WWZ Aftermath Review: Pure Zombie Killing Fun

World War Z: Aftermath is exhilarating. Following 2019’s World War Z, the sequel from developer Saber Interactive continues the story by showing the devastation that has been caused by the initial outbreak, how the characters have changed and adapted, and how humanity is changing the tide of the war. Save for some design quirks and an odd bug here or there, WWZ: Aftermath provides a nuanced and refined experience that will please anyone itching to fight swarms of the undead.

To start, players can choose to play the campaign solo or co-op, or they can just dive into online multiplayer. For this review, the majority of time was spent on the former, and for those who aren’t always comfortable playing online, the single player experience is just as addictive and versatile. There are many zombie infested maps to play through, each with unique missions and randomizers that affect everything from weapon case locations to the layout of mission objectives. This also makes exploring the game’s various classes more enjoyable, as jumping into each randomized map with a new set of skills ends up feeling like a fresh experience altogether.

WWZ: Aftermath offers different ways to customize how players interact with the game. For example, some people have a preference for either first-person or third-person, so Saber Interactive has included a perspective toggle in the settings that can be switched at any time. There are plenty of graphical & sound adjustments, and accessibility options as well. While customization and accessibility do shine, the variety and depth makes the little elements that are missing seem like bigger annoyances, such as not being able to customize the controller layout.

WWZ: Aftermath‘s A.I., however, isn’t annoying at all – especially in regards to a player’s team of survivors. For those who want to play the game’s campaign solo, the A.I. for the team is incredibly competent and pulls their weight. They generally take the player’s cue in combat, but there are times where they will eliminate something unseen or save the player if they’re being mauled by rats or special zombies. As expected, the zombies are aggressive, adaptive, work together, and can easily overwhelm players if they are unprepared, but never in a way that feels unfair.

WWZ: Aftermath‘s issues are fairly small. For example, the decision to include diegetic zombie sounds in between encounters fits the world but are made so loud that it feels like an encounter is still occurring in a way that’s more confusing than frightening. The other big annoyance, no matter how common it has become, is the large file size which, in this case, was over 50GB once the game and its first update was downloaded. It may not be Call of Duty‘s 258GB file size, but it also isn’t No Man’s Sky‘s 10-15GB, and for the size and scope of the game, it’s definitely a small frustration.

Minor annoyances aside, WWZ: Aftermath is fun, replayable, and challenging. As an added bonus, current WWZ owners can upgrade for $19.99 instead of paying the full $39.99 and carry over their progression and other save data. Overall, World War Z: Aftermath is a refined and replayable experience that offers a slew of content for half the price of its competitors.

World War Z: Aftermath releases on September 21st for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, and is playable on next-gen consoles. The official next-gen editions will launch for PS5 and Xbox X/S in 2022 via a free upgrade. Screen Rant was provided with a Steam download code for the purpose of this review.

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