Zombies.

the trouble with zombies is that they keep coming back shootin Mayman doesn't matter unless you destroy the head they'll just keep coming the Living Dead saturates cinema television and games a cultural phenomenon that seems impossible to stop an unholy congregation with limitless appetite it's not a matter of if they'll get you but when so now dead zombies become a mainstay of pop culture what games insure their massive popularity today and when will this never-ending trend finally die but living-dead first emerged in folkloric tales out of African culture powerful voodoo magic capable of raising corpses as undead servants such tall tales made it to American shores during the interwar occupation of Haiti quickly finding cultural fascination talking pitches hit their stride around this time and ushered in a new era of horror Dracula Frankenstein and The Mummy zombie the Living Dead the first feature-length zombie film was made in such a mold white zombie in 1932 its treatment of the Living Dead is far removed from modern expectations essentially a new twist on vampire legend with the voodoo masters thralls serving as an obedient workforce rather than a brain craving mob early zombies work tales of possession the horror derived from loss of control comely white women swayed by the unchristian values of Voodoo often repeated this formula eventually became stale and the more optimistic science fiction stole the limelight by the 1950s save for a few B movies the zombie fad was over no rest for the dead however almost as soon as they were consigned to the Crypt a new era dawned under the direction of George Romero that coming to get you Barbara in 1968 Night of the Living Dead rewrote the rules revived the genre and influenced every zombie that emerged thereafter the cobwebs of classic horror would dust it off and the shackles of Voodoo was shed instead a full-blown zombie apocalypse a thoughtless horde unrelenting unexplained yet believable this was coupled with a bleak nihilistic tone with no real heroes nor a happy ending a risky proposition but it worked it was the most profitable horror film of its era and as audiences queued up so too did Romero's imitators most were awful subtlety stripped away in favor of exploiting visceral thrills gore rotting flesh and buckets of blood not everyone has the stomach for it of course and by the mid 1980s Hollywood horror had gone in another more gothic direction once again zombies return to their grave but the dawn of a new art form had already begun the arrival of the home microcomputer democratized game development and allowed the imagination of hobbyist programmers to roam free it was only a matter of time before someone made a game about zombies the very first is difficult to pin down an obscure origin amidst a primordial supertype in basic and amateur games which never saw distribution perhaps the first commercial release is zombies for the zx81 derived from an earlier basic game called chase the idea is to lure a crowd of zombies into potholes their behavior simple but their numbers rife clearly influenced by Romero's slow stupid mobs early machines struggled with numerous enemies with each vying for CPU time an occupying vital ram the rendition of convincing undead mobs was some distance off despite these limitations 1984 zombie zombie was a solid attempt at an isometric City based zombie apocalypse armed with an air cannon and helicopter instead of direct violence the goal was to lure the undead off high buildings at this point the concept of a zombie game was ill-defined they normally found themselves part of a spooky ensemble cast rubbing shoulders with vampires mummies ghosts and goblins the late 80s were an era of excess not suited to subtlety action films guns an increasingly gory action as 16-bit machines took hold and graphics became more realistic games could start a mirror the lurid scenes of horror arcade titles like beast busters had endless parades of zombies to shoot with huge sprites unprecedented levels of on-screen violence and exploding body parts blood-soaked corn ops of this era would be key inspiration for early first-person shooters indeed Wolfenstein doom and quake all features a zombie like opponents and jibbing aplenty there is a certain irony in all this once designed to deliberately offend Christian values now ersatz human targets they could bleed be dismembered and slaughtered by the Dozen but it's alright they're just zombies however aura can be more sophisticated than the splash of red pixels with deft pacing tone and atmosphere you can exploit these psychological aspects of fear to be effective let's shoot him up how to be discarded and the player left disempowered combat should be scary and every bullet should matter survival horror begins with games like Capcom sweet home an RPG not afraid to punish the player with limited resources and character perma death info grams alone in the dark was another stab at domestic horror this time taking an action-oriented cinematic approach the world was 3d to an extent the limit polygon count static backgrounds were used fixed camera angles and awkward voyeuristic composition imparting a sense of dread the elements for the perfect survival horror game was starting to fall into place and zombies would prove just the glue to hold them all together the mid-90s saw a return in focus towards console gaming and an identity shift towards a new adult audience the Sony Playstation was making moves and boasted a lineup of attractive titles like Wipeout Tekken Tomb Raider and Resident Evil he did four games what Romero did for film Resident Evil threw out the cliches of reheated zombie horror distilled its essence and became a new prototype of future games to follow an unlikely origin to considering zombies whenever particularly popular in Japan widespread cremation and reverence for the dead largely excludes walking corpses titled biohazard in its native market instead of mystical force or voodoo magic the zombies are a deliberate act of terror a mutagenic bio weapon called the t-virus a spontaneous idea that was likely influenced by the 1995 sarin gas attacks in Tokyo Resident Evil marks the maturation of video game horror from the time you encounter the first zombie to the ultimate escape the tension was held in waste no game had ever done before its enemies were varied rather than a shambling homogeneous horde the introduction of multiple monster types prevented buyers from ever becoming complacent innovative enough to forgive it's slightly awkward controls and camp dialogue it spurred a golden era of survival horror that was too close you were almost a Jill sandwich you're right Barry thanks for saving my life the PlayStation era is defined by such games Silent Hill Parasite Eve Dino Crisis fatal frame knowing a good thing when they see it Sega took zombies to the arcades adapting the like an action of Virtua cop into horror shoot-'em-up the House of the Dead it wasn't quite as nuanced as Resident Evil 4 they less serious style and a pace on Rails but when you have full polygonal graphics a non-stop action blaring from its impressive cabinet atmosphere is less important western games also took inspiration the darkened corridors of doom 3 and its choice between firearm or flashlight or the limited ammo and multiple zombie types introduced during Raven home half-life 2 most of all Resident Evil proved that zombies could be cool again and that you don't always have to stick to the rules by the time of the PlayStation 2 3d performance had become more confident twin-stick controller norm an action-oriented game's dominant Capcom had muddied their own market with countless spin-offs and what was originally refreshing