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Check Out This Free COD Zombies Rip-Off On Steam

There's A Free COD Zombies Rip-Off On Steam, But It's Kinda Peak

COD Zombies rip-off screenshot of the player firing a Ray Gun at a zombie in a shack.

I'm a little surprised that Call of Duty Zombies didn't inspire a wave of indie games in the same way that Left 4 Dead did. Sure, there are a couple of gems on the Steam store, but they're hardly as prolific. Then came a little free-to-play game called Nazi Zombies last week, and while it's an unashamed rip-off down to the Ray Gun, M1911 starting pistol, mystery box, power-ups, perk machines, and Pack-a-Punch (sorry, the bless-your-guns ATM), it's pretty damn good?

Developed by FossettGaming, who is behind the equally unashamed 'TimeShifters' (a self-described TimeSplitters and GoldenEye-inspired shooter), Nazi Zombies launched into Steam's early access program on July 31 and mostly slipped under the radar. It only has 186 reviews, scoring 'Very Positive', and a peak of about 106 players at the time of writing. I'd grab it while you can, just in case Activision gets precious over how blatantly it pulls from Call of Duty.

While I only intended to play a couple of rounds last night to get the feel of Nazi Zombies for this article, presuming it would be a cheap cash grab riding the Call of Duty hype, I accidentally slipped into a five-hour session with my girlfriend where we teamed up with the occasional random, getting to rounds as high as 60 while the hours disappeared in front of us. It's a surprisingly moreish recreation of the old-school formula, with simpler maps and tight shooting. It almost feels like someone spliced Quake with World at War, with maps that oddly remind me of the Black Ops DS game.

  • Nazi Zombies player holding the starting pistol and looking at another player in the barn.

  • Nazi Zombies player looking at a juggernaut-style perk machine in a barn.

  • Nazi Zombies player looking at a mystery box opening to reveal a shotgun.

  • Nazi Zombies player looking at the Olympia wall buy.

  • Nazi Zombies player spectating another player who is looking at a nuke power-up.

Not only are there chalk-line wall buys, the signature camo grind, and again, the Ray Gun, recreated almost 1:1, but the game ends with a musical number that sounds oddly like Beauty of Annihilation, and there are plenty of sound effects that'll make you do a double-take, thinking you're just playing modded Black Ops 3. To say this is 'inspired by' Call of Duty would be a bit of an understatement.

Still, I've been craving that simplicity for years as the official Zombies mode slips further and further into Warzone-inspired complexity, with armor modules, scorestreaks, tiered Pack-a-Punch, and no perk limit, so it's welcome to see a retro spin on Zombies that goes back to basics. I hope that if Activision does take note, they don't demand the game be taken down. Maybe just remove some of the more... obvious elements. Like, say, the completely unchanged wonder weapon with the same exact splash damage causing the same exact crashouts.

And presuming it does get to stay up, while I'm standing here on my soapbox, FossettGaming, maybe add a few completely original perks? Juggernaut, double tap, quick revive, and speed cola (renamed in Nazi Zombies, of course) are essential, but it'd be fascinating to see how the game could build an identity of its own with some original concepts. Just look at the Light Bringer wonder weapon that makes holy light beam from the zombies' eyes, obliterating crowds. More of that throughout early access would really bring the game up a notch.

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