Free Online Zombie Games: Dead Awaken and Urban Dead

Have you ever wanted to be a zombie? Okay, how about a zombie hunter? Or have you ever wanted to play a game that allowed you to pretend to be one or the other? There are a wide array of free online games available, and at least two of these games give you the opportunity to be a zombie or zombie hunter. Both games only require a computer, an internet connection, and maybe a little bit of an imagination.

Dead Awaken is a predominantly browser-based game. It gives you the opportunity to choose to be a zombie hunter (human) or a zombie. There are some minor differences between the two, aside from the obvious. A human character's health tends to be higher than a zombie of an equivalent level, but the zombies seem to be a bit more proficient at dealing out damage. Once you've chosen the side of fence on which you want to live (or exist, perhaps), you can begin playing the game.

The bulk of the game revolves around making money and collecting heads. Both of these can be accomplished by digging up graves in the graveyard or exploring the mall by yourself. Of course, to do this, you have to be alive (or undead) and have some stamina remaining. Health can be regained by purchasing items at the pharmacy (or from the dumpster behind the pharmacy), and also resets twice a day. Your stamina, which is initially capped at 20, returns to you at a rate of one every 15 minutes, but otherwise functions much like turns would in some other online games. Once your stamina is gone, your options are a lot more limited.

As you search the graveyard, you will find money or food items in the graves, and random zombies (or zombie hunters) attack you, which is how you gain heads. In the mall, you won't see any of the money or heads until you've completed your "mall run." You also have the option in the mall to attack other characters, which gains you experience points and occasionally money, assuming you win your fight.

Money can be used to buy weapons, armor, and hideouts. Heads can be used to increase your skills or stats, though they can also be sold on an in-game market to gain more money for your character. You can also use your money to purchase heads from other players at this same in-game market.

There are other smaller games within Dead Awaken that can be played to gain money or heads as well. Some of these are flash based, and the developers are working to make more of the site flash based as well. One of the games, Keep Away, actually can require some considerable skill, as you navigate your character around tombstones while staying clear of those trying to stop him.

The game has a very active message board system, where new players can ask questions, old players can brag about their accomplishments, and general nonsense can be discussed. Another bit of advice for new characters is to try to find an active mob or horde to join. By joining an active mob or horde, you gain the benefit of having "buddies" who can help you out with money, heads, equipment, hideouts, and advice. While all of these are useful, the experience of older players is probably the greatest benefit to a new player.

Urban Dead, also a browser-based game, similarly allows you the chance to choose between being a survivor (human) or a zombie, and also adds the choice of a "character class" to your beginning options. A word of warning, however: human characters usually end up as zombie characters pretty quickly, and your chances of being revived as a human again are pretty small. As a result, the zombies very easily outnumber the humans.

Depending upon your choices of survivor or zombie and your character class, you will have access to a skill tree. You start out with a skill for free, and perhaps an item or two, and then you're off. Urban Dead also utilizes the idea of stamina to determine how many actions you have on a given day, and these turns are required to stand back up if you are killed. The map of the city is a large grid, and you can move from square to square to see what you can find. Accessing the buildings on the map is difficult at first, as many are heavily barricaded. As time goes on, however, your character will be able to break down these barricades with some effort, and then hide within the buildings.

In this game, you gain experience solely by attacking other characters, whom you will encounter as you move around on the map. Experience can then be spent to gain additional skills from your skill tree. Some character classes have the option to buy skills from other skill trees, but this ability is limited to survivors. If you play this game long enough as a zombie, you will eventually run out of things to buy. The developers of the game are adding additional skills as time goes on, but it can lose some of its charm after a while.

There are a few informal groups within the game, but there is no formalized version of mobs or hordes. Mostly, you'll be on your own to learn how to play, but Urban Dead is a much more simple game than Dead Awaken, so you can generally figure out what you need to do without help. There is additional information on Urban Dead available on the internet, including a site specific wiki.

In the case of both of these games, there is the option to become a donator. By giving the developers some of your real world money, you can gain access to additional features and benefits. These games are free, in the sense that no one is required to pay to play, but many players feel that becoming donators is the best way to advance quickly and get more out of the game. Even if you don't donate, however, you can still have a lot of fun pretending to be a zombie or zombie hunter.