Leaderboard
Rating is Elo from pairwise picks (start 1500). "Never" is the share of showings where a voter banned the card.
| # | Mechanic | Tags | Rating | W | L | Never | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Zombies hear, see and smell you Senses with sandbox-tunable sight, hearing and memory, so sneaking, lighting and noise discipline matter. | 1612 | 8 | 0 | 0% | |
| 2 |  | Per-body-part wounds and treatment Scratches, lacerations, deep wounds, fractures and burns on each limb, treated with bandages, splints, disinfectant and sutures. | 1583 | 6 | 0 | 0% | |
| 3 |  | Day and night with real darkness Nights get truly dark; flashlights, lamps and lit windows attract attention. | 1575 | 6 | 1 | 0% | |
| 4 | Aim down sights, scopes and free aim Raise the gun and aim where you look: iron sights, working scopes, recoil that kicks the view, and hits on the body part you put the crosshair on. | 1575 | 5 | 0 | 0% | ||
| 5 |  | Zombie hordes that migrate Large groups drift across the map over days, drawn by noise and events, so a quiet base can suddenly be in the path of a horde. | 1567 | 6 | 1 | 0% | |
| 6 |  | Hotbar and quick-equip Belts, holsters and straps let you attach weapons and tools for instant switching mid-fight. | 1560 | 4 | 0 | 0% | |
| 7 | Switch between first person, third person and isometric One key cycles the camera live: first person for clearing houses, over-the-shoulder for fights, and PZ's classic top-down view for base building and driving. | 1559 | 4 | 0 | 0% | ||
| 8 |  | Melee with stamina, weight and swing arcs Each weapon has reach, swing time, knockback and multi-hit; exhaustion and heavy load make you miss. | 1559 | 4 | 0 | 0% | |
| 9 |  | Tetris inventory system | 1557 | 5 | 1 | 0% | |
| 10 | Human NPC survivors to meet, trade with or recruit Other survivors living in the world: some trade, some join your base and take jobs like farming or guarding, some lie to you. The most asked-for feature in PZ for a decade. | 1557 | 4 | 0 | 0% | ||
| 11 | Paper-doll equipment screen A body view showing what you wear on each slot, its condition and protection, and what is in each bag. | 1556 | 5 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 12 | Shove and stomp Push zombies away bare-handed, knock them down and finish them with a boot; the only free weapon you always have. | 1556 | 4 | 0 | 0% | ||
| 13 | Bandits and raiders Armed human groups that loot towns, hunt players and attack bases; they hear gunshots, take cover and can be ambushed, which feels very different face to face in first person. | 1546 | 3 | 0 | 0% | ||
| 14 | Containers, bags and carry weight Backpacks, duffel bags and pockets with capacity and weight reduction; encumbrance slows you and tires you. | 1546 | 4 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 15 | Co-op multiplayer Survive together with friends in the same world: share a base, split up to loot, and watch each other's backs in first person. | 1544 | 3 | 0 | 0% | ||
| 16 | RVs and vehicle interiors you can live in Climb into a camper or bus, sleep, cook and store loot inside, and drive your base away when the horde comes. | 1543 | 4 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 17 |  | Zombie Evolution slow to fast over time | 1543 | 3 | 0 | 0% | |
| 18 | Generators and fuel Power a building with a generator, fuel it from gas pumps and cans, keep it maintained and away from bedrooms. | 1542 | 3 | 0 | 0% | ||
| 19 | Better item sorting and categories Items grouped by real use (food, medical, ammo, tools, literature) with sensible sort orders in every container. | 1542 | 4 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 20 | Ambient sound and zombie groans Positional groans, footsteps, rain and the silence of an empty town; sound is how you survive. | 1540 | 4 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 21 | Helicopter and military events Helicopters that fly over, draw hordes, drop supplies or shoot at you, and military convoys passing on the highway, seen and heard overhead. | 1540 | 4 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 22 |  | Mudrunner's offroad Dirty and hard to pass off-road, like in MudRunner | 1534 | 3 | 1 | 0% | |
| 23 | Sky, horizon and long view distance A real sky with sun, clouds and stars, and towns visible on the horizon, so driving and travelling across Kentucky feel big. | 1533 | 3 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 24 | Mixed zombie crowds Each zombie rolls its own speed, toughness and senses, so a crowd of shamblers can hide a sprinter. | 1532 | 2 | 0 | 0% | ||
| 25 | No eyes in the back of your head You only see what your character faces. Zombies behind you are heard, not shown, so turning a corner or checking over your shoulder becomes the scary part. | 1531 | 3 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 26 | Late-game goals and growing threats Something to do once the base is self-sufficient: events that escalate over months, bigger hordes, rare places to reach, a story to uncover or a way out. | 1531 | 3 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 27 |  | Reading skill books and magazines Books multiply skill XP for a while; recipe magazines unlock crafts you did not know. | 1530 | 3 | 1 | 0% | |
