It’s rare to see it go beyond the roots of its very clear inspiration, and there’s not a whole lot of variety when it comes to the missions, the special zombies, or the weapons, but what is there works and is enough to fill the Left 4 Dead-shaped hole in all our hearts, for a little while at least. The best way to experience World War Z is to fire up your microphone and find yourself a four-person crew to play through its brief but fun campaign. As with previous episodes, these episodes are challenging, heart-pounding nightmare scenarios that pit you and up to three co-op buddies against literally thousands of zombies while setting traps, managing resources like med kits and grenades, and trying desperately not to blow yourself up by firing a rocket launcher at point-blank range. One of the more noteworthy things Aftermath adds is two excellent new campaigns that take you to reclaim Vatican City in Rome and to the utterly dismal wastes of Kamchatka, Russia. That said, with ongoing online issues, forgettable stories, and some gameplay growing pains, it still has plenty of room to grow. Aftermath is the next major step for this sleeper hit and one that mostly succeeds at moving the zombie-filled shooter in the right direction. With more episodes to rampage through, a greater selection of playable classes, and dozens of major quality-of-life improvements (like zombies no longer being able to pull you off ledges and devour you in the most unfair manner imaginable, for example), there’s a lot to love about it these days.

With the Aftermath expansion, World War Z is a much different game than when it debuted in 2019, and overwhelmingly for the better.

World war z single player