State of Decay 2

State of Decay 2 almost didn't make this list at all, and honestly it's here more for completeness than conviction. Four-player co-op against the undead works well, base-building and scavenging give it long-term structure the way an open world usually earns my attention, and permadeath adds real stakes. But the horror is thin. This plays like a survival management game with zombies attached rather than a game built to scare you, and the tone confirms it: you'll spend more time optimizing outposts than flinching at anything. If your group wants a long-form zombie project to return to over weeks rather than a scary night, it still delivers that. Just don't expect dread.

State of Decay 2 sits in a different corner of zombie co-op than Left 4 Dead 2, which is where most of my zombie hours have gone over the years. Instead of arcade chaos, you're scavenging the map with a friend while a community back at base needs food, morale, and defense. The zombies are barely the threat here. Managing that community is the actual hook, and it's more interesting than most of the shambling encounters. Co-op works best as two players splitting scavenging runs while the base ticks along, rather than a full squad doing the same job. It landed just outside the top ten because the multiplayer leans toward companion play more than a fully shared social world.

State of Decay 2 is survival built around scavenging runs with real stakes. Permadeath for individual survivors, community resource management, fatigue and injury systems that follow your people between missions, it is more action-forward than most entries here but the survival pressure is genuine. The controller support is solid and the mission structure gives handheld sessions natural pause points. It missed the top ten because the Deck experience sits in the good-but-not-great tier and the overall polish lags behind the best entries. Recognisable name, lower setup friction, decent survival depth. Worth considering if the main list does not have what you are after.