PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds zombies shuffle between boredom and action

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds studio Bluehole has opened up its zombie mode to its content-creator partners (think YouTubers and Twitch streamers) around the world. The developer gives those players access to a special version of the game that includes custom matches. Among the settings for that mode is the option to turn most players on a server into a horde of the living dead. I played as the undead in a handful of matches, and it is a big change from the core Battlegrounds loop. It is also long periods of nothing followed by bursts of excitement.

Here’s how this new mode works: Unlike in a standard squad match, where teams of up to four people all battle each other for victory, the zombie game has one human unit fighting against a giant group of zombies. In a custom room the squad size can change, so you can have around 90 zombies chasing down 10 people (or other configurations). The humans can still pick up all the weapons and use vehicles. As a walking corpse, you are naked, can’t use weapons or vehicles (and you’ll fall off and take damage if you try to stand on a moving car or boat), and you can only punch — no biting. It’s then up to the zombies or humans to wipe each other out.