Project Z for Windows

Escape this hospital full of zombies

Project Z is a first-person adventure video game wherein you must escape from a zombie-infested hospital. Developed by SlinDev, this survival horror title offers interesting puzzle gameplay—in which you can only use your environment as a means to survive because you can’t pick up any items. Additionally, this game allows you to play either on PC or with a virtual reality headset. It’s compatible with Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Valve Index, HTC Vive, and more.

Can’t fight back

Unlike in most zombie survival horror games, Project Z takes place in a hospital filled with zombies that will follow you around. They’re not fast like in Left 4 Dead or World War Z so there’s no rush to get to safety. However, they will always amble towards you regardless of their speed so you need to quickly figure out how to deter them or escape your current location before they or their damaging projectiles reach you.

There are 14 short levels to go through. You will just be walking through hallways most of the time and the majority of your tactics will be just closing the doors of opened rooms to stop the zombies from chasing after you. Fortunately, they can’t break through them but you need to be cautious when approaching opened rooms and must quickly grab the doors. Sometimes, however, you’ll need to lure them out.

Your biggest handicap here is the inability to grab and store items. The only thing you can pick up are keys to doors and you can only interact with door handles, as well. This seems easy enough but the lack of a tutorial or hint at the start of the game can make things tricky. Plus, some zombies may spawn too near your starting point and put you at a disadvantage. 

Needs more polish

Overall, Project Z is a nice little zombie game if you’d like to challenge yourself but it’s too barebones when compared to other similar games. The level designs aren’t really varied so there are only a few times when you’ll deviate from the constant play of closing the doors on a zombie’s face. It’s great that you have the option of VR and non-VR modes but the lack of instructions on how to play may confuse you.