The visual history of of zombies in video games

The zombie apocalypse is upon us. It has been for some time, actually – over 30 years now, if video games are anything to go by. (And they always are.) We've done a little digging, unearthing three decades' worth of the digital undead to see just how their depictions have changed over time.

The results are unsurprising on a technical level – as video game hardware has become more capable through the generations, these shuffling corpses, Crimson Heads and walkers have become more and more lifelike in their unliving appearance. Whereas it took a true leap of the imagination to extrapolate the idea of an attacking zombie from the sparse, blocky pixels of early '80s efforts, modern titles are so detailed in presenting these beasts' disfigurements that they're almost too gruesome to gaze upon at all.

But let's let you all be the judge of just how much grotesquery you can stomach. IGN presents The Visual History of Zombies in Video Games:

A total of 42 video game depictions of the undead were used to create that piece. They include, in mostly chronological order:

• 1984: The Evil Dead (Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum)
• 1984: Zombie Zombie (ZX Spectrum)
• 1986: Ghosts 'N Goblins (NES)
• 1989: Beast Busters (Arcade)
• 1989: Monster Party (NES)
• 1990: Horror Zombies from the Crypt (Amiga, Atari ST, DOS)
• 1990: Zombi (Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum); Original Version Published in 1986 for Amstrad CPC
• 1990: Zombie Nation (NES)
• 1991: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (Amiga, DOS, FM Towns, Mac OS)
• 1991: Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts (SNES)
• 1993: Isle of the Dead (DOS)
• 1993: Zombie Apocalypse (Amiga)
• 1993: Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES, Genesis)
• 1995: Alone in the Dark 3 (DOS, Mac OS, Windows)
• 1995: Area 51 (Arcade)
• 1996: The House of the Dead (Arcade)
• 1996: Resident Evil (PlayStation)
• 1997: Blood (DOS)
• 1997: Nightmare Creatures (Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Windows)
• 1998: MediEvil (PlayStation)
• 2002: Resident Evil Gaiden (Game Boy Color)
• 2005: Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse (Xbox, Mac, PC)
• 2006: Dead Rising (Xbox 360)
• 2007: Dead Head Fred (PSP)
• 2007: Touch the Dead (DS)
• 2008: Call of Duty: World at War (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
• 2008: Dead Space (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
• 2008: Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360, PC)
• 2008: Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (DS)
• 2009: Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360, PC)
• 2009: Minecraft (PC)
• 2010: Rock of the Dead (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360)
• 2011: Dead Island (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, Linux)
• 2012: Lollipop Chainsaw (PS3, Xbox 360)
• 2012: Oneechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad 2 (Xbox 360)
• 2012/2013: Resident Evil Revelations (3DS, Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
• 2012: Telltale's The Walking Dead: The Video Game (PC, Mac, PS3, Xbox 360, iOS)
• 2012: ZombiU (Wii U)
• 2013: The Last of Us (PS3)
• 2014: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, PS4, PS3)
• 2014: The Evil Within (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, PS4, PS3)
• 2015: DayZ (Upcoming on PS4)

Click here to view a mega-sized version, for easier zombie-gazing.

~ign.com