| 28 |  | Thumping and breaking through doors Zombies pound on doors, windows and barricades until they give; a besieged house becomes a timed problem. | 1530 | 3 | 1 | 0% | |
| 29 |  | Craft minigame Each item craft is a minigame instead of just a progress bar | 1530 | 3 | 1 | 0% | |
| 30 | Dynamic lighting and shadows Light sources, time of day and indoor darkness that reads clearly at the isometric angle. | 1529 | 3 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 31 | Loot from all nearby containers at once Shelves, drawers and bodies within reach show up as one list, so you do not open every cupboard one by one. | 1529 | 3 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 32 | More towns and map areas New places to explore beyond the base map, like the popular Raven Creek and other community towns. | 1528 | 3 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 33 | Cutaway walls and multi-storey buildings Walls hide when you walk behind them; upper floors, roofs and basements are navigable. | 1519 | 4 | 0 | 20% | ||
| 34 | First-person body awareness Look down and see your own legs, gear and wounds; the camera sits in the head and never clips into the body, so you feel how much you carry and how hurt you are. | 1517 | 2 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 35 |  | The inventory and loot panes PZ's two-pane inventory with drag, transfer-all, filters and the context menu that does everything. | 1516 | 3 | 2 | 0% | |
| 36 | Food spoilage and fridges Fresh food rots on a clock unless refrigerated or frozen; the power cut turns every fridge into a countdown. | 1516 | 3 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 37 | Full 3D furniture, roofs and buildings Every object from PZ's tile set as a real 3D model with sides and depth, so houses look solid from eye level instead of being flat sprites. | 1515 | 3 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 38 | Smooth performance with big hordes Hundreds of zombies on screen and long sessions without stutter or memory growth, on ordinary hardware including Mac. | 1515 | 2 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 39 | More traits with clear descriptions A larger trait list with exact effects shown when you pick them at character creation. | 1515 | 2 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 40 | Basements and bunkers Underground rooms under houses and hidden bunkers in the woods, dark and quiet, entered by stairs or hatch. | 1515 | 2 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 41 | Driving, fuel and vehicle damage Cars with keys, batteries, fuel, flat tyres and a hood full of parts; running zombies over costs you the windshield. | 1513 | 2 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 42 |  | Cold, wet and hypothermia Rain, winter and wet clothes drain body heat; wrong clothing in the wrong season can kill as surely as zombies. | 1513 | 2 | 1 | 0% | |
| 43 | Item info at a glance See weapon condition, whether you already read a book or magazine, and your kill count without digging through menus. | 1513 | 2 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 44 |  | Vehicle mechanics and part swapping Remove and install tyres, batteries, brakes and engines with the mechanics skill; a car becomes a project. | 1512 | 3 | 2 | 0% | |
| 45 | First-person melee you aim yourself Swing where you look: hit the head or the legs, feel the weight and stamina of each weapon, shove to make space, stomp the ones on the floor. | 1512 | 2 | 1 | 0% | ||
| 46 | The power and water shutoff Utilities fail after a few weeks; the world gets dark and dry and every plan changes. | 1511 | 3 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 47 | Stealth: sneaking and hiding Crouch-walk, hide in closets and behind cars, and use darkness and rain to slip past zombies that have not seen you. | 1511 | 3 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 48 |  | Firearms with noise, recoil and reloading Guns are loud enough to pull a whole town, need ammo and magazines, and skill decides whether you hit. | 1504 | 2 | 2 | 0% | |
| 49 |  | Barricading windows and doors Planks, metal sheets and bars nailed over openings; zombies have to chew through them first. | 1504 | 3 | 3 | 0% | |
| 50 | Hills, valleys and terrain height Kentucky with real elevation: slopes you drive and run up, views from a hilltop, and rivers in valleys, instead of a flat map. | 1503 | 2 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 51 | Map tools: legend, symbols and drawing Annotate the paper map with symbols and drawings, see a legend, and mark loot runs; a map you hold in your hands in first person. | 1502 | 2 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 52 |  | Molotovs, pipe bombs and noise makers Throwables that burn, blast or distract; crafted from loot and dangerous to the thrower. | 1501 | 3 | 3 | 0% | |
| 53 | Sleep, fatigue and nightmares You must sleep; beds, tiredness, pain and panic change how well you rest and whether you wake up in time. | 1501 | 3 | 0 | 25% | ||
