| ZombFarm | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay & Story | Release Date | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
ZombFarm is a farming simulation game with a zombie twist, where players manage a farm, take care of animals, and fend off the undead. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
ZombFarm Review Overview
What is ZombFarm?
ZombFarm combines farming life simulation with a zombie apocalypse setting. Players are tasked with managing a farm, caring for animals, gathering resources, and completing quests while defending against zombie enemies. With mini-games to break up the routine, the game aims to blend casual farming mechanics with light combat.
ZombFarm features:
⚫︎ Farming Life Sim
⚫︎ Zombie Enemies
⚫︎ Animal Care and Management
⚫︎ Quest Tracking System
⚫︎ Various Mini-Games
⚫︎ Resource Gathering
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about ZombFarm's gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 PlayStation |
 Xbox |
 Switch |
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| Price | $4.99 | ||||
ZombFarm Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Audio Variety |
Poor Inventory and Resource Management Lack of Story and World-Building Repetitive and Tedious Gameplay |
ZombFarm Overall Score - 44/100
ZombFarm is a game that promised an intriguing mix of farming and zombie survival but ultimately failed to deliver on almost every front. What could have been an exciting experience instead became a tedious, uninspired grind that never fully explored its potential. The weak narrative, confusing mechanics, and undistinguished visuals leave much to be desired, with only a few aspects such as audio providing any sense of engagement. At the end of the day, ZombFarm is more of a missed opportunity than a worthwhile investment.
ZombFarm Story - 3/10
The story in ZombFarm falls completely flat. In fact, the game might have been better off without a narrative altogether. It introduces you as a caretaker hired to manage a farm, but that’s where any semblance of a plot ends. There’s no context for who you are, why the world is overrun by zombies, or even who owns the farm. It's almost as if the developers forgot that the story needed to drive the game forward. Take Plants vs Zombies, for example—there's no explicit storyline, yet the lore is subtly embedded in the world for those who want to dig deeper. ZombFarm offers nothing of the sort, making its narrative feel like an afterthought.
ZombFarm Gameplay - 4/10
Boring. Confusing. Disconnected. That’s the best way to describe the gameplay in ZombFarm. There’s no logical progression or meaningful challenge, and many of the game’s features feel tacked on for no reason. Take the pigs, for example—while you can feed and give them water, there’s no other interaction. Why are they even there? It’s a game that seems to add elements just for the sake of adding them, without understanding how they could contribute to a more cohesive experience. This lack of purpose leaves the gameplay feeling disjointed and, quite frankly, dull.
ZombFarm Visuals - 4/10
While I’m a fan of pixel art, ZombFarm doesn’t showcase it in a way that adds anything to the experience. Good pixel art can be rich and expressive, but here it feels like a lazy design choice. The style is consistent, sure, but consistently mundane. Nothing about the visuals stands out or helps elevate the game beyond its repetitive mechanics, earning it a mere 4 out of 10.
ZombFarm Audio - 6/10
If there’s one redeeming factor in ZombFarm, it’s the audio. The game does a decent job of creating distinct soundscapes for each environment—the farm, the forest, and the town all have their own background music. Even the animals contribute to the atmosphere with their respective sounds. However, while the audio adds some depth, it’s not enough to save the overall experience. It’s pleasant but ultimately forgettable.
ZombFarm Value for Money - 5/10
At $4.99, ZombFarm is relatively cheap, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good deal. Sure, if you’re looking for a mindless way to kill a few hours, maybe it’s worth the price. But for most players, it’s hard to argue that there’s much value here. The repetitive gameplay, unexceptional mechanics, and lack of engaging content make it a questionable purchase at best. You might be better off saving those five dollars for something else.
ZombFarm Review: No Brains, No Fun
When I first picked up ZombFarm, I had modest expectations—after all, who doesn’t like the idea of managing a farm while surviving the occasional zombie threat? Unfortunately, what seemed like a promising concept quickly devolved into a repetitive, unimaginative experience. From the lackluster gameplay mechanics to the underwhelming narrative, ZombFarm feels like a game that struggles to define itself, much less provide any real engagement for its players.
The premise, at first glance, sets a decent foundation: you're a new hire on a farm, just outside a small town, and of course, the surrounding forest is infested with zombies. It sounds exciting in theory, but the excitement evaporates as soon as you're dropped into the game world. The storyline, if you can even call it that, is practically non-existent despite a narrative set-up. There’s no sense of urgency, no driving force to propel you forward—just endless, mundane tasks with no meaningful payoff. It’s as if the game is content with merely existing, rather than trying to captivate its audience.
