Best Zombie Game Survivors, Ranked

It’s a surprisingly difficult task to become a survivor in a zombie game. Sure, anyone who’s alive during the events of an outbreak is technically a survivor, but actually making it to the end credits is a very different story. Even for many survivors, simply making it through the events of one game doesn’t guarantee they’ll be making it through a sequel.

With the shockingly wide variety of zombie games players have been treated to over the years, there’s no shortage of iconic survivors for people to love. While some tend to show up in the biggest horror franchises around, some of the best survivors are in overlooked gems of the genre.

10 Zeke & Julie – Zombies Ate My Neighbors

While Zeke and Julie don’t often get brought up when someone is talking about their favorite video game characters, the game they’re featured in, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, is constantly brought up by fans of the Super Nintendo.

Zombie games don’t tend to be family-friendly, but this game is one such example. Zeke and Julie not only deal with hordes of the undead, but they also confront the nefarious Dr. Tongue in order to put a stop to his evil schemes. They may be classic characters, but they’re memorable.

9 Thomas Rogan – House Of The Dead

While the days of arcades and arcade shooters can often feel like a relic of the past, there are still countless gamers who look back fondly at the House Of The Dead series. While he isn’t often mentioned nowadays it’s important to acknowledge how key Thomas Rogan was in helping to solidify the zombie shooter genre.

Part of the reason why Rogan is so great is that you get to experience the events of the game through his eyes. For a majority of the experience, you’re projecting yourself onto the character. It’s not just Rogan that’s surviving the undead, you’re right there with him.

8 Deacon St. John – Days Gone

While he has seen plenty of criticism over the years thanks to his game’s somewhat lackluster story, Deacon St. John of Days Gone has remained as one of the classic cool-guy survivors in zombie games. While he can feel generic at times, the way he’s performed by his voice actor helps alleviate that problem.

It was a fun and unique idea to be able to traverse a zombie apocalypse on the back of a motorcycle, but most tend to favor Deacon due to his heartfelt search for clues on what happened to his Wife. His loyalty to his friends and his hardships in-game make him one of the best survivors of all time.

7 Coach – Left 4 Dead 2

It’s entirely possible that as soon as you thought of a list of potential zombie game survivors, your mind jumped to the Left 4 Dead series. Just about every survivor from the games is memorable for one reason or another, but the one that stands out the most in the second entry is Coach.

While all the survivors somehow manage to bring plenty of humor to what looks like a hopeless situation, most agree that Coach brings the most levity to the group. Hearing Coach joke around even when faced with what could be certain doom helps keep players calm and reminds everyone why he’s such a great survivor.

6 Frank West – Dead Rising

There are a lot of things that make Frank West of Dead Rising one of the best zombie survivors in the history of gaming. The situation he finds himself in is one that no one would envy, but he managed to not only entertain everyone with his determination but also his wit.

From a gameplay standpoint, Frank is a great survivor because he allows the player to try out a relatively unique mechanic for survival horror games. Just about anything that Frank can get his hands on is something that the player can use to survive, something that any normal person would likely do.

5 Zoey – Left 4 Dead

The original survivors from the first Left 4 Dead are characters that zombie fans will always look back on fondly. While they all have their own aspects that make each character unique, Zoey often stands out to fans of the series.

Something that makes her so great is that while she’s an awesome survivor, she’s also incredibly relatable. Zoey was just a simple student before the outbreak occurred. In most zombie games, the heroes are special forces agents that can be hard to relate to.

4 Jill Valentine – Resident Evil

No conversation about the survivors of zombie outbreaks is complete until at least one character from the Resident Evil series is featured. It’s a series in which even minor characters have devoted fan bases, but one of the biggest characters with one of the most devoted fan bases is Jill Valentine.

There are a lot of reasons why Jill is one of the best survivors of all time. Whether you look back at her campy original appearances or her modern-day heroics, Jill is a relatable character to a lot of people and stood out at a time when it could be argued that there was a shortage of truly admirable female characters.

3 Chuck Greene – Dead Rising 2

If the first Dead Rising set the bar for what zombie games could do, Dead Rising 2 jumped right over that bar. While the game’s narrative isn’t anything particularly special, the player character of Chuck Greene is someone that most people grew to love.

Not only could Chuck Greene turn pretty much anything into a weapon, but he could also morph those weapons together to form some of the deadliest inventions that the hordes of the undead will have to face. Aside from that, his desire to protect both average people and his daughter is commendable.

2 Clementine – Telltale’s The Walking Dead

Few games are as heartbreaking as Telltale’s The Walking Dead. It was rare for characters to survive a single chapter let alone the entire events of the game, but one of the first characters you meet is one of the best survivors in recent zombie media.

The fact that a small child manages to survive her first outing into the world of zombies is impressive, but the amount of heart she shows during that time is what makes her truly great. She’s faced with more hardship than most face during their entire lives at such a young age, yet she never gives up.

1 Leon Kennedy – Resident Evil

Despite how popular the Resident Evil series is as a whole, it can often feel like Leon Kennedy is the poster boy for the series, despite not originally appearing until the second game. It’s not hard to see why so many people love him as he’s been featured in countless titles.

Many people have joked that Leon has become more of an action star over the years, but the Resident Evil 2 Remake seems to have addressed that complaint. Leon is a grounded character once again, but he still manages to be someone people can look up to thanks to his desire to do what’s right.

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