They’re Coming To Get You… To Play Night Of The Living Dead!

Friends, I am obviously not alone in my love and appreciation for what George A. Romero and his fellow filmmakers delivered in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead. A near instant masterpiece of a film that managed to provide a new spin on the zombie genre (or ghoul if you go by Romero’s original term) – inspiring other film franchises, books, video games, and television shows over the years. In fact, the Projectionist and I covered both the legacy of Romero and Night of the Living Dead in two past Saturday Frights podcasts. And while I was aware of the Dawn of the Dead game released by SPI in ’78 as well as the first-person shooter tie-in for 2005’s Land of the Dead – somehow the news about Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game being released last October flew under my radar.

Zombicide as the name implies is a zombie-themed cooperative board game that was originally published by CMON (CoolMiniOrNot) back in 2012. As far as I can tell, the survival horror game was designed by Raphaël Guiton, Nicolas Raoult, and Jean-Baptiste Lullien. With the popularity of the game leading to quite a few sequels, Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game marks the 7th game to be released under the Zombicide imprint.

Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game is the result of an extremely successful Kickstarter – of the $20,000 goal that CMON was requesting, it managed to raise $430,154 by the end of it’s campaign. Obviously the fact the makers of Zombicide have produced an official board game based off such a beloved film, it has brought out a large number of fans of both properties. I’ve not yet had the opportunity to add the game to my collection, but I can tell you that watching this trailer from October of 2020, I am extremely impressed by the miniatures of the characters from the film. In addition I like the idea of the two modes of the game – with Players starting off in “Romero” mode with skills and equipment as seen in the film… and then switching to “Zombicide” mode when they start to achieve their goals. Having said that however it appears that there are elements in the game, like Barbara seeing her Brother as a ghoul, that will cause a Player to revert back to “Romero” mode.

If I am lucky enough to get my hands on Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game – I will be sure to share my thoughts in a review.