5 Tropes We Can Always Expect in Zombie Games

Ah, everyone loves a good zombie game, though quite a few will audibly groan when they see yet another zombie game in the works from the trailers at E3. Sometimes annihilating human enemies and Eldritch monstrosities gets stale because it doesn't feel rewarding in the long run. But by thinning the zombie herd, you're doing your part to stop this infestation of shambling brain-munching dunces! Feel proud in your accomplishment, if only for a minute before the purifying nukes are released on the town. Without further ado, let's countdown the 5 tropes we can always expect in zombie games!

SPOILERS FOR (BUT NOT LIMITED TO):

TELLTALE'S THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 1, SEASON 2

THE LAST OF US

RESIDENT EVIL 4, RESIDENT EVIL 5, RESIDENT EVIL 7: BIOHAZARD

LOLLYPOP CHAINSAW

5. He's no zombie, he's my brother!

Denial is a strange coping mechanism. It's all too human of us to pretend like everything's normal when the shit is hitting the proverbial fan. But it's always some kind of family member getting bitten and war over whether they should be put out of their misery or desperately protected in hopes for a cure. More times than not, the latter option is the case and it doesn't pan out well.

Duck in The Walking Dead by Telltale Games was the kooky, annoying kid of Katjaa and Kenny. Spoilers! Quit reading if you don't want juicy spoilers! However, he's bitten and slowly decompensating as the train ride goes on. Katjaa keeps him close, a mark of a mother's outstanding love for her child, even though he's contaminated. Eventually, Katjaa and Kenny know that they are delaying the inevitable and Kenny takes it upon himself to offer his son the only release he can. In one fell swoop, however, Duck turns into a walker and Kenny kills him. Not able to cope, Katjaa kills herself to be with her boy.

This is definitely the most emotionally driven zombie narrative in video game history. Part of it's because a lot of the story's happenings depend on your choices as the player. Most of the moral decisions are ranked at the end, giving you statistics of how many chose one decision over the other. If it's any consolation for the actual human race, the majority of players tend to favor the most humane route.

4. These aren't zombies, they're _______.

I'm sorry, zombie racists, apparently there's a caste system among the undead. You're virus-based? Oh, hyuck hyuck, I was infected by spore carriers and turned into a Satanic cauliflower. Yeah, congratulations, you're toe fungus. Got it. Though if I may get ultimately pretentious, virus-based zombies wouldn't make any biological sense. Viruses only reproduce by living host cells. And to say they would reanimate the dead enough to give them super-human strength is silly if you understand how viruses work. Sure, the Ebola virus isn't anything to sneeze at, but those bodies aren't exactly doing the can-can, are they?

Bacterial infections—now, those are terrifying. The Black Death was caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis and nearly wiped out Europe in the middle ages. The Last of Us is particularly horrifying because its plague seemed like something that could potentially happen. According to The Last of Us wiki: "In The Last of Us, the infection began to spread in the United States in late September 2013. In just several months, roughly 60 percent of humanity was either killed or infected by the cordyceps fungus, referred to as Cordyceps Brain Infection." The infected are called just that, Infected. They lose their humanity as the fungus eats away at their brain. Some even become the annoying cauliflower-faces known as the Clickers which have uber-hearing and are not be taken lightly since they give out one-hit kills.

What was it about Resident Evil 4 and 5 that cursed the word "zombie"? These were now Las Plagas, Ganados, BOWs, Majinis, Uroboros, or my personal favorite, "those fucking things, kill them." The Molded in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard made sense since they're... well, mold. The Evil Within made me roll my eyes with their zombies called "the Haunted." If it moves like a duck, quacks like a duck, I'm going to call it dinner, game developers.

3. Zombie Doggos! And Other Zombified Animals...

Why do we never encounter zombie cats in games? I guess they're already seething, furry balls of hatred. This is coming from a cat owner, mind you. A game that's whole plague is just a horde of zombie cats, I'd play the hell out of that. You could cause hours of entertainment with car-mounted laser pointers and water bazookas. Sorry, got off-topic there.

