Quarantine Zone, the zombie apocalypse becomes a post office queue – PC Review

Looking for an alternative experience to the usual zombie apocalypse, one that isn't about riddling hordes of undead or scavenging for supplies and materials? Have you ever dreamed of managing a checkpoint and inspecting survivors seeking refuge? No? Well, that's the premise of Quarantine Zone: The Last Check, released these days on Steam by Brigada Games and Devolver Digital.

As an anonymous soldier, we'll take the reins of a refugee camp located within a zombie-infested city. Our task will be to welcome survivors and keep them safe until evacuation vehicles arrive, ensuring we reach the quota of people saved imposed by general command.

Problem. The virus is insidious and evolves rapidly, so we'll have to scrutinize the unfortunates at the door and admit only the healthy ones, while getting rid of the infected, who could transform in the middle of the night and claim more victims. If in doubt, they're slapped into quarantine to await changes, good or bad.

The first suspects are easy to identify: bite marks, green skin, red eyes... However, new symptoms and variables gradually emerge that complicate matters: hidden spots and wounds under clothes, smuggling of weapons and corpses, unnatural reflections, bleeding or deformed organs, ocular parasites, blood traces invisible to the naked eye...

For each phenomenon, we'll have the appropriate tool at our disposal, including scanners, hammers, and our trusty 9mm (just in case), and in the event of unprecedented anomalies, the subject is sent to the lab for analysis and cataloging. The game regularly introduces novelties to spice up the routine, but after just an hour, the goal is clear; it just becomes more verbose to perform the routine tests and record the results.

Every day, dozens of unfortunates queue up hoping to save themselves, and we have the thankless task of helping them or sending them to their doom. Every five days, rescue teams will clear the camp, providing bonuses based on how many people we manage to supply. We'll receive a fixed quota for each survivor welcomed, but we can also make money by seizing illegal items at customs or by completing daily objectives.

With the accumulated money, we buy essential goods, expansions, and improvements for the camp. Barring reckless management, finances are never a problem, and we quickly manage to automate some income, eliminating the issue of food and medicine. Just be careful not to accumulate penalties by letting too many infected into the perimeter, especially if someone dies. And so on for about an in-game month, after which you can end the adventure, cutting ties yourself, or continuing the routine indefinitely.

Quarantine Zone: The Last Check doesn't present any particular problems; it's just monotonous and anemic. The underlying idea is even nice, but nothing more than a mere pastime. Zero pressure, no real threats or tangible decisions to make, just a notebook to check off (correctly, otherwise no Research Points for upgrades) and many cookie-cutter NPCs, necrosis and monstrous breaths permitting. The sporadic side missions don't add much to the experience and can be skipped without repercussions, the sleepless nights spent bombing hordes of zombies with the drone are trivial and equally superfluous, and the management component is barely sketched out. If the challenge comes after the credits, I certainly didn't feel like finding out.

The graphics are functional, though not exactly brilliant or inspired. We're stuck in a military base in a ruined city during the end of the world; the "deadness" is appropriate to the context. Given the subdued presentation, however, performance could have been better. Reviews on Steam complain about frequent bugs and crashes, but recent hotfixes should have resolved most of them, as the game performed well during approximately eight hours of testing. Some functions, however, such as zoom and sprint, occasionally lose their way. No soundtrack, except for a couple of jingles, and average effects. Ironically, the angry refugees are more threatening than the undead.