If you've played video games for more than a few minutes, you've probably encountered some kind of zombie. A reliable staple of the medium, they show up just about everywhere from fantasy to horror, and in a hundred different flavors. Fast, slow, smart, dumb — no matter what you're looking for, video games have a type of zombie just waiting to chomp down on you — or shoot you, sometimes.
But what is the most dangerous type of zombie? Which variants of the undead are the hardest to kill, toughest to survive, and best at spreading their infection of choice?
Updated on September 16, 2023, by Vanessa Esguerra: Zombies have gotten scarier in recent years. They're no longer slow, brain-eating sluggers, and some closely resembling aliens. Many now fly, swim, and explode. They now come in all shapes and sizes, and even their method of infecting others have become diverse.
The release of remasters and newer games means the addition of more fearsome zombies that you'll never want to encounter in the case of an apocalypse. You probably can't outrun these zombies, and you'll die trying to fight them unless you're secretly a Resident Evil character.
16 Zekes - World War Z
Zekes from World War Z are a clear example of something being more than the sum of its parts. Alone, a Zeke is a pretty easy enemy to take down. But when they group together, they're very menacing. And it just so happens that the quick and highly aggressive zombies rarely travel alone. In fact, they usually attack in great numbers.
Throughout the game, you see many of them in giant packs trying to reach their prey. If you fail to deplete their numbers before they get to you, then you're in trouble.
15 Freaks - State Of Decay Series
In State Of Decay, anytime someone is killed, they're gone permanently. So every adventure outside of your base is risky. That risk is heightened when Freaks are roaming around. This is the name given to the game's special zombie types.
There are SWAT Zombies, Army Zombies, Screamers, Juggernauts, Bloaters, and Ferals. All of them are more dangerous than a regular member of the undead horde. Plus, some even have their own abilities just to make them a little extra threatening.
14 Blighters - ZombiU (AKA, Zombi)
ZombiU's common Blighters fall into the more traditional zombie category. They shuffle around looking for meat, and they aren't very intelligent. Yet, they're more deadly than they sound because these creatures can kill you instantly.
All it takes is one bite for you to permanently join the undead horde. So, every encounter with them is a bit scary. And that's only the common ones - there are also special blighters in the game that are even more of a pain.
13 Wasp Zombies - Dead Rising
The main enemy in Capcom's Dead Rising series, the Wasp Zombies are classic horde monsters. Infected by modified insects, the Wasp Zombies are slow, unintelligent, and less durable than a living human for the most part.
However, by night, these zombies get a boost: they become superhumanly strong and much more aggressive. Even by day, wounds inflicted by them won't clot or heal unless you're immune. It's death by a thousand cuts, which is bad news given there are tens of thousands of them. The infection took down Willamette, a town of over 50,000, in under 72 hours.
They're definitely dangerous, but they often go up against some of the best zombie game survivors ever. As a result, their success rate for killing their targets isn't as great as it should be.
12 Ganados - Resident Evil 4
Whilst the newer Resident Evil games have pivoted more toward monsters and mutants, the Ganados show that you can still have your undead parasite cake and get eaten by it too. Victims of the Plaga parasite, the Ganados have far less infectivity than many other zombie types as they don't spread via particles or bites. But compared to their T-Virus cousins, these undead are regular Einsteins.
Ganados can use tools, crossbows, and even heavy guns, and regularly show the ability to speak. They're also highly mutative — shoot them in the head and you might get a nasty, tentacle-shaped surprise whipping at you for your trouble. Therefore, despite their limited virality and generally squishiness, the Ganados will still make you think twice about that Spanish vacation.
11 T-Virus Zombies - Resident Evil
The classic videogame zombie, T-Virus zombies hit the scene in 1996's Resident Evil and have been scaring players ever since. For the most part, they're slow and dumb, but the real danger lies in their toughness and infectiousness. A single bite or scratch from a T-Zombie is enough to seal your fate, spreading the virus like wildfire. Just look at Raccoon City.
And although they're slow targets, T-Zombies can take a beating. They can shrug off blasts from the best guns in the series, and some even plow through multiple headshots. If you don't set them on fire when you're done, they'll come back a second time as fast-moving nightmares called Crimson Heads. They might not be the most dangerous undead ever, but T-Virus zombies are still some of the most deadly zombies out there after shambling around for 25 years.
10 Volatiles - Dying Light
The hellspawn of a zombie and a parkour expert, there's absolutely no escaping Dying Light's Volatiles. These guys are fast and agile, so they're able to scale walls and leap over obstacles like nothing. They can also soak up damage like nobody's business, and they're almost totally immune to falling from heights. Think you're safe at range? Think again. Volatiles can spit deadly acid if they can't reach you.
Yet, Volatiles have one huge weakness: they're incredibly sensitive to UV radiation. The moment the sun comes out, they'll ignore their prey until they've gotten into the shade, and a special flashlight is enough to momentarily drive them off. The Volatiles are a nightmare made real, but only for about 12 hours a day.
9 The Infected - Left 4 Dead Series
The bane of co-op gamers everywhere, Left 4 Dead's Infected are victims of a virulent rabies-like disease called Green Flu. The highly contagious virus is an apocalypse-level event, meaning that there are even more of these guys than their Dead Rising or Resident Evil counterparts — and they are fast.
The Infected run in packs at full sprint, although most of them can't stand up to sustained gunfire even if it's not a headshot. However, all the special variants ratchet up their danger level: from nigh-unkillable Tanks to exploding Boomers, The Infected have a variety of ways to ruin your day. Most of them might not be tough or particularly smart, but unless you have a lot of ammunition, you might as well just get down and pray for a helicopter.