The old classic zombie dog scare of Resident Evil 1 and Remake resonates heavily within me. That game also had a giant mutant shark, festering plant beasts, a huge-ass snake, and a zombie tarantula, giving us evidence that's it not just a human infestation. But dogs should be companions, not brain-eating hellbeasts, and yet here we are. The zombie virus does not care if an animal was the goodest boy or a cute fuzzy kitten. I hate shooting dogs in game, though I have no problem with wolves and tigers. Resident Evil 4, however, made it easier to see the dogs as infected by making them have mouth tentacles. Silent Hill 3 and Resident Evil 5 had demon dogs with split-open faces—that's certainly nightmares and not enough flash grenades can get those images from my head.

I wish there was a zombie game where we're a zookeeper and the animals are all becoming undead and uber dangerous. Can you imagine how terrifying a zombie elephant would be? Gentle giant no more! Yeah, some zoo animals are endangered, but I think we all would become endangered in a zombie plague!

2. Zombie-Resistant Protagonist

I loved how Resident Evil 7: Biohazard turned the formula around. Because in zombie games, it's usually astounding seeing the protagonist getting slashed, munched, crunched, and punched by the undead but still no worse for wear. How is Chris Redfield still not infected after that zombie chewed on his neck? Well, I take that back, because Leon S. Kennedy does get infected with Las Plagas in the fourth game. But in RE7 they really twisted the dynamic, because everyone's infected. It's not a matter of surviving the virus, (light spoilers) it's surviving the hive mind controller's manipulation.

Ellie in The Last of Us is literally immune to the fungus, though Joel has to put on a mask in spore-heavy environments. Joel, however, takes a fair beating if going toe-to-toe with the Infected. Seems like if the virus is spread through airborne spores, caving in the Infected heads would release the spores and Joel would be inhaling them after every kill. Rule-of-protagonist, perhaps? He does get disabled for a part of the game, so Ellie has to go hunting for antibiotics to stave off a bacterial infection.

Lee in Telltale's The Walking Dead is the subversion to the trope because (spoilers) he gets infected toward the end of the first season. In a truly harrowing scene, he starts to turn with Clementine by his side. You have to choose whether Clementine shoots him or lets him become a walker. If you didn't start crying like a baby during this scene, you have no soul.

1. Unconventional but Badass Weapons

I'm not talking about the heavy artillery you conveniently find around mansions for some reason, though that does have its badass moments. Zombie games tend for go for the spectacle rather than practical. Not all zombie games are created equal. Some of them are just plain silly and we love them for it. Dead Rising 3's lore has game shows where you kill zombies and have very... interesting bosses. I can't really go into detail without being flagged for inappropriate content, but just think of how phallic flamethrowers look and you'll get the gist.

Lollypop Chainsaw seemed, on the face of it, like a fetish game. Cheerleader slices up zombies with rainbow-chainsaw? Sounds like the story ideas of an ADHD child. But it's surprisingly engrossing and can be terrifying. Humungous titan Elvis impersonator zombie anyone? You don't expect to find depth in a game where you can decapitate zombies and collect pink lollypops. Also, it's a rainbow chainsaw! Let's take care of the zombie and homophobe problem at once in a shower of irony and giblets!

Let's consider for a moment how dangerous a flamethrower truly is, but for some reason wooden houses in games are fire-retardant. Maybe that's the cause of this plague, the asbestos in these cellars is becoming sentient and casting cancer spores. If it's not a flamethrower, it's a grenade launcher. Resident Evil 2 even offered a bow gun on Claire's scenario which is greatly effective when fighting large hordes. It also seems like tradition when a Resident Evil game is handing you rocket launchers. Say what you will about Resident Evil 5's story, but firing rocket launchers at Wesker while he's sinking into a volcano is pretty epic.

Well, that's all I've got for zombie tropes right now. Have a suggestion for another list? Hit me up on my Twitter @LadyChelseaofVA. Sharing is caring, tipping is... hipping? Anyway, see you next time, reader!