The Rebuild Series

Review of the Rebuild Series

When I first came across Rebuild when it was originally ONLY offered as a PC – Browser based Flash game on a website like Kongregate (where you can still play Rebuild 1 & 2 FREE in your browser). Let me tell you, there wasn’t a whole lot like Rebuild out there. Created by Sarah Northway (For Tower Games, originally), the Rebuild game enjoyed cross-platform success over a span of nearly ten years that is well-deserved.

This turn-based strategy game takes place right at the beginning or in the middle of (depending on what version you play, they vary slightly) the zombie apocalypse. For some reason, you have come to find that you are immune to the virus. Naturally, that turns you into a leader and you seek to rebuild (hence the name) society and civilization by taking back zombie-infested facilities, recruiting survivors, and, eventually trading with (or murdering) other factions that you discover along the way. You move from city to city with a select group of survivors of your own choosing, clearing the way for your new metropolis. As you progress, politics and survival knowledge will dictate how well you survive or adapt to certain situations, how happy your fellow survivors are, and if other factions hate or adore you.

You can create and edit survivor’s using a limited character builder which allows you to change their look and name. During your character creation at the beginning of the game, you have the choice of different ‘career’s, ‘professions’, or ‘skills’ that you can select from that will decide how well you perform certain actions throughout the game.

No matter where you go and what you do, zombies become an increasingly dangerous and pressing problem. While you don’t have to ally with other factions to defeat them, having them on your side is much easier than fighter both them AND the zombie hordes, particularly later on. Some of the factions in this game are hilarious, such as the Chosen Ones in Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville, that worship the zombie virus and repeatedly commit ritual suicides so that they can become a horde of ravenous undead that will inevitably attack your encampment.

The battles in this game are passive and are completely based on the Fighter skill. You may select survivors to defend or attack tiles, scout, and scavenge them. Zombie hordes only appear once they’re close enough to be revealed, but you can always pre-emptively clear hordes from tiles before they amass into something more lethal.

While you may be immune, your fellow survivors are not. Death is a common occurrence in this game – for children as well – which undoubtedly adds to the realism but some may find this aspect of the game unnerving.

Because of the amount of variables in this game, the random generated maps, choices, survivors with unique skills and personalities, and the advancement of the game over time with the various version., I highly recommend it to those who enjoy strategy games and want something that they can play offline. This game is for sale on all platforms, including in browser format, and the sequels are available for purchase from the Rebuild home site as well as Amazon (At a discount!), Google Play, Itunes App Store, Steam, and on Kongregate.

Highlights

Multi-platform play on mobile, console, PC, Mac, and in browser based versions
Various endings, events, and random generated content or choice based scenarios
Turn-based or Timer based playstyle with Pause / Stop features for both fast paced and lazy game play
Customization and Mods available, games are still supported by the Developer
Offline, Free or One time purchase – no microtransactions or subscriptions
Not too graphically intense, easy to run and play on most devices
Different Difficulties for casual and challenging gameplay
Multiple sequels with upgrades to gameplay, content, choices, and additional outcomes / events in each
Support a female game developer!

What Could Have Been Better

Some devices may not display dialogue windows entirely, particularly wide screen or full screen devices like the Motorola Edge when playing the app version
The graphics progressively get better throughout the series, but still on par with standard Flash graphics. I personally enjoy this comic-book / flash style, but don’t compare it to more graphically intense survival simulators like the zombie apocalypse survival sim on Steam
Combat system is non-existent, entirely based on stats and RNG
Can be challenging even on normal or easy modes due to the randomly generated maps often lacking resources or buildings required for advancement
Can get somewhat repetitive. Each city often requires the same amount of challenges, allies / enemies, or has the same requiements to advance to the next stage

Pricing & Tech Specs

This game and all sequels can be purchase directly from the developer’s website https://rebuildgame.com/ using Paypal. It is a one time purchase and does not require a subscription and does not have in game microtransactions.

Rebuild 3 on Kindle / Amazon App store for $4.49

Rebuild on Kindle / Amazon App Store for $.2.99

Otherwise, Rebuild and its sequeals are available on Ios and Android for $4.99 and may be played on PC / Mac or in browser on Kongregate.

*Rebuild 2 is essentially the mobile version of Rebuild 1, available for purchase on the Rebuild Website and for PC / Mac download on Steam. with Steam workshop support for mods

This game can run on any PC or Mobile Device running any of the operating systems above, Windows XP Minimum requirement for XP. Can also run on Chromebooks, Netbooks, and Browser based computers / laptops without modern processors.due to the adjustable rendering settings.

Final Thoughts & Review

The Rebuild Series hasn’t disappointed me since its last release (Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville) back in 2015. I still find myself downloading and playing this game on and off, playing through on different difficulties and trying new stategies with each new game I start. For the replayability of this game it is well worth the price and, since you can basically play it anywhere (except consoles), you can enjoy Rebuild at home or on your lunch breaks at work, save the game, and return to it as you please.

