Deadzone

About Deadzone

Deadzone is a zombie shooter with a campaign that goes somewhere. Ten missions run through a quarantine zone, each unlocked by finishing the last, and each with its own threat level and objective rather than a wave counter and a high score.

Ammunition replenishes on reload and medkits drop from the infected, which sounds generous until the horde arrives and you find out how quickly a reload becomes the most expensive two seconds of your life.

Ranks and times

XP climbs survivor ranks, and every mission keeps your best time. That second number is what turns a cleared mission into one you go back to — there is a real difference between surviving a sector and owning it.

The alpha

Mission ten is a boss, and it is not a bigger zombie. It changes what the previous nine taught you to do, which is the right way to end a campaign.

Controls

WASD to move, mouse to aim and fire, R to reload and G for a grenade. Escape pauses.

How to play Deadzone

1. Press Deploy into zone on the title screen. A fresh save opens with only the first mission available: clear the infected from an abandoned checkpoint.
2. Move with WASD and hold Shift to sprint. The mouse turns your view, and holding the left button keeps firing.
3. Read the brief on the mission card before deploying. It names what you are up against, whether that is runners, a brute or armoured infected, and that should decide how you approach the sector.
4. Switch between your three weapons with the 1, 2 and 3 keys, or click the weapon panel. G throws a grenade, and you only carry a few.
5. Collect the medkits the infected drop whenever your health is low, and keep fighting until the sector is clear.
6. When the horde falls, the next mission unlocks on the list and your health and supplies are restored before you deploy again.

Deadzone tips and strategy

• Change weapons between fights, not during them. Switching empties the magazine and starts a fresh reload on the new gun, so a panicked swap with infected at arm's length leaves you with nothing to shoot.
• Reload before you need to. Ammunition refills on every reload, so walking into the next group with half a magazine has no upside. The game's own advice says the same: keep moving and reload early.
• Turn to face the pack before throwing. A grenade flies a set distance straight ahead along your view, not to a spot you click on. Point yourself at the crowd with a little room in front, otherwise it lands short or behind the group you wanted.
• Keep grenades for the missions that need them. The third mission sends a brute through the barricades and the sixth adds a second one behind armoured infected. A grenade spent on three stragglers is one you will miss there.
• Finish with health to spare. Each cleared mission earns stars for the health you have left: three at 70 or more, two at 35 or more, and one otherwise. Grabbing a medkit just before the last kill can be worth a star.
• Watch for eyes in mission five. Visibility drops sharply in that sector, and the glowing eyes of the infected are often the first sign of what is coming. Stop and look before you sprint into the dark.
• Sprint to open space, then turn and fire. Runners join the horde early on, and a whole pack of them hunts you through the freight yard in mission eight. Backing slowly into a container leaves you cornered.

Missions and progression in Deadzone

The campaign builds steadily. You start at the checkpoint and an abandoned city block, then face your first brute and fight through a container yard in the shipping lanes. The middle missions bring darkness, armour and a burning city where the job is to break an encirclement. Mission nine asks you to survive a final surge at the evacuation point, and mission ten puts the Alpha between you and your escape. After the final mission a Replay final mission option takes you straight back to that fight.

Survivor XP is earned rather than handed out. Every kill is worth 20 XP and clearing a mission adds 200, so a slow, thorough run through an earlier sector still moves your rank. Your best time and star rating for each mission are kept separately, and a better time replaces your old one while your highest star count stays.