Zombie Survival Game Browser: 30 Zombies, 1 Butcher, 0 Ammo
A pixel art horde, a weapon machine on the sidewalk and a panda who learned what one shared ammo pool means.
By Polarzinho ·
Wave 1 of Zombra Survivor throws 30 zombies at you, and the banner adds the part nobody asked for: and the boss at the end. That is the whole deal in this pixel art zombie survival game, which you open from a web page and play on the spot. My score against it so far is one Butcher, zero bullets and $594 in the HUD, because money, it turns out, does not reload anything.
Polar Games made this one, so call me biased. My ammo counter is not. I played the Soldier for most of my runs, the Brawler for one very short run and the Demolisher for about a minute, and this is what they taught me about how a run starts, what the weapon machine sells and what The Butcher does.
What is Zombra Survivor? A pixel art wave survival game
You pick one of six survivors, a helicopter drops you into Dead City and you hold out wave after wave. Between waves you spend your cash at a weapon machine, and every wave ends with a boss. The menu tagline says it plainly: survive until extraction. The studio describes it as a focused spin-off of ZOMBRA made for quick sessions.
The first thing I met was a radio, not a zombie. The loading screen is a SURVIVOR RADIO panel that ticks off lines like waking the dead and locking the doors until it prints SIGNAL FOUND, and then the title asks you to press any key. My first visit also asked for a language: English, Português or Español. The EN PT ES chips on the menu change it later.
PolarzinhoSix faces, and I chose the one whose job description says ammo to spare. Keep that line in mind, it comes back to bite me.
Maps, difficulty and length
Dead City is the only map open at the start (4 waves, 4 bosses). Highland Ruins (4 waves, 4 bosses) and the Colosseum (20 rounds, 10 bosses) sit behind padlocks that read Beat Dead City to unlock and Beat Highland Ruins to unlock. Difficulty is Normal, Hard or Nightmare, and length is Short (4 waves), Medium (7) or Long (10). I stayed on Normal and Short, and both padlocks are still shut.
The six survivors each come with a one-line job description on the set-up screen:
- Medic: fast healing and a strong syringe
- Soldier: automatics and ammo to spare
- Marksman: headshots and precision
- Brawler: melee and toughness
- Pyro: fire that lasts and does not burn you
- Demolisher: bigger explosions
How to play Zombra Survivor: controls and your first minute
On desktop it is mouse and keyboard. The game page also lists touch controls for phones: the left thumb moves, the right thumb aims and shoots. I used a keyboard and mouse for every run, so the steps below are the desktop version.
- Pick a survivor, a map, a difficulty and a length, then press PLAY.
- Watch the helicopter drop you in. When the banner says IT'S UP TO YOU NOW, the weapon machine is open: follow the green arrows.
- Walk up to the machine, press E, buy what you can afford and press E again to close it.
- Press G when you are ready. The wave starts after a short countdown, and the clock in the corner (mine said FIRST WAVE IN 0:57) shows how long you have to shop.
- WASD moves, the mouse aims, a click shoots, R reloads, H uses the syringe and Space dodge rolls.
- Clear the zombies, then the boss, and see what the next wave has in store.
PolarzinhoRight-click aims precisely, F shoves, B nails a board, L is a flashlight. I felt like I was playing a pipe organ in oven mitts.
Options has a Game tab with a Replay the tutorial entry and a switch for on-screen tips. Leave the tips on: a TIP 1/10 counter in the bottom bar teaches one idea at a time.
PolarzinhoGreen arrows on the ground. The shop shows up before the first bite, and honestly I got emotional.
The weapon machine: what $300 buys you
You start with $300 and a countdown. The machine has four tabs, Weapons, Items, Traps and Specials, and a Your Gear column on the right. A yellow tag in the header says NO REFUNDS, so I treated every purchase like a tattoo.
PolarzinhoNO REFUNDS. Same policy as my last three hobbies.
The Weapons tab runs from slot A1 to C3. Some slots show a price, like the Machete at $200. Others say LEVEL 2, 3 or 4, and the footer reads Your level 1, next: level 2, 1,050 XP to go, so the fancier slots seem to open as the survivor levels up.
Ammo is one shared pool
My first purchase was ammo. FILL AMMO printed Ammo restocked (-$81), my cash went from $300 to $219 and the SMG went from 30+108 to 30+243. The pistol jumped to 12+243 too, so both guns drink from one 9 mm pool, and pick-ups on the ground (+12 9 mm rounds) feed the same pool.
PolarzinhoMinigun: spins up and melts the horde. Price: DROP ONLY. My wallet and I took that personally.