The variables, randomly generated events and content, strategies, and storyline are intricate and engaging enough to make it worth every penny (and more.) I highly recommend this game to strategy nerds and those of you who also enjoy choice based games, survival simulators, or RPGs. If you’re an FPS or MMORPG fan, however, this game may be too slow-paced for you.

There is a lot of written content and most of the events that are triggered are done so in a comical way versus using cinematics or cut scenes to tell the main story. If that is your cup of tea, you will absolutely love Rebuild.

ZNation

ZNation:

A Wide, Wild, Well-Remembered TV Series That Still Holds Up

TV / After the Apocaypse / Shamblers

The big debate at ZGG International HQ is whether ZNation is a tragedy/thriller or a comedy/thriller or just a mishy-moshy combo that doesn’t know its own mind. And the generally agreed-upon answer: it don’t matter. There is some great zombie-action and some bizarre, “Did they really just do that?” laughs to be had in its five seasons and 68 episodes. And unlike its spin-off/prequel, Black Summer, it can still be purchased.

The “government experiment gone wrong” trope that’s at the center of ZNation gets a fun little twist here, in that the one escapee of the guv’s experimental zom-vax project slowly turns into an icky and fascinating hybrid of both human and dead-guy over the course of the series. And that’s only the beginning of things getting weird. It’s a shame that SyFy ended it when they did, but with a large and vocal fan base, the possibility that the series could return in some form or another is very real. Until then, enjoy its rich and wild legacy.

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Blood Quantum (2019)

Blood Quantum:
Native Americans vs. Zombies in a Grim, Effective Film

Movie / Post-Apocalypse / Underrated

With so many low-budget zombie movies sneaking in through streaming services or film festivals, it’s easy to miss unexpected quality and creativity when it appears. Here’s an example.

Blood Quantum (sorry, kind of an awful and pretty much inexplicable name) has your standard virus-based flesh-eaters, and the opening scenes that establish it are deceptively familiar. But the truly intriguing part comes after a timeshift, as we focus on the stories that rotate around the effect of the zombie apocalypse on the First Nations and an already devastated Mi’kmaq reservation – a reservation that survives because Native Americans seem to be immune to the zombie virus, maybe because of their connection to the Earth itself.

Virtually all the principle players here are Native Americans, and many of them came from and went on to fascinating careers. Elle-Maija Tailfeathers is a multi-award-winning actor, writer, producer and director; her co-star Michael Greyeyes paid his zombie-dues in multiple episodes of Fear the Walking Dead, showed up after Blood Quantum, in the not-wonderful V Wars, and was excellent in the underrated mystery series Home Before Dark. He also has the dubious distinction of playing Rainbird in the otherwise awful remake if Firestarter in 2022. No George C. Scott, maybe, but at least the part was played, more than passably well, by an actual member of the First Nations as Stephen King meant it to be. The writer and director, Jeff Barnaby, is a member of the Mi’kmaq himself, and continues his work on projects based on the realities and fantasies of native Americans, past present and future.

It’s a bleak and brutal plot and worldview, but not without good reason, and probably one of the best – and most overlooked – ‘serious’ zombie movies of the decade.

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Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Anna and The Apocalypse: A Zombie Musical That's Actually Not Awful

Movie / Musical / Outbreak / Slow Zombies

Musicals and horror movies just go together, don’t they? You’ve got Little Shop of Horrors and Rocky Horror Picture Show, and…

… and…

Okay, Anna and the Apocalypse. And that’s about it.

Of that distinguished trio, Anna is certainly the newest and least known. It’s also the most charming in its own quirky way. You’ve got this typical musical comedy small town, these cute high school kids with a tendency to burst into song… and then you’ve got flesh-eating corpses that won’t stay dead. The plot is achingly familiar: You’ve seen zoms like this plenty of times before; the kids have to get back to their high school to see if their friends and family have survived The Rising (spoiler alert: most haven’t or won’t) … but this time they’re happy to stop along the way for the occasional, increasingly bizarre song-and-dance number. Like this one, with more than a touch of Shawn of the Dead from early on:

It shouldn’t work. At all. And yet… it does, at least for those among us who have a nearly equal love for the shamblers as we do the chorus line. It can be rented or purchased on Amazon, and if you go into it with no expectations, you just might find yourself unexpectedly delighted. (And the lead, the surprisingly British Ella Hunt, has gone on to do interesting work in the Dickinson TV series, the recent racism/horror movie called Master, the newest version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and even some truly remarkable music videos of her own on YouTube. Meanwhile, the director is working on a Lady Macbeth musical (!).

Try it. You just might like it. (Or if you have a musical/horror fan in range – sling it at them.)

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