Reference

Guide

What is out there, and what to do about it. The numbers come from the game's own data tables. Be aware that this is based on the vanilla game, and your experience might difer when playing Still Alive or Reloaded rulesets.

Three game modes

Each mode enables or disables a layer of the simulation. Start as a living with a gender and a starting skill, or as an undead and pick a race.

Mode	What it changes	Best for
STD Standard	All undead types, and undeads evolve. Livings zombify on death. No infection, no corpses.	The default, and the least chaotic.
C&I Corpses & infection	Adds infection: bites infect, the infected can die, and their corpses rise more readily. Adds corpses: they rot, they can rise, the dead eat them, and the desperate eat them too.	Experiencing every feature the game has.
VTG Vintage	All of C&I, but only zombified men and women rise as undead, with no evolution. Forces several options off.	A more classic, less carnival zombie feel.

After you die

You can reincarnate into another actor in the same district — your killer, a random survivor, a random undead, one of your followers, or your own zombified self. Restrict yourself to one kind of avatar and the game becomes a challenge run: Succession, Killer, Till the Last Survivor, The Equalizer, or Life After Death.

The dead

They want to eat brains, and they fumble around chasing anything alive. Most are slower than a living human, but none of them tire and they are quite resistant to damage — you know, they are already dead. Some are dumb. Some follow tracks or remember where they last saw that tasty meatbag. Some break doors, windows and furniture to get to you. Some call the others over. Some can turn your dead friends into company.

Skeletonfragile, fast

Red-eyed skeletontougher

Red skeleton"Kill it with fire!"

Shamblerslow, but smells you

Dark-eyed shamblermeaner

Dark shamblerthe usual horror

Zombie ratsewers, very quick

Zombie master"Nice glasses."

Zombie lord"Lord of Death."

Zombie prince"Prince of Death."

The Sewers Thing400 HP. Do not disturb.

Undead	Spd	HP	Atk	Dmg	Def	Scent	Says
Skeleton	100	10	16	4	6	0	Quite annoying. Like a fly.
Red-eyed skeleton	150	12	18	6	8	0	Really annoying. Like a big fly.
Red skeleton	200	14	20	8	10	0	REALLY annoying! Kill it with fire!
Shambler	50	80	20	10	10	40	BRAINS!
Dark-eyed shambler	50	120	24	12	14	60	MORE BRAINS!
Dark shambler	50	160	28	14	16	80	MORE NUTRITIVE CEREBRAL MATTER!
Zombie rat	200	6	12	2	6	100	Large undead sewers rodent.
Zombie master	50	120	20	10	16	100	Nice glasses.
Zombie lord	50	180	24	10	16	100	Lord Of Death.
Zombie prince	50	240	28	16	16	100	Prince Of Death.
The Sewers Thing	33	400	28	12	8	5	A relative of The Swamp Thing?

Every undead has 99 stamina, which is the game's maximum: they never tire. Read the three shambler lines as one ladder — the same 50 speed, climbing steadily in health, attack and damage. Rain does not shorten an undead's field of view, but it does make the scents they follow decay faster, which is the one weather effect that touches them at all.

The living

Civilians want one thing: survive. They mind their own business and see you as just another regular joe, so do not expect them to treat you differently than that other dude over there. They are quite independent, easily scared unless led by someone they trust, and useful to watch in a headless-chicken kind of way — or a reliable way to frustrate your escape, barricading or fight plan.

Living	Spd	HP	Atk	Dmg	Def	FoV
Man	100	30	20	10	20	8
Woman	100	28	20	8	22	8
Policeman, national guard, CHAR guard, black op, biker, gangster	100	30	20	10	20	8
Feral dog	100	15	30	10	15	8

The ones with badges

They have different names, different looks, and a gun, and they appear to be very aggressive indeed: they do not hesitate to shoot anyone near their offices. You should not get near one unless you are prepared. They are also doing their duty cleaning up this mess, and they do not have time for your requests.

Day, night and weather

Weather can change daily, improving or worsening, and some of it lands on you. At night your field of view — the distance at which you can see — shrinks and you tire faster. Undeads are not affected by day or night at all.

RainFoV −1

Heavy rainFoV −2

Heavy rainsame, animated

Weather	What it does
Sunny, cloudy	No effect.
Rain	Livings lose 1 tile of field of view. Scents decay faster, so anything tracking by smell loses its trail sooner. Firearms jam 3% of the time instead of 1%.
Heavy rain	Livings lose 2 tiles of field of view. Scents decay even faster.

Rain also has a chance to put out fires, burning cars included. Going outside at night under heavy rain with no flashlight and zombies around does not sound very safe. It also has one small mercy: undeads are not affected by field-of-view loss, so the dark does not blind them the way it blinds you.

The places

Shops are the early game. Business and deliveries do not work well during an apocalypse, so it is first arrived, first served — sooner or later there will be nothing left.

Districts

The city is divided into districts, numbered by their coordinates on the city map starting at 0-0 for the north-west one. Each is a different map, and you move between them by exiting through a border. The districts you are not standing in keep going without you.

Press I for city info to see what you have pieced together about the map.

Sewers

A sewer network runs under every district, linked to the surface and to the neighbouring networks. Find a ladder and climb down. It is dark down there and you should bring light.

You have heard an urban legend about something large living down there.

Subway

A subway line runs east to west through the middle of the city, and only the districts it stops at are linked by it — a fast way across town if you dare turn the lights off.

Reach it from a station on the surface, and go down the stairs. Like the sewers, it is dark.

Off limits

The CHAR agency is open 24/7. CHAR offices are private property and you are not supposed to go there, which has never stopped anyone.

Your home town is the headquarters of the C.H.A.R. Corporation, and there are persistent rumours about them.

What to loot

The first two runs are decided by what you can carry and what you can hit things with. Priorities, roughly in order: something to eat, something to heal with, a way to fight at range, and then a door you can shut.

Food

Canned food

Army ration

Groceries

Medicine

Bandages

Medikit

Ranged

Pistol

Shotgun

Hunting rifle

Pistol ammo

Shotgun ammo

Melee

Baseball bat

Combat knife

Crowbar

Barricades and traps

Wooden plank

Bear trap

Barbed wire

Armour and light

Army body armor

CHAR body armor

Flashlight

Big flashlight

Stench killer

A stench killer spray erases the scent trail the dead follow, which buys you minutes rather than safety. Barricading a door does the same against anything slower than a rat.

Everything in detail

This guide is the quick version. Every action, command, skill, item category, follower and directive is documented in the full manual — the original text by the game's author, reformatted for the web and unaltered.

Read the original manual Controls