Zombies & Scenarios

Zombies that revive, adapt, and buff each other, plus the two scenarios

The Rebirth: zombies can get back up

Some zombies revive after you kill them, and the chance rises as you level up. Revived zombies can also evolve into stronger versions. It can be switched off in the settings, and the Rebirth chest mod lowers the chance. Until you have that mod, don't turn your back on a body.

Read the hands

Zombies with adaptations have glowing palms. Standard and mutated zombies can both have them, and later in the game some have several at once, which makes them look like they're wielding magic.

The remains of immune zombies are worth collecting: they're used for immunity mods and explosion-resistant concrete.

Flesh discoloration is also a warning: zombies that have been dead longer are stronger and tougher.

Support zombies: kill these first

Particles around a zombie mean it's buffing the zombies near it. Support zombies don't buff themselves, but they do buff each other. (The settings can turn off zombie hand particles to help performance, at the cost of some of these visual cues.)

A Witch Doctor who mind-controls a support zombie gets its buffs for their own minions.

Other zombie types

• Tainted are a tier above radiated, shaded purple and imbued with magic. They're immune to some abilities, including mind control. Plain damage still works.
• Leaders are larger zombies that spawn more zombies when attacked.
• Bosses are bigger versions of normal zombies and can arrive with a horde.
• Seekers are walking bombs that hunt you, break things in their way, and call in minions.
• Mutated zombies: spiders, wights, spitters, bloated walkers, and zombie animals. Mutated spitters can spawn small copies of themselves when they spit, which you can disable or delay until a chosen day in the settings.
• Controllers, such as the Screamer, can lead or summon other zombies.

When each of these starts appearing is covered in World & Progression.

Scenarios

Besides the standard game, Rebirth has two scenarios that change the whole loop.

The Purge

• The streets are empty of zombies, and animals rule the open ground. Every building is packed with hardened zombies, and the goal is to clear them POI by POI, biome by biome. The map tracks which POIs you've cleared.
• You arrive by helicopter drop with a random outfit. The starting kit includes a bicycle, a torch, a class book, a Toolbox, a bedroll, a fire axe, shovel, pickaxe, and wrench, water, vitamins, canned food, and two info notes. (The wiki says you start in the forest; the game files don't confirm the location.)
• No trader jobs, no trader-compound protection, and no starter dog — you can buy one once the farming trader unlocks.
• Biome ailments start at level 5: every 60 seconds outside the Forest you can catch infection, fatigue or dysentery, depending on the biome. Vitamins block them, and vehicles make you immune. Lasting protection comes from the Stabilizer Device armor mods, which stack (the Snow stabilizer also covers the Desert, and so on); each recipe unlocks once you've purged 75% of the previous biome (the threshold is a setting). See World & Progression.
• There's no Blood Moon. Clearing a biome's POIs earns milestone supply drops. These are special Purge crates that land within about 100 meters of you.
• From a 2024 video: wandering hordes grow over time and bandit events still happen. The same video says there is no Blood Moon, but nothing in the game files confirms or contradicts that. (2024 video)

The Moonlock Protocol

• A world of permanent night. You restore each day by destroying the Queen Hive in each biome: Monday is the Forest hive, Tuesday Wasteland, Wednesday Desert, Thursday Burnt Forest, and Friday Snow. Saturday and Sunday come from clearing zombies in the underground tunnels.
• You gather mutated zombie parts in the tunnels and caves and trade them to Poppy, who gives you hive-locating missions, repairs your gear (there are no basic repairs), and imbues weapons with abilities in place of auras.
• No classes and no supply drops. High-tier crafting is disabled, so gear upgrades come from exploring, loot, and crystals.
• No bandits or survivors — it's just you and the zombies.
• You wake up in your underclothes outside an underground emergency pod with a fire axe, torches, flares, 2 bandages, and an unassembled vehicle frame (not a finished moped). A note tells you to find a Whiteriver trader. The cave defenders can hear you walking.
• On days when a hive is inactive you still get a Blood Moon-style "prepare for the horde" alert. Settings let you play without the constant darkness, and you can disable hive infestation and hive support buffs.