Escape Dead Island vs Project Zomboid
Escape Dead Island
Escape Dead Island is a Telltale-inspired, story-driven survival-mystery spin-off for the Dead Island franchise where the game's fans will be able to uncover the story behind the zombie outbreak through the eyes of documentary journalist Cliff Calo and fill in the gap between the first Dead Island game and the upcoming Dead Island sequel. Unlike the open world game that the franchise was defined by, this spin-off uses a comic-like style to bring the story to life. The virtual environment is also reactive to your every decision and as such, you might want to sometimes opt for a stealthier option rather than diving straight into combat, especially when the combat system - since it's not the main focus of the game and all - can be a bit boring.Escape Dead Island is very different from what you might be used to in Dead Island or Dead Island Riptide, and despite the heavy use of backtracking, the story and animation made everything worthwhile, especially if you're into this kind of stuff.
Project Zomboid
Project Zomboid takes the post-apocalyptic zombie survival genre to the next level with one of the most realistic gameplay to date. After all, surviving isn't just blowing the heads off zombies or finding food - your mental health is as equally important! In many ways, the game feels a lot like Don't Starve when it comes to the more hardcore gameplay, though its persistent and ever-growing game map can be liken to that of Minecraft while its stats-based progression is somewhat similar to the old Runescape. There are so many skills you can level up, and which one you'd like to focus on is entirely up to you. Of course, you can customize your character's looks as well.Aside from the common Sandbox and Survival modes, the game even has fun and imaginative Challenge scenarios and action-packed "Last Stand" mode which frankly plays out a lot like Serious Sam albeit in isometric view.
Featuring a unique pixel-like visuals and an isomeric perspective, Project Zomboid is a really promising early access game that fans of survival games would really enjoy. It's full of content, be it exploring or crafting, and it's tough enough to keep you hooked.