became cliche survival horror had had a good run I suppose and as military sci-fi and crime themed games took hold it looked like once again zombies had expired the new millennium was quick to shatter any optimism the 90s left behind 9/11 anthrax SARS the war on terror a culture of fear magnified by 24-hour media during all of this something unusual happened normally videogames borrow from cinema but this time the debt was repaid released in 2002 28 days later was a surprising success using classic Romero with a twist of inspiration from Resident Evil it's zombies were different they were fast a biological aspect was there to a blood-borne virus that quickly in facts turning the slightest scratch into a tragedy genuinely scary a new approach a reinvigorated a dying genre as more films shuffled out of production including an official a tapped ation of Resident Evil and the comedic yet serious Shaun of the Dead a trickle of zombie games turned into a flood another generation of consoles had begun new hardware a new possibility capcom remained at the forefront of zombie games with the success of Resident Evil 4 and it shift to Ward's more action-oriented gameplay they also invested in a new less serious franchise dead rising a sandbox game filled to the brim with zombies its sprawling more taken from Romero's dawn of the dead.the then new Xbox 360 could handle more zombies and larger Maps than ever before a convincing realization of a full-blown zombie apocalypse an affection for free roam gameplay would define the generation and Rockstar were the kings of the category Red Dead Redemption undead nightmare is a standout for DLC of the era and a rare sighting of the lesser spotted zombie Western Call of Juarez developers tech land made a similarly with Dead Island its trailer promising emotive drama amidst a tropical setting what was delivered proved slightly disappointing but its blend of brutal melee combat and crafting entered a greater potential dying light would better realize the concept parkour makes traversal of its world more fluid and a stark day/night dichotomy means running is often necessary to escape doom zombies aren't always so somber sometimes they're seen with a sense of humor the more lighthearted efforts tend to exploit the campus of b-movie horror and what they lose in visceral impact they gain in comedy plants vs. zombies is a franchise firmly tongue-in-cheek with an unlikely botanical match up the static plants suit the tower defense game play and while motivated by brains the zombies end up eating a vegetarian diet and intrinsic irony of its all-out garden warfare the zombie survival serves cooperative play perfectly and the increasing popularity of online multiplayer when the reunion was inevitable left4dead arrived in 2008 a cinematic 4 player journey through zombie infested levels punctuated by safe houses it evokes classic horror while taking notes from newer sources fast zombies and special infected types valves usual polish and extensive play testing helped set the bar for four player co-op and it's dynamic reshaping of game intensity under an AI director meant that even seasoned players might be left surprised the perennially popular Call of Duty was in full swing by this point and while its primary draw was as a military shooter world at war would venture into the crossover realm of zombie horror and war originally and it as an afterthought a reward completing the campaign nazi zombies would prove one of the most compelling features of tray aux entries to the franchise with escalating waves of challenge for player-character co-op and surprisingly complex easter eggs the zombie aspect went from strength to strength with a string of DLC and sequels similar is the spinoff from Sniper Elite nazi zombie army now a horror co-op trilogy shooting reanimated fascists is reward enough that Sniper Elite illustrates the destruction of gray decaying organs with gratuitous slow-motion and x-ray vision between undead mobs and survivor factions it's an a massive scale of multiplayer where zombies can really stretch their legs the survival sandbox indie games are a cornerstone here perhaps small teams without a publisher are more willingly seduced by already popular themes where larger budgets might not bank on the continued success of an already long-lived trend an early browser-based example is urban dead not much to look at but within its simple elements lie a surprising complexity the chaotic influence of so many players coalesce into a living undead city independent games excel at simplicity and the elementary blocks of Minecraft are an origin point first designed with survival in mind base building by day and a zombie onslaught by night its block by block approaches arguably more successful as a Lego simulator but the limitless freedom to build and roam is compelling larger more detailed worlds are tempered by technology and while consoles lay stagnant late generation the PCs potential took the lead dayz started as a mod for Milton armour to and from its outset its goal was to portray a zombie outbreak as realistically as possible with supply scattered across its massive map and a host of variables to manage hunger thirst temperature blood pressure staying alive requires careful management of parallel demands throwing a handful of other survivors and zombies become the least of your concerns much of the drama and emerging gameplay arises directly from player interaction minecraft and Daisy are both definitive survival sandbox games and of each inspired many imitators between abstract block building crafting and realistic needs it's a genre that indulges both player creativity and a competitive side zombies are not a necessary element of these games but they do underpin the common themes a breakdown of society and a consequently hostile world a seductive idea as the perfect vent for modern-day frustrations no more daily grind instead uh Terr freedom and pure survival instinct such settings run rich with drama and narrative focus games like Telltale's The Walking Dead exploit this running parallel to the popular TV series it's an exercise in episodic storytelling with many tough choices within action takes a backseat largely replaced with azules and dialogue but despite this the game is no less powerful after all the most interesting stories focus on the survivors struggle desperation mutiny sacrifice relax now if there's one moral to take from zombie fiction it's that the greatest threat to safety isn't the predictable ponderous fate that Clause of the window it's ourselves from the fast dark danger of modern horror to the classic Romero formula the kid charm of B movies or the mystic origins of voodoo zombies straddles several eras they endure courtesy of an occasional willingness to defy definition and break the rules for instance these so called Zed's from killing floor are not zombies but failed experiments instead databases Necromorphs are extraterrestrial in origin a pathogen the co-op's corpses in grotesque fashion the last of us is apocalypse occurs via a fungal vector infectious spread via bites and prompting aggressive behavior the zombie prescriptivists might discount these examples but the undead influence is clear and if it looks like a zombie walks like a zombie well today zombies remain massively popular and neither their presence in games films nor television showing signs of abatement it has to come to an end eventually no audience has an unending appetite and over their 80 year span in popular culture they proceeded to the grave often enough don't write the obituary too soon however the trouble with zombies is that they keep coming back thank you for watching and until next time farewell