The Items tab sells grenades at $45, and the Traps tab starts with barbed wire at $55 and says traps and flares last the whole wave. I did not buy a single one, which tells you how my runs went.
Wave 1 and The Butcher: how my zombie survival runs went
When the countdown ends, a banner announces WAVE 1 and the line under it says it all: 30 zombies and the boss at the end. The HUD becomes WAVE 1/4 with a skull and a number that counts down, KILLS sits under your health, and the Z, X and V slots show the class specials (X says LV3 and V says LV6, so they open as you level up).
PolarzinhoAnd the boss at the end, says the banner. The game could have whispered that part. It used giant letters.
The first zombies drift in from every direction. A x3 COMBO tag pops up when kills chain, a green tip told me R reloads and not to wait for the magazine to run dry, and another said F shoves when you are surrounded. The Soldier's Z special lit up as OPEN FIRE, and for a few seconds I felt unstoppable.
Around kill 27 the screen flashed a red banner: THE BUTCHER, boss of wave 1. A tip says the red line on the ground is his charge, so get out of the way and aim for the head. His health bar sits under the KILLS counter with his name on it.
PolarzinhoI felt like a hero at kill 27. The Butcher read it on my face and walked in.
Here is my honest record. I got him down a good way, but my SMG ran dry (the weapon panel said EMPTY 0/0). The pistol still had its 12 loaded rounds, the bat had my moral support, and the label under his name flipped to FURY. I ended that session at 45 health with a boss still standing.
PolarzinhoThis is the moment I believed in myself. The SMG says 20/33. The math says no.
PolarzinhoEmpty gun, $594 in my pocket and a boss wearing the word FURY. If this were a poem it would rhyme with despair.
I have not made it past wave 1 yet, so wave 2 and the other three bosses are still a mystery to me. I am not mad about it. I am a panda. We nap and we try again.
Playing the Brawler: a machete, 125 health and 48 seconds
To shake things up I switched to the Brawler, the melee and toughness survivor. The HUD shows 125 health instead of 100 and the machete takes the bat's place in slot 1. I charged the horde like a panda who heard about a bamboo sale. Pop-ups said Bandage: +30 health and Syringe recharging, and then a banner said YOU DIED.
PolarzinhoNEW RECORD! My first death was my best score. I am choosing to be proud.
The results screen is short and clear: Fell on wave 1 of 4 and the time (0:48), 1 kill, 0 headshots, 0 bosses, best combo 1 and a score of 110. After my Soldier runs, the Dead City card on the set-up screen remembers a record too: mine reads 545 pts.
The Demolisher starts with a baseball bat, a pistol and two grenades in slot 3, and I lasted 1:06 with it and zero kills. Please do not use my results as a class tier list.
Zombie survival game tips: what I will do on the next run
Spend first, shoot later
Walk to the machine as soon as the banner clears, press FILL AMMO and only then start the wave. In my runs the SMG sat at 30+243 and most of it was gone by the time the boss showed up.
Read the red line
The Butcher marks a red line on the ground, and the tip bar says it is his charge. Space is the dodge roll: leave the line, do not admire it.
Pick up what the horde leaves
Little ammo drops show up between kills. Walking over them printed +12 and +14 9 mm rounds for me, the difference between a boss fight and a bat fight.
Use the syringe and the shove
H uses the syringe, and the tip says it recharges by itself, so use it before you hit zero. F shoves and stuns whoever is next to you, which buys room to shoot or run.
Zombra Survivor FAQ: quick answers
Can I play Zombra Survivor in my browser, with no download?
Yes. You start it from the Polar Games page and it plays inside the browser. I played on desktop and never installed anything or made an account.
What are the controls?
WASD moves, the mouse aims, a click shoots, R reloads, Space dodge rolls, E uses the weapon machine and G starts the wave. On touch screens the left thumb moves and the right thumb aims and shoots.
How many maps, waves and bosses are there?
Three maps that open in order: Dead City, Highland Ruins and the Colosseum. Dead City is 4 waves and 4 bosses (Medium is 7 waves, Long is 10), and the Colosseum is listed as 20 rounds and 10 bosses.
Who is The Butcher and how do I beat him?
He is the boss of wave 1 in Dead City. I have not beaten him, but the game's own tip says the red line on the ground is his charge: get out of the way, aim for the head and keep ammo for him.
Zombra Survivor pros and cons
Go find your own Butcher
Find Zombra Survivor at Polar Games, choose a survivor, press PLAY and buy ammo before you do anything else. If you beat The Butcher before I do, please keep the secret for a day or two and let me find out the hard way.