Not sure about zombie apocolypse simulators, but I've recently been playing Planetside 2 and I really like it, particularly for the faction involvment.

Basically, in PS2 there are three empires waging war over territory and that territory gives resources to the controlling empire. Players each choose an empire and can play classes (switching between them as needed) to help support their team. In addition to things like Heavy Infantry, Light Infantry, and Infiltrators (basically snipers with cloaking and hacking ability) there are also Combat Medics and Engineers.

I particularly enjoy playing Engineer because it is the class that repairs vehicles, base turrets, and generators to help defend bases. As an Engineer, you can get a decent amount of experience just by going through a decent size base and fixing up all the busted equipment after your team secures it.


How does this apply to a zombie apocolypse? Well, suppose there are several factions of survivors in the world and they all want to take control of the surviving infrastructure. Say:

Loyalists - They believe that just because the world is infested with zombies doesn't mean their nation is gone. They work to enforce the laws the old world had, restore it to its old glory, and deal with any traitors or looters they see. The land and buildings were once property of the governement or its citizens and since they are carrying on its legacy then naturally they should have it all.

Raiders - This faction was fed up with the old government and its rules and like this zombie-filled environment just fine, thank you very much. Oh the zombies are dangerous, no argument there, but the Raiders are more dangerous! Raider government is ruled by the strong and the weak either get looted or make themselves useful. They will take anything they want.

Intellectuals - These guys saw the problems of the old world and wish to improve upon it, with the power of SCIENCE and LOGIC! They know all about history and science and socioeconomic theory so they will be much better suited to creating a perfect world from the ruins of the old one, and theirs will be efficient and fair and everything... now all they need to do is deal with these zombies, rival factions, and collapsed infrastructure.


Basically, three factions with their distinct flavors and these groups all want to take control of the area. Players may start out on a team or be nonaligned. Once they play, they can either be more assault based to take out the zombies, or loot buildings, or maybe work as farmers, engineers, or medics to support the other members of their team. Depending on how resources are made, or rather the effectivness of farming vs looting buildings there could be players who would rather play some sort of in-game farming simulator to get resources for their faction. Resources that could be looted by their rival factions.

Or maybe there are various 'farms' set up around the map and players can work them regardless of allegiance, but the farm itself can be contested through some sort of capture the flag game. Basically, farmers work the field and the factions fight to control one building where the food is stored. Ideally, the farm can be taken over by anybody with the workers just doing their job and paying tribute to whoever is their new overlord this week. So long as said overlord keeps the zombies at bay, they don't mind (though life might such under the Raider faction).

Actually, the farmers would most likely be NPCs or invisible while players just help to boost the farms productivity.

Of course, along with the three main factions, the zombies are a constant threat in and of themselves and there can be plenty of unaligned players doing stuff. Some players might find out ways to control the zombies and maybe lead hoards of them into enemy bases to stage assaults, or lead them into traps to help their faction clear out an area.


Anyway, just tossing out that after a zombie apocalypse it would make sense for groups to form for mutual protection and to control the remaining resources.

Look at the tv show The Walking Dead. The zombies aren't the main focus, they are the drop back. Make it more about human drama with zombies around.