8 The Undead - Plants Vs Zombies
Zombies usually appear in dystopian hellscapes, nightmare scenarios, and gory horror. That's not the case with The Undead from Plants vs. Zombies. Yet, they're still as dangerous as they come, despite being technicolor cartoons. These reanimated rascals are smart.
They can plan, defend themselves, and even use complicated tools. In their quest to eat human brains, they'll go pole-vaulting, dig mines, and even tame dolphins to get what they want. Some of them are gigantic brutes, and others can even pilot giant mech suits.
Additionally, because they're reanimated corpses rather than infected living people, there are billions of them waiting in graveyards to swell their ranks. They might be even better if not for a specific weakness to weaponized seeds and corn cobs.
7 Suicider - Dead Island
Dead Island is mostly silly if you have a high tolerance for gore, but the suicider is definitely a freak of nature you hope anybody never encounters when the world ends. There are worse fates than death, and one such fate is becoming a Suicider zombie from the Dead Island series. These zombies are affected by the Kuru virus strain, and the bloating experienced by the infected is caused by the rapid production of internal decomposition gasses.
If you're grossed out by these Suiciders, you can only imagine the pain they're in when their own gasses bloat them to the point of bursting. But the sympathy's thrown out of the window when these zombies lure heroes into "saving" them, only to leap onto them and explode. It's less of a Suicider, and more of a double-suicider.
6 Behemoth - Dying Light
If exploding zombies aren't scary enough, maybe giant zombies that fling stuff at you are enough to make you run for your life. The Behemoth from Dying Light will throw slabs of concrete at you—practically any large object it can get its gigantic hands on so that it can fling that thing at you. You'll also have to defend yourself from other zombies while the Behemoth actively tries to kill you.
Dying Light has a collection of horrifying zombies, and the game doesn't hold back in showing guts and limbs flying all over the place. But many in the community agree that the Behemoth is a one-shot guarantee to meet your maker.
5 Cordyceps Zombies - The Last of Us
Victims of a deadly fungal sickness named Cordyceps Brain Infection, these mushroom monsters come in several flavors, each more horrible than the last. This includes the spore-spewing Shamblers, highly armored Bloaters, and the horrifically creepy Clickers. They're fast and highly aggressive, and the longer they're active, the tougher and more bullet-resistant they get.
Many Cordyceps Zombies use echolocation to hunt down their prey, particularly Clickers, meaning even if you can't see them, they can see you. CBI is highly infectious and spreads on the air through spores, so they've got numbers on their side in a big way too. Their main weakness is fire, but good luck getting one going when fifty of these suckers are bearing down on you in a pitch-black room. Fungal, definitely, but fun? Anything but.
4 The Infested - Warframe
Warframe has a lot of horrific, otherworldly beings that even Eldritch gods wouldn't want to deal with. If you thought space zombies weren't a thing, they technically are and were born out of survival. The Infested takes the concept of zombie to another level since it doesn't just make the infected's body rot and lose its mind. Instead, they take inspiration from Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and turn its victims into unrecognizable monstrosities.
These beings lose their consciousness and are highly hostile, save for some special victims who were able to retain part of their consciousness intact. But most beings are not immune from becoming Infested, except for the Tenno.
3 Reaper Soldiers - Mass Effect Series
Appearing in Bioware's Mass Effect series, these horrifying robo-zombies are the results of dead bodies being reworked into cybernetic undead by Reaper nanotechnology. Each alien species produces different variants, from the speedy Human Husks to armored regenerating Cannibals and the psionically-powered Asari Banshees. Every single one is bad news.
At the beginning of a Reaper invasion, you can expect thousands of Husks with more on the way. They can shoot from afar, crawl up the walls into your shelter, or just blow you to pieces with their minds depending on how unlucky you are. Even worse, they are all psychically connected to their Reaper masters, allowing them to take up sophisticated attack tactics. Their flexibility and tactical ability make them some of the most deadly zombies in the universe.
2 Necromorphs - Dead Space
A decidedly meaty flavor of space zombie, Necromorphs have been terrorizing players since their first appearance in 2008's Dead Space. The Necromorphs spread via pathogen and convert their dead hosts faster than most. This means their numbers swell incredibly quickly, as seen in Dead Space 2 when they overwhelm an entire city in a single night.
A lone Necromorph is nothing to scoff at, either. They boast teeth and claws that cut armor and flesh like butter, as well as excellent mobility. Additionally, it takes more than a simple headshot to take these mutants down: complete dismemberment is your only option. If that wasn't bad enough, they can also combine into giant fleshy masses that are almost impervious to normal weapons. It doesn't get much worse than Necromorphs.
1 The Flood - Halo Series
The zombies so dangerous that other beings had to invent galaxy-killing weapons just to keep them contained. Halo's Flood is a parasitic superorganism that infects and conquers entire worlds at a time, turning the inhabitants into troops while assimilating their intelligence.
The highly contagious Flood parasite overwhelms entire space stations in mere hours, and its zombies retain the muscle memory necessary to use advanced weaponry. Flood Zombies are highly mobile, insanely strong, and can utilize the armor and defenses they used in life. In short, they're an absolute nightmare to fight.
There's no cure for the Flood infection and natural immunity comes at the cost of a fatal nerve disorder. Most zombies are a threat to worlds or even galaxies, but The Flood are a threat to the whole universe.