Already a viral hit, this new zombie game tasks you with weeding out the infected, and it's flying on Steam

When you think of the best zombie games of the past and the present, your mind typically turns to gripping survival horror or senseless, gory horde-shooters. In a year that’s set to expand those tropes with games like Resident Evil Requiem and Toxic Commando, here’s a newcomer that offers a different spin on a zombie outbreak. While you will get opportunities to spill some zombified blood, you’ll spend most of your time in Quarantine Zone: The Last Check protecting and managing a research and relocation facility.

This game has been peppering my For You Page for months now – its various demos have been ripe for viral moments, and as a result, content creators have been flocking to Quarantine Zone. Its inherent potential for generating ridiculous clips stems from the core mechanic of screening survivors of a zombie outbreak. Those looking to flee the city you’re stationed in come to your facility for help and a ticket out, but before you let them in and get them on a convoy to safety, you need to make sure of two things – they’re not smuggling in any contraband or problematic items, and that they aren’t carrying the zombie virus.

To do that, you’ll get access to an ever-expanding lineup of upgradable tools that you can use to screen the people that rock up at your gate. From x-ray machines, to eye scanners, to a hammer that can test reflex points (or be used by streamers to entertain their viewers by bonking someone on the head with it), you need to learn the telltale signs of someone who’s infected. They may not be trying to eat your brains now, but if a carrier slips through the net, you’ll soon have a fully fledged zombie in your quarantine zone.

In instances where you detect someone with zombie potential, you’ll be sending them to a, erm, special room. Whether that be to destroy them, or cage them up and perform vital research on them, you really don’t want to misclick and put them in the same safe zone as your legitimate survivors.

For every zombie you identify, and every citizen you successfully save, you’ll be rewarded with cash which you can spend to upgrade your base, adding new screening tools, research facilities, and defenses.

Yes, defenses. Even though this is a systematic management game at its core, there’s still time for some good old-fashioned zombie slaying. While smaller, internal outbreaks can be dealt with by way of some FPS combat, if a huge horde begins to attack your base, you can take control of equipment like drones and turrets to mow them down before they breach your walls.

With all the popularity that came before its full Steam launch yesterday, January 12, it’s no surprise to see Quarantine Zone doing pretty well for itself. 27,000 concurrent players, at the time of writing, is excellent for a single-player management sim, even with those extra zombie shooter elements tacked on.

While you’ll no doubt be able to watch one of your favorite streamers or YouTuber’s play through it this week, it’s modestly priced if you want to experience it for yourself as well. Until Monday, January 26, you can get it for just $17.99 / £15.29 thanks to an introductory 10% discount on Steam.

So, it’s time for my FYP to get another battering as more survivors get unintentionally clonked over the head while testing their reflexes. It’s nice to see a different kind of spin on an urban zombie outbreak that doesn’t just involve merciless killing, but it’s equally great to see that side hasn’t been totally abandoned.