| 54 | Common-sense interactions Obvious actions that should just work: pry a door open with a crowbar, open a can with a knife, use any reasonable tool for a job. | 1500 | 2 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 55 | Looting at the crosshair Look at a shelf, drawer or body and pick things up or open it in place, without a big inventory window covering the screen while zombies close in. | 1500 | 3 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 56 | Locks, keys and lockpicking Houses and cars have keys; break in by smashing a window, prying a door or finding the key on a corpse. | 1498 | 2 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 57 |  | Fake-dead and lunging zombies Some corpses are not corpses; crawlers lunge at your legs from under cars and bushes. | 1498 | 3 | 3 | 0% | |
| 58 | Farming with seasons, watering and disease Plant seeds, water, fertilise, fight mildew and aphids, harvest and save seeds for next year. | 1496 | 2 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 59 |  | Panic, stress and moodles Seeing zombies, darkness and pain raise panic, lowering accuracy and vision; beta blockers, books and time calm you. | 1495 | 2 | 2 | 0% | |
| 60 | Skills with XP and multipliers Carpentry, cooking, aiming, sprinting and more level up by doing, with books and traits speeding them up. | 1492 | 2 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 61 | Campfires and fire spread Cook on an open fire, but fire spreads through grass, buildings and zombies alike. | 1487 | 1 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 62 | Rain collectors and water purification Taps stop working; collect rain, boil or bleach it, and plumb barrels into sinks with a wrench. | 1486 | 2 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 63 | Swimming, climbing and vaulting Swim across rivers, climb onto roofs and vault over obstacles and fences in first person to escape or reach loot. | 1485 | 1 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 64 | A cure or vaccine for the infection A sandbox option and a long quest to find or make a treatment for the knox infection. | 1485 | 1 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 65 | Peeking and looking through windows Lean around corners and look out a window or through a gap in the barricade to scout the street before you step outside. | 1485 | 1 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 66 | Fewer clicks: bulk actions Loot all, transfer all of a type, wash everything, drink until full: common chores done with one action instead of a dozen. | 1485 | 1 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 67 | Bicycles A silent, fuel-free way to travel that uses stamina; a classic request since 2013. | 1485 | 1 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 68 | Metalworking with a propane torch Weld metal walls, bars and crates; needs a welding mask, torch and scrap. | 1485 | 2 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 69 | Weather: rain, fog, snow, wind and storms Weather fronts change visibility, noise, temperature and zombie behaviour. | 1484 | 1 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 70 | House alarms Some houses are alarmed; breaking in sets off a siren that pulls every zombie within blocks. | 1483 | 2 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 71 | More period vehicles: military, buses, trucks Humvees, police cars, school buses, box trucks and pickups of the early 90s, each with its own handling and storage. | 1482 | 2 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 72 | More firearms, attachments and ammo types A wider period-correct gun list with scopes, suppressors, slings and magazines you load by hand. | 1481 | 1 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 73 | Sitting, lying down and idle animations Sit on chairs and sofas, lie on beds, lean on walls: small actions that make a safehouse feel lived in. | 1481 | 1 | 2 | 0% | ||
| 74 |  | Clothing that protects against bites Leather, denim and layered clothes add bite and scratch defense per body part, at a cost in heat and mobility. | 1473 | 2 | 4 | 0% | |
| 75 | Professions and traits at character creation Pick a job and balance positive and negative traits for starting skills, recipes and quirks. | 1473 | 3 | 2 | 14% | ||
| 76 | Hunger and thirst Eat and drink every day; moodles warn you, then strength and health follow. | 1471 | 1 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 77 | Crafting menu with search, filters and favourites Find any recipe by typing, filter by what you can make right now, pin favourites, and keep the menu small so it never hides the danger around you. | 1471 | 1 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 78 | Music, instruments and hobbies Play guitar or records, dance, read for fun: ways to fight boredom and sadness that can also make noise. | 1471 | 1 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 79 | Body armor: helmets, vests and plates Military and police armor plus home-made armor from scrap and tyres, protecting body parts from bites and slowing you down. | 1470 | 1 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 80 | Animated clothing layers on the character Every item you wear shows on your body, gets bloody and torn, and dirty clothes matter. | 1466 | 2 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 81 | Traps and distractions for hordes Spike pits, tripwires, alarm clocks and car alarms that lure or hurt hordes, so you can deal with crowds without fighting each one. | 1465 | 1 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 82 | Cooking and evolved recipes Soups, stews, stir-fries and sandwiches built from whatever ingredients you have, with spices and skill changing the result. | 1461 | 1 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 83 |  | Weapon condition and repair Weapons wear down and break; maintenance skill, duct tape, glue and spare parts keep them going. | 1461 | 1 | 4 | 0% | |