The gameplay feels so shallow and devoid of challenge that it could be aimed at children, perhaps between the ages of two and nine, though even then, I’d hesitate to recommend it. Not because it’s too difficult, but because the mind-numbing repetition and lack of mental stimulation might do more harm than good to their developing brains. I found myself wondering what, if any, demographic ZombFarm truly had in mind when it was created.
Now, let's talk about mechanics—or the lack thereof. The game has no inventory system, which means you're constantly at the mercy of the weekly quest log and the in-game store to keep track of your supplies. This becomes a nightmare when managing the farm, particularly when you run out of feed for your animals. Better planning could have been possible if there were an inventory system to keep track of how much feed and supplies I had left. Without one, I was often left guessing and hoping I had enough, turning what should have been strategic gameplay into a frustrating guessing game. So if you're out of feed for the day, the game forces you to trudge through the lifeless forest to the town, where your only interaction is with a lonely truck that serves as a makeshift store. Worse yet, there’s no point in gathering resources early on, whether it's harvesting wheat, corn, or collecting items from the forest. If it's not part of a current quest, it simply disappears, making the whole process feel pointless.
Speaking of animals, the game introduces another layer of frustration here. Despite your best efforts to feed and care for them, animals can fall ill without warning, their health declining inexplicably. There’s no rhyme or reason to this—no correlation to the game’s mini-games, no warning signs. A more thoughtful approach would’ve been to link the animal's health to something like the tick-picking mini-game. Maybe if you fail to keep up with pest control, your animals could suffer, prompting you to buy medication or other preventive measures. But ZombFarm doesn't bother with such logical connections, leaving you frustrated and confused.
Then, there’s the lack of meaningful consequences. In a game world infested with zombies, you’d expect some level of danger or urgency. But no, dying in ZombFarm just resets your day—there’s no penalty or sense of progression loss. It doesn’t feel like survival; it feels like you’re stuck in a loop with no stakes. You can keep grinding away at the farm from Monday to Saturday, selling your produce on Sunday, and repeating the cycle indefinitely. The game doesn’t even bother to track how much time has passed, giving you no sense of progression or accomplishment.
The mini-games, which should have been a welcome break from the monotony, quickly lose their charm as well. From picking mites off animals to catching eggs or wool, everything feels uninventive. Sure, there’s a bit of physics fun in trying to catch the falling items, but that too becomes more annoying than rewarding after a few tries. There's no incentive to get better at any of these mini-games, as their rewards feel inconsequential. They’re just distractions in a game that desperately needs more substance.
Another glaring issue is the missed opportunity for resource gathering and exploration. The forest, which could’ve been an exciting area to explore or scavenge for materials, ends up being just another dull aspect of the game. There are resources like flowers, wheat, and mushrooms, but their existence feels more like an afterthought than a meaningful gameplay element. I kept wishing for a deeper mechanic—maybe driving a truck through the forest, bulldozing zombies along the way, or uncovering rare items—but none of that exists. Exploration is pointless when there’s nothing to gain.
Finally, let's talk about the zombies themselves—or lack thereof. Sure, the game includes them, but they’re more of a nuisance than a legitimate threat. You can outrun them easily, and they die after just two slashes. Sometimes they don’t even notice you unless you get close enough to poke them. There’s no sense of danger. Giving them more health or creating special events where they raid the farm would’ve added much-needed excitement. Even getting weapons or fortifying the farm could’ve introduced some fun strategy, but instead, the game simply asks you to fend off weak zombies and get back to your dull routine.
In conclusion, ZombFarm fails to deliver on its premise in almost every way. From the unexciting story to the frustrating mechanics and missed opportunities, it’s a game that doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. Whether you’re playing for farming, zombie-slaying, or mini-games, you’re bound to be disappointed.
Pros of ZombFarm
| Things ZombFarm Got Right |
|---|
|
Audio Variety |
Audio Variety
One area where ZombFarm manages to get things right is the audio design. The game provides distinct soundtracks for the different areas you visit—whether you’re wandering through the farm, exploring the forest, or heading into town, each space has its own music that sets the tone. The animal sounds are also a nice touch, bringing a bit of realism to your otherwise dull chores. While the audio isn’t groundbreaking, it does its job well enough to give the game a sense of life and character, even if it’s the only thing doing so. The varied soundtracks help break up the monotony of gameplay, giving you at least some variety to listen to while you slog through repetitive tasks.
