World War Z: Aftermath adds a bit more to Saber Interactive’s zombie survival game and expands the experience further.
Most often in the zombie apocalypse genre, we only see what happens during either the beginning or the middle of the brain eating chaos. But we never see what happens after, or what happens when the tables get turned on the living dead. World War Z: Aftermath is the latest DLC for Saber Interactive’s World War Z and gives us a glimpse of what happens to our heroes when they finally fight back.
Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself “Wait, isn’t World War Z quite an old game?”, and yes you would be correct in thinking that as the initial game did release way back in 2021. The game was an interesting mix of horde-based zombie slaying and third-person shooting co-op. When it was first released, the game was compared heavily with Left 4 Dead, which was also a zombie slaying survival title, and arguably it would seem World War Z is faring quite well, even receiving a new DLC, Aftermath.
This is mainly thanks to World War Z: Aftermath’s developer, Saber Interactive, who has been taking a lot of care maintaining the game and has been keeping it updated. Saber Interactive was first founded way back in 2001 and since then, has developed a slew of titles. One thing Saber Interactive is known for is working on tie-in games that go above and beyond what you would usually expect with movie tie-in games, such as was the case with World War Z and, more recently with Evil Dead: The Game.
The story for World War Z is what you can expect from your typical zombie apocalypse setting. A zombie virus has wiped out a large portion of the world’s population. Now unlike in the movie that the game is based on, there is no shining hero; there is no military badass that just so happens to be the key to saving the world. No, instead, you play as someone trying to survive. There is no singular badass, but now many characters all have their own unique goals and backstories. Coming up with one relatable protagonist is a challenge in itself, but making over 20+ characters now that’s impressive.
World War Z: Aftermath’s story is composed of episodes. These episodes dictate what characters you get to play as and where in the game’s zombie plagued world you will get to play in. From the bloodied streets of Tokyo to the frigid plains of Moscow, these areas play an important part in the characters’ backstory.
Once you’ve chosen an episode, you will be dropped into the zombie filled area of your choosing; you will go through that episode’s chapters. When you start an episode, your initial equipment will be relatively low level, but as you progress, you will unlock more and better weapons, and boy is there a lot.
In World War Z: Aftermath, your character has two, well technically, three weapons slots. Primary, Secondary and good old-fashioned melee, which you will choose before you go into a map and varies depending on your character class, however, these will usually be tier 1 weapons. You can’t go zombie slaying that easily; you need to earn it.
Your weapons will get stronger the more you use them, the more zombies you mow down, the more experience you gain, the more experience you gain, the more they will level up… Sorta. You see, in order to actually level up your weapons, you will need to spend coins. You earn coins by completing chapters, which is way harder when you’re just starting out.
However, if you level up enough, you will earn perks, which are absolute game changers and easily change the tide of combat, that’s if you can afford them. If you want these cool and shiny perks, you will need to grind for those Challenge coins, which is an absolute pain. Challenge coins are earned by completing challenges.
Now this wouldn’t be much of an issue if the challenges didn’t completely kill the pacing of the gameplay and just seems so needlessly over the top. You spend half of your time grinding for Chapter coins to level up your weapons, only to realize that you need to grind yet another type of coin if you want to make your weapons more useful.
Now you can’t talk about World War Z: Aftermath without touching on one of World War Z: Aftermath’s best aspects, Co-op. Now you can still play the game entirely solo, with your teammates being bot-controlled, which as you can expect, is good but not great. Bots don’t really do what you want them to do and instead will usually just follow, revive and die. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. The rather dull bots do act as an incentive to actually go into the game’s public matchmaking and hopefully team up with friends who will actually pick up items instead of giving you a blank stare, void of free choice.
As stated earlier, Saber Interactive has consistently maintained the game, and with World War Z’s latest expansion, Aftermath, they have added even more great content to the game. The content isn’t anything revolutionary, and instead, Aftermath simply builds on what was already there and adds a few much-appreciated improvements.
But the main addition to the game is the two new episodes set in Vatican City and the Kamchatka peninsula. We also get to see both new and returning characters. But the icing on the cake is the brand-new Horde Mode XL because you know what World War Z needed? More zombies!
In terms of World War Z: Aftermath’s sound design, you will need to make sure to keep your ears just as open as your eyes, as sound plays a very important part in the game. You see, it’s easy to see a horse coming, but if you truly want to get the upper hand, you need to hear them before they get to you.
Hearing the zombies while they approach gives you time to plan your attacks and adjust your tactics accordingly. This is helped by the game’s music, which isn’t anything grandiose, so as not to drown out the sound of zombie screeching. It still sets the mood of the area you are playing in and gives you the right amount of urgency and badassery.
As mentioned earlier, Saber Interactive tends to go above and beyond with their games, and World War Z: Aftermath is a prime example of that. Every single character you play as, is entirely unique from one another. Each character is also designed in such a way that we can get some idea about the backstory of the characters and which region they come from.
For example, a character that comes from Russia will be wearing thick jackets and layered clothes, while a character from the USA is wearing a neon crop and biker helmet. The world is also just packed with detail that gives you a sense of just how destructive the zombie apocalypse has been.
Overall, World War Z: Aftermath is an excellent addition to an already incredible experience, with the addition of new characters and just general quality of life improvements. The expansion builds onto what is already there and fits seamlessly into the main game.
