Zombie Vikings Review: Dead and Alive

To say that Zombie Vikings is a wacky game would be an understatement.

is a wacky game would be an understatement. It’s beyond wacky. Numerous times during my experience with Zombie Vikings I found myself shaking my head, rolling my eyes, and scratching my beard in bewilderment that there exists a person on this planet who came up with what I was encountering in the game. Yet, I was doing all of this while smirking. Zombie Vikings may be an absurd game, but the best part about that is that Zoink Games holds all the absurdity together with a healthy heap of humor.

The game begins with up-to-no-good Loki stealing Odin’s remaining eye. To get revenge Odin goes to summon four mighty warriors to seek out Loki and return Odin’s eye to him. It turns out that blinded Odin can’t see that the four heroes are dead, so it’s their undead corpses that are summoned. Regardless of their current state, their mission remains the same: get Odin’s eye back from Loki.

Players can choose to play as one of the four zombie warriors and each of the four have their own unique abilities and uses. For example, there is Gunborg a muscular zombie who can flex her muscles until she explodes, damaging all the enemies around her. Hedgy on the other hand is a scrappy little zombie who can whirlwind around in a flurry of quick-attacks, tearing through enemies one by one. With online and local multiplayer, players can join with up to three of their friends to each take control of a zombie and experience the game together.

I played Zombie Vikings on my own, and I had no trouble getting through the game without the aid of other players. Zombie Vikings is well designed in that regard. There were times where I could see having two players would make things easier, but the game never felt like it was punishing me for playing alone.

Zombie Vikings is a 2D, 3D game. It is hard to tell in the screenshots, but every art asset is paper thin. In motion the game looks like a living pop-up book. Turning the vikings from side to side flips their character model around like you would flip over a piece of paper. Because everything is paper thin, it can be difficult to line up your attacks since you’re attacking something that is literally as thin as paper. For the most part the game does a good job intercepting your desired target and hitting it, but other times (particularly when it comes to throwing things) landing a hit on your target is a struggle.

The entire time I played Zombie Vikings, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the game felt like it was plucked right out of the mid-90s Nickelodeon lineup. It’s humor is on par with Aaahh! Real Monsters or Ren and Stimpy , and the visuals and short, episodic, levels really gave me the feeling that the game would have worked great as a cartoon.

Zombie Vikings is a fun action platformer that I feel is worthy of a recommendation. It’s action-packed, jammed with humor, and has some great potential for multiplayer fun. I certainly enjoyed my time with the game. Zombie Vikings is out now for PC and PS4.

Pros

Each Viking has their own abilities. Caters to multiplayer groups or those just wanting to play solo. A very funny game.

Cons

Paper-thin player models make some attacks difficult

A review copy of the game was provided to IGM for the purpose of this review.