| 84 | More hairstyles, outfits and zombie looks Much wider clothing and hair variety for you and the dead: workers, soldiers, patients and wedding guests that tell where they came from. | 1456 | 1 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 85 | Carpentry: walls, floors, stairs and furniture Build a base from planks and nails, from a simple rain collector to a two-storey fort. | 1455 | 1 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 86 | Clearing houses room by room Check corners, stairs and closets with your own eyes: doors block sight, rooms are dark, and a zombie can be standing behind the fridge you are looting. | 1453 | 0 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 87 | Rain washes you, your clothes and blood Standing in the rain slowly cleans dirt and blood from you and your gear, and rain washes blood off roads. | 1451 | 0 | 3 | 0% | ||
| 88 |  | Infection, fever and medicine Dirty bandages and untreated wounds get infected; antibiotics, painkillers and rest change the outcome. | 1450 | 3 | 7 | 0% | |
| 89 |  | Moving and placing furniture Pick up beds, shelves and stoves and rebuild a kitchen wherever you want. | 1448 | 1 | 5 | 0% | |
| 90 |  | Tailoring: patching and padding clothes Rip clothing into strips, patch holes, add leather or denim pads to raise defense. | 1443 | 1 | 5 | 0% | |
| 91 |  | Moodle icons The icon stack that tells you hungry, tired, panicked, wet, in pain, with levels and tooltips. | 1443 | 0 | 4 | 0% | |
| 92 | Zombification after a bite or scratch Bites almost always infect, scratches sometimes do; fever, then death, then a new zombie wearing your clothes. | 1442 | 0 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 93 | Zombie respawn and population regrowth Cleared areas slowly fill back up unless you keep them clear, with sandbox control over rate and peak day. | 1441 | 1 | 5 | 0% | ||
| 94 | Dragging and dumping corpses Drag bodies out of your base, throw them out of windows or burn them in a pile. | 1441 | 0 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 95 | Keep part of your skills after death Write a survival journal while you play; a new character who finds and reads it recovers part of the old one's skills and recipes. | 1440 | 0 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 96 | Foraging by zone and season Search mode reveals berries, mushrooms, herbs, stones and twigs depending on the area and your skill. | 1439 | 1 | 2 | 20% | ||
| 97 | Blacksmithing and primitive weapons Forge, anvil and bushcraft: make spears, axes, knives and tools from scrap and stone when factory weapons run out. | 1439 | 0 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 98 | Loot respawn and rarity sandbox options Sandbox-defined abundance per category, with optional respawn in unvisited containers. | 1438 | 0 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 99 |  | Proximity Chat | 1438 | 0 | 4 | 0% | |
| 100 | Vehicle armor and upgrades Bolt plates over windows, add rams and bull bars, and tune engines so a car can push through a crowd. | 1438 | 0 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 101 | Trapping small game Set snares and cages with bait in the right zone; check them before something else does. | 1437 | 0 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 102 | Controller support Play the whole game on a gamepad, including inventory, crafting and aiming in first person. | 1437 | 0 | 4 | 0% | ||
| 103 | Animals: chickens, cows, sheep and husbandry Keep livestock for eggs, milk, wool and meat; feed them, fence them, butcher them. | 1430 | 1 | 3 | 20% | ||
| 104 | Fishing with rods, nets and lines Fish by hour and weather, with bait and rod quality changing what and how much you catch. | 1429 | 1 | 3 | 20% | ||
| 105 | Towing and trailers Hook a trailer or a dead car to haul loot and move wrecks out of the road. | 1426 | 1 | 3 | 20% | ||
| 106 |  | Radio and TV broadcasts Early-days broadcasts tell the story of the outbreak and teach skills; later it is static and a lone voice. | 1423 | 0 | 5 | 0% | |
| 107 | Sprinters, shamblers and crawlers Sandbox-selectable zombie speeds and crawler variants that change how every fight and escape plays out. | 1415 | 0 | 6 | 0% | ||
| 108 | VR mode Play the whole game in a VR headset: look around with your head, aim and swing with your hands, and open drawers yourself. | 1397 | 0 | 4 | 20% | ||
| 109 | Nutrition: calories, protein, fat and weight What you eat changes your weight and strength over weeks; underweight and obese traits appear and disappear. | 1396 | 0 | 4 | 20% |