Channel: Ahoy

Views: 1,614,910

Rating: 4.9534988 out of 5

Keywords: xboxahoy, zombies, voodoo, romero, video games, zombie video games, horror, survival horror, thriller, resident evil, dead island, 28 days later, night of the living dead, living dead, ghoul, left 4 dead, walking corpses, magic island, dead rising, minecraft, dayz, survival sandbox

Id: kTFnCPQG2eY

Length: 22min 11sec (1331 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 05 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/Sinew3]

Love Ahoy. If he made a video on the history of toilet paper it would probably be just as enjoyable to watch as the rest of his videos. Definitely recommend checking out his video "Nuclear Fruit: How the cold war shaped video games" as well

[u/brettf123]

My app glitched, so this was showing the video from the "art of grilled cheese" as the thumbnail post and I got really confused

[u/azerbajian]

Even if I don't like related zombie video I must admit this documentary was really well made. Thx for sharing !

[u/WindyPickle]

I'm a sucker for medieval castles

[u/Starbreaker99]

I miss when he used to talk about beer

[u/HammerHeadNuke]

Very well made

[u/troutleaks]

This was interesting but I felt it was a little skewed by focussing on games so much. Looking at the comments on the about page for this youtube channel I see it is mainly a video game thing. But no mention of World War Z book or movie and barely acknowledging The Walking Dead comics or TV shows was odd. I think the intro (pre-Romero) stuff felt extremely thin. Where did the word zombie even come from? It just turned into about ten short game reviews and then ended by skipping some of the most prominent zombie related media ever.

I didn't dislike it but I don't know if it achieved what it set out to do.

[u/MariSnow]

That was really interesting, I've never played video games but that made me want too, especially the Day Z one. I thought 28 days later was the first time Zombies as infected was used, but it came from Resident Evil. iZombie is my current favourite of all the zombie TV shows they should make a game where you are a sentient zombie trying to survive.

[u/Colonelbrickarms]

Great video, I believe he should've mentioned the World War Z book though.