Beginner’s Guide to Night of the Dead

Night of the Dead is a post-apocalyptic survival zombie game developed & published by jacktostudios and is available for PC in the Steam store. It is open-world, played in the third-person perspective, single-player, and supports online co-op and online PvP. This guide will cover the basics for diving into the action.

The game starts with our protagonist, Lucy, waking up from a human experiment confined in a city crawling with zombies. The objective is to survive via crafting, building, and eventually escaping the island infested with hordes of zombies that attack your fortress in waves.

Main Menu & Jumping In

Select New Game > Desired Difficulty > Start Game. For your first playthrough, the ‘Normal’ difficulty is a great place to start, just to get a feel for things. Next, you’ll immediately spawn on an island somewhere on the map, equipped with a knife, flashlight, and the clothes on your back, and of course, a willingness to survive. A prompt at the top left of the screen underneath the health, stamina, and strength bar offers tutorial advice as you roam about. Keep an eye on this as it provides clues on how to access and interact with your surroundings. Additionally, be sure to view your inventory via TAB to display your equipment, items, and weapons.

Scrap, Craft, Scrap

Almost anything on the map is interactive, so you can break things down to scrap it and craft it later. Performing this will yield raw items such as research material, cloth, iron, and oil, which can be crafted into various weapons/items critical to your survival, including the Felling Axe. The ax can be used to not only slash down zombies but to cut down trees, which are then used to build a fortress. Fortress’ are used to defend yourself from the hordes of zombies that come out at night. Rinse and Repeat.

Building & Crafting

With enough trees chopped down and logs added to your inventory, you can now build your fortress, starting with the foundation. Press the ‘B’ key to prompt the building process, and follow the in-game steps accordingly. As you continue to build, any required materials that are needed will be made evident to you. With the proper structure built, the next thing to build is the Equipment Production Table. Once created, the table can craft more powerful weapons such as the Bow, Two-Handed-Sword, and the Flamethrower. Continually improving your fortress’ defenses and your arsenal of weapons is crucial to your survival, so make sure you have fun with this and build to your preferences. Every single night zombies gather in hordes to attack you, so preparation is key.

Combat & Movement

The combat is decent, yet clunky. For example, the bow is fun to play around and shoot zombies with but can feel rough. Melee combat feels limited because the fighting animations are locked upon engagement. General movement is a bit jarring as well. It’s important to remember that this game is in early access, and the game developers are very active with community feedback with making updates and fixes accordingly. Therefore, there is a lot of potential and room for progression with a Night of the Dead.

Perks & Skills

Perks, skills, and general upgrades are critical in advancing in the Night of the Dead. We recommend focusing on upgrading perks/skills that make you more resourceful, increase inventory space, and increase crafting abilities. Blacksmith, Gather, Looter, and Porter are excellent choices to unlock and upgrade. Be sure to read and understand your choices carefully.

Taking on the Hoard

It’s the moment you’ve been preparing for. It’s time to put your weapons, skills, and defensive measures to the test once and for all. With whatever means necessary, fight off the nightly hoard attack and live to fight another night.