Zombicide 2nd Edition review: "Like a zombie flick brought to tabletop"

Since its release, Zombicide has seen a frankly ridiculous number of expansions, expandalones, and spin-offs, but sometimes it’s worth going back and experiencing the main event. Like, getting attacked by an army of the undead is weird enough without them also being the Avengers – just see our Marvel Zombies review for proof of that.

Like many of the best board games, Zombicide has gotten a fresh lick of paint with its 2nd Edition. With upped component quality and increased accessibility, Zombicide 2nd Edition doesn’t mess with the formula of this fun zombie crush-a-thon but it does bring some new life into it.

Features and design

Given that its publisher’s name stands for “Cool Mini Or Not,” it's not surprising that Zombicide has stellar miniature quality. The game comes with a whole army of unpainted miniatures including 12 Survivors and 76 Zombies. Among the tiny undead hordes are Walkers, Runners, Abominations, and Brutes (don’t call them Fatties, it makes them feel bad). Each of these is a good deal more detailed than those found in the original game. While Zombicide’s minis have always had a certain cartoonish charm to them and have outranked the quality of minis found in the majority of other board games, 2nd Edition delivers even cleaner, crisper-looking prints. It also does away with the distracting multi-colored Survivor minis, which is a welcome change in my book.

In addition to the miniatures, the game components include sturdy map tiles, cards, and tokens. All of these pieces are not only visually appealing but also durable. All in all, Zombicide 2nd Edition strikes a balance of having components that look and feel good in equal measure. For example, each character has a plastic dashboard where all of their ability information and game stats can be easily tracked with the aid of peg markers. Character inventory is kept neat and tidy with the help of the dashboard too.

There are 25 missions in the Zombicide 2nd Edition rulebook: 10 of which are updated versions of first edition missions and 15 of which are totally new additions. The in-manual runthrough for each of these missions helpfully guides players through setting up tiles and tokens to construct the map, provides a light little story blurb, and delivers the relevant 'special rules' for that given mission.

While the inclusion of 25 missions isn't anything to sniff at (especially given that this amounts to more than 25 hours of gameplay), there are even more scenarios to play through on the Zombicide website. Thanks to the modular design of the game board, you can also pretty easily create custom missions for you and your friends to enjoy too. With elements like cars and noise tokens, there’s lots of room to tell your own little Z day story in the Zombicide system.

Gameplay

Thanks to the mission-based structure of Zombicide 2nd Edition’s gameplay, a session can last as long as you want it to. Short on time? Enjoy a single shot of zombie whacking. Ready to hunker down and playthrough a makeshift campaign across an entire evening? You can do that too. No matter how you choose to play Zombicide, you’re in for some goofy, gory fun.

While turning zombies to mush is the main attraction, the aim of the game with Zombicide is to reach objectives like supplies and then get the heck out of Dodge. Of course, you’re still incentivized to smash up some undead on your journey. That’s because not only does mowing down monsters help you clear the path to your objective, but each character has an Adrenaline Point tracker that increases as they land more kills. The more pumped up on Adrenaline you can get your character, the more access you have to their range of specialised skills.

Character skills give you a leg up and are definitely helpful but they’re not total gamechangers. Ultimately, it’s all down to how the dice roll and how well you plan your journey around the map. Besides, once you’ve reached maximum Adrenaline, those benefits start to get offset by the fact that the number of zombies spawned increases and they’ll be gunning towards you (let’s just hope you can take them).

Zombicide is a cooperative experience that can be enjoyed with 1-6 players, but it shines best with a party of six, where each player controls a survivor with unique abilities. In groups of less than six players, there still needs to be six survivor characters on the board. So, in these cases, you and your group have to split them between you all. This is less than ideal at the best of times but can be a real pain when playing with five players. How do I fairly divide 6 by 5? Am I supposed to break one of these beautiful minis into fifths? You can (and probably should) solve this problem with the help of some house rules but I can’t help feeling this is a pretty silly oversight.

Ratings

Should you buy?

If you fancy a game that combines top notch production quality, easy-to-grasp rules, and wacky zombie theming, Zombicide will be right up your street. Those looking for a grittier, more heavyweight experience might be better suited to titles like Dead of Winter or Resident Evil: The Board Game.

How we tested

Our reviewer played Zombicide 2nd Edition multiple times to get a better sense of its mechanics and longevity. They also tried it with different player-counts to see how the experience varied.

For more on our process, don't miss this guide to how we test board games. To get a broader overview, see the GamesRadar+ review policy.