World War Z: Aftermath is the expansion to one of the best co-op zombie shooters around, World War Z. Much like its predecessor, WWZ: Aftermath is a third-person, four-player cooperative zombie shooter, but this new installment offers many new features and more versatility. If you love, Left 4 Dead, shooting zombies, co-op with your friends then you need to keep on reading.

World War Z: Aftermath as the name suggests continues the story of the 2019 original as well as movie title. As we follow the devastation caused by the initial outbreak and ongoing undead zombie swarms. Aftermath comes at us with a number of great new features including new story episodes, hunters, a new melee system, weapons and more. Here’s everything that’s coming in for you to make your decision.

The game is out already for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via the Epic Games Store and Steam, with backwards compatibility for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X at 4K|60 FPS.

 

New Story Episodes In Rome, Vatican City & Kamchatka

World War Z had you battling your way out of the major cities and staying alive. So far our journey has taken us across New York, Moscow, Jerusalem, Tokyo and Marseille (DLC). Now we take to the rest of the world to stop the further spread of the undead apocalypse. The two new levels will bring you to Italy and Russia.

In these all-new story episodes you’ll play as both new and returning characters. Fending off new undead monstrosities, including swarms of flesh-hungry rats with a brutal new melee system. There are also four new playable characters in the form of Sophia, Giovani, Daniela and Marco.

Rome & The Vatican, Italy

In Rome you’ll be handling a protect the cargo kind of mission. You’ll be escorting an APC to the Vatican to rescue a bunch of engineers. The plan is to broadcast a call-to-arms to all survivors in Rome using the Vatican’s radio station. You’ll fight to survive at an old graveyard during heavy fog and navigate the streets of Rome with the help of an ally APC that packs some serious firepower.

From the narrow cobblestreet roads to the Colosseum, to catacombs, hospitals, and taking back Vatican City, you’ll encounter dangerous waves of hundreds of zombies simultaneously, Special Zombies, and a new enemy type: packs of ferocious, infected rats.

Face zeke in close quarter combat through cobblestone streets in epic battles across catacombs, the Colosseum and more. Rescue a group of engineers who have gone missing and are in danger of falling to the zombie horde and concoct a bold plan to take back Vatican City.

The APC has an auto-turret that shoots nearby zombies, but it doesn’t protect you from the zombie hordes for long. Make sure to clear barricades and debris ahead of time before your vehicle get stuck and you get swarmed by the waves.

Rally survivors together and set a daring trap to lay waste to thousands of zombies in one fell swoop.  Fight to win back the city and permanently change the course of the war.

 

Kamchatka, Russia

Set in Russia’s peninsula, Kamchatka, you won’t only be defending against hordes of zombies you’ll also be fighting off the harsh Russian winter in an effort to survive. A powerful storm brings frigid temperatures, so remaining outdoors ends your life as fast as any zombie will.

Unite Japanese refugees and local survivors against the common enemies of zeke and the deadly, unrelenting cold weather. Traverse an abandoned cruise ship and fight your way through a blizzard to find a commander in order to make a pact between the Japanese and Russian settlements and work together for a solution.

The primary objective is to activate four power generators, that you must find in the storm. Each of the generators must be turned on in a specific order to restore power, so teamwork is going to be essential on this. Use heaters in the buildings to give yourself places to warm up.

Every play through is going to be different, as eventhough the generators’ locations don’t change per playthrough, the order that you turn them on does. Maps on walls tell you the generators to activate, and the proper sequence.

Next up traverse an abandoned cruise ship to find a commander in order to make a pact between the Japanese and Russian settlements and work together for a solution.

 

New Class: Vanguard

In addition to the seven classes already present in World War Z, now comes a new class – the Vanguard.

The Vanguard class is equipped with an electrified shield that the player will use to smash their way through a swarm. It’s useful both offensively, to rip apart a swarm and clear some space for your allies or to simply barrel your way through to safety. Use your shield and tank your team by blocking entryways and doors.

 

Other New Features

World War Z: Aftermath enhances a couple of requested features including a toggle-ble FPS mode. Which should give you some complete immersive action. That coupled with the brutal new melee system will get you right in the thick of it. To keep things balanced, the developers gave each perspective differing strengths and weaknesses, such as aim and damage adjustments, in order to encourage players to experience each POV.

New melee weapons now come in light, medium and heavy with a variety of perks. Such as dual-wielded sickles that improve health stats after enough kills. There’s also axes, cleavers and a sledgehammer for those that are so inclined.

The other big adjustments include adaptive A.I. and randomizers for each map.

The A.I. for the zombie hordes is already great, however, they’ll now be quicker to adapt to tactics. Causing the zombies to become more aggressive and spawn special enemies more often. Some of these include brutes that are covered in body armor and charge at players, a jockey-like zombie that will pounce on a player and mercilessly claw at them, and some common zombies that spawn with the added ability to infect anyone they down.

Lastly there is Horde Mode XL is a free post-launch update exclusive to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. In it will come the endless horde mode we know and love but this time it’ll be bigger.

 

So, Is World War Z: Aftermath Worth Getting?

The reviews are out and while it is not a perfect game it is an extremely fun one that scores well in replayability and difficulty. As an added bonus, current World War Z owners can upgrade their game for USD$19.99 as opposed to paying the full price of USD$39.99. This is an amazing price when compared to it’s let’s say competition Back 4 Blood which is going for USD$59.99.

With the price point in mind as well as the replayability factor and well just how much fun the game is, I’d say that World War Z: Aftermath is well worth getting.

Aftermath as well supports up their four-player co-op with full cross-play between consoles and PC, including the Epic Games Store and Steam. So feel free to get it with you and your friends!

Bonus: A Nintendo Switch version of the original World War Z is also on the way from November 2.