 1-10, I give Welcome to ParadiZe a 7/10
Welcome to ParadiZe will be coming out on February 29th, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