Cons of ZombFarm
| Things That ZombFarm Can Improve |
|---|
|
Poor Inventory and Resource Management Lack of Story and World-Building Repetitive and Tedious Gameplay |
Poor Inventory and Resource Management
Resource management is a crucial aspect of any farming sim, but ZombFarm inexplicably lacks even the most basic inventory system. This oversight makes the game frustrating for players who like to plan ahead or hoard resources. Without an inventory to keep track of how much feed or supplies you have, you’re left guessing whether you have enough to get through the week. This isn’t just a minor inconvenience—it actively disrupts gameplay. You might find yourself heading to the store to buy supplies only to realize you didn’t need them, or worse, discovering that you’ve run out of feed with no quick way to get more.
An inventory system would have added a layer of strategic planning, allowing players to keep track of their resources and plan accordingly. Instead, you’re left at the mercy of memory, constantly backtracking to the store for supplies, which interrupts the flow of gameplay. This lack of foresight in the game’s design turns what could have been a thoughtful resource management experience into an exercise in frustration. If you’re the type of player who enjoys stockpiling or strategizing how to make the most of your resources, ZombFarm will be a massive disappointment. The absence of an inventory makes it impossible to manage resources effectively, turning a core mechanic into a frustrating guessing game.
Lack of Story and World-Building
One of the most glaring issues with ZombFarm is its failure to establish any meaningful narrative or lore. The game introduces you to a world supposedly overrun by zombies, but beyond that, it offers no explanation or backstory. You’re hired as a caretaker for a farm, but that’s where the story ends. There’s no indication of who you are, why the world is in such a state, or how the zombies came to be. This lack of context leaves the player disconnected from the game world, making it hard to care about anything that happens.
Other games, like Plants vs Zombies, have shown that you don’t need an in-your-face narrative to engage players—sometimes subtle world-building and hidden lore can go a long way. ZombFarm doesn’t even attempt this. There are no clues about the farm’s history, no hints about who owned it before you, and no background on the zombie apocalypse. This missed opportunity to flesh out the game’s world makes it feel empty and shallow. Without any compelling narrative to drive the experience, ZombFarm feels more like a series of disconnected tasks than a cohesive game, leaving players with little motivation to continue beyond the basic mechanics.
Repetitive and Tedious Gameplay
At first glance, ZombFarm appears to offer a range of activities with its mini-games—whether it's milking cows, catching wool and eggs, picking ticks off animals, giving them baths, or even fishing. But while these tasks may provide variety in theory, they’re so basic and elementary that they fail to sustain any real engagement. There’s no complexity or skill required in any of these mini-games, which might be fine for a brief distraction but quickly becomes tiresome when they make up the core of your gameplay experience. Each mini-game feels like a chore, lacking any depth or challenge that could make them worth repeating.
What’s worse is that none of these tasks build towards anything meaningful. Whether you’re caring for your animals or tending to your crops, there’s no real progression to speak of. The mini-games themselves may vary in type, but the result is always the same—going through the motions without any real payoff. The lack of incentive to master these activities or the absence of higher-level challenges makes the whole experience feel like busywork. It’s a monotonous grind that doesn’t evolve, leaving you stuck in an endless loop of mundane tasks with no real satisfaction or sense of achievement.
Is ZombFarm Worth It?
It's A Brain-Dead Experience
ZombFarm is a mind-numbing experience in all the wrong ways. If you were hoping for a post-apocalyptic farming game with depth and challenge, you’ll find yourself sorely disappointed. This isn’t the kind of zombie apocalypse you’d be excited to survive. The gameplay is tedious, the story is non-existent, and the lack of basic mechanics like an inventory system only adds to the frustration. Sure, it may only cost $4.99, but that’s still five bucks better spent elsewhere unless you’re looking for a game that will leave your mind as lifeless as the zombies wandering around.
Ultimately, ZombFarm is a game that doesn’t offer the thrill, strategy, or even the fun that you’d expect from a zombie-infested farm sim. If you're looking for a farming game or even a zombie survival experience, you’re better off seeking other options. This apocalypse is one you can skip.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PlayStation |
Xbox |
Switch |
|||
| Price | $4.99 | ||||
ZombFarm FAQ
How Many Achievements Can You Get in ZombFarm?
There are a total of 13 achievements in ZombFarm, which can be unlocked through various tasks such as washing the dog, killing zombies, and collecting different resources.
What Languages are Supported by ZombFarm?
Currently, ZombFarm only offers subtitles in English.
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ZombFarm Product Information
 | |
| Title | ZOMBFARM |
|---|---|
| Release Date | September 25, 2024 |
| Developer | Nerd Games |
| Publisher | eastasiasoft |
| Supported Platforms | PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Adventure,Casual, Farm Sim |
| Number of Players | Single-Player(1) |
| Rating | ESRB E |
| Official Website | ZombFarm Official Website |
