the entire lore of project zomboid i guess

[@Ricksdetrix]

couple lil secrets in there, wonder if you can spot em discord: discord.gg/MXwg8fFkPa patreon: patreon.com/Ricksdetrix

[@Ainavol_sans]

2:38 BIG SMOKE?!

[@thebestthingbeforeslicedbr8562]

2:30 treehouse of horror XX reference?!

[@itsacult1337]

37:10 is a trooper

[@shadowlucario7125]

Is that "would you take some of my meth" at 37:50 one of them? Lol

[@Ricksdetrix]

@@shadowlucario7125 Nah they're more subtle than that

[@BlueSliceOfBread]

Don't forget that on 8-th of july every person in the exclusion zone threw all the sledgehammers in the river and drank all the gas from cars

[@IrishWarrior00]

As it their God given right as Kentucky Patriots! :D

[@Cyberian_Khatru]

And burned their generator magazines too

[@armintor2826]

How else will the fishes get their tools??

[@Shadow30.]

and chew half the cars

[@enderclasscraft6411]

dont forget the 2-th july when somehow the anti gun campains manage to be succesfull in reducion the armed population

[@jaime4231]

project zomboid is so good they named a real city after louisville

[@R4in46]

They made Kentucky real!!!

[@MrPug4545]

Everybody gangsta till they make the Knox event real

[@mixasfox1334]

@@MrPug4545 Cant wait till immunity reveal 🔥🔥🔥

[@chasecollins3263]

I was surprised to learn they made a realistic earth, and planned to release the knox infection across if in 2031. Fans’ll truly go any length.

[@connormcdearmon6316]

As a Louisville citizen, I approve this message

[@KnightandDay33]

July 8th: The public blames "How to Use Generators" for the outbreak, promptly burning all available magazines

[@Jiub_SN]

Funny joke but it makes sense that it's so rare for gameplay and because how many magazines do you or your friends or family have lying around that teach you how to use a generator lmao

[@grabthatauto5]

@@Jiub_SN I mean anyone that has a generator should probably have a manual on how to use it. People really do be throwing that shit out tho

[@cpufreak101]

@@Jiub_SN this was also in '93 when magazines and even a basic instruction manual likely would have been just about everywhere

[@tundra4331]

@@grabthatauto5 i mean, ive always just used word of mouth. my dad taught me and his dad taught him. never seen a manual for those things ever

[@TheButcherClan]

🤣Look, I'm gonna be honest, I just started spawning How to Use Generators in because it's so fucking stupid to have 8 million generators and no way to use them. Also, if you ever used one irl, they're idiot proof.

[@PitterPatter20]

The guy on July 13th, on Knox Talk Radio, says "everyone got the sickness at once." He's talking about the original outbreak. That's a very specific way of describing how quickly the Virus spread. It really sounds like people were being normal, then suddenly everyone started showing symptoms. It sounds to me like maybe the first wave of the Virus was also airborne and in the panic and confusion of a totally unexpected and extremely serious crisis nobody really realized that not everyone who got it was bitten. It also makes all the theories make some kind of sense. The bad smell, the chemical spill, the burger meat, even the meteor where the conspiracy theorist mentions "it's in the air we breathe", every single one of these theories have the common threads that a) they would be a mass casualty events and b) they would involve a lot of people catching it without ever being bitten. The fact that all the theories have this in common, combined with the fact that we _know_ the Virus is eventually proven to be airborne, suggests to me that the Virus could have been airborne from day 1 of the spread. Just something I noticed when re-listening to this video. Edit: Also the first reports of the airborne cases on July 15th referred to people having a fever and being incapacitated, which is the 4th stage of the Virus, occuring 48-72 hours after infection. So the first airborne infections occured sometime between the 11th and the 13th.

[@Unknown-ek1ox]

Your take makes it more believable to see the (vanilla, anyway) map as it is. I mean not minding the car crashes and dynamic house scenes/events, almost all places (unless it is modified by players or a custom map minding this) look relatively untouched compared to an actual apocalypse unfolding gradually over time, with e.g. people and authorities to respond to areas, set up quarantine zones or evac sites, etc. But it is a bit eerie to see how normal each place looks after the fact and if you ignore car and house scenes. If you removed the zombies for a moment it could feel like on a quiet Sunday in the smaller towns. At least in the original exclusion zone, where it makes sense that a majority got it at once and got crippling symptoms at roughly the same time so you see little local reaction to it until it's too late. However I feel for vanilla LV, they should consider offering an alternative starting scenario modifier you can tick where LV looks like it went through some civil unrest first and then chaos because they didn't get it day 1, only when the horde(s) breached and when sick fled in that direction. If you listen to some radio snippets I recall that LV should look a bit more chaotic than it does now. But those are like immersion nitpicks. Custom maps like Raven Creek kinda mind an apocalypse hitting a major urban zone, at least there's some militarized or reinforced areas, checkpoints, medical sites around, etc.

[@Jay-yv3pu]

My favorite thing with Zomboid is that while the world is going to hell you have some absolute crack head swallowing entire cartons of icecream down while walking in circles and killing thosuands and thousands of zomboids

[@jeffrypoyer4855]

This gave me the idea to mod in a perk called crack head. Is -1 point because its good and bad For the first few hours you have inf endurance but for the second half of the first day you are pretty much crippled

[@twilightparanormalresearch186]

@@jeffrypoyer4855well you’re immune and not fighting the huge amounts of zombies that the military fought

[@wolfwarriors123]

​@jeffrypoyer4855 so in the game CDDA that Zomboid is based from, you can *actually* start as a crackhead profession.

[@greenmountaineer]

​@@wolfwarriors123 Zomboid is older than CDDA by a couple years.

[@NyaScarlet]

​​@@greenmountaineerCDDA and CBN are branches of the original Cataclysm, which came out before Zomboid. Still It only came out a year or so before Zomboid, so I think it's a bit of a reach to say Zomboid is based on it. Its not like a zombie survival sim is some crazy unique idea.

[@Sleepingenthusiast]

You forgot to include the historic moment where your character finally finds a sledgehammer

[@Ricksdetrix]

I forgot to include the historic moment where all the characters throw all the sledgehammers in to the river*

[@AdditiveOutlier]

@@Ricksdetrix Ah, a tragic event commonly known as The Sinking. But it's a reasonable mistake to make, I probably wouldn't include such an obvious event either.

[@Shoteaux2]

and generator manuals*@@Ricksdetrix

[@beanlorddahuman]

@@Ricksdetrix Don't forget about the great gas drinking of the 96'!

[@_your_moms_house]

@@Ricksdetrix The Knox County Sledgehammer Party

[@kaelden]

19:50 imagine the npc update changing the events with "random civilian killed 700 infected after raiding the gunstore"

[@nmmeswey3584]

"Blood covered survivor walking in circles with a massive burning horde behind them while eating ice-cream"

[@Jesus_Offical]

Random civilian has wiped out the entire population of rosewood. How?

[@degeneratemale5386]

Survivor spent 3 hours coming up with slurs to call zombies

[@Jesus_Offical]

@@degeneratemale5386 shambler best slur

[@cetozofumee]

Left 4 Dead

[@ianpaul4460]

Hearing "IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN CONTAINED" while seeing hundred of zombies stumbling toward a checkpoint gave me chills

[@kikrinman1450]

You can probably thank Romero for the whole "radio announcement over desolate zombie hordes" motif.

[@diegoabadsajamin]

28:19

[@jamesbrincefield9879]

They really nailed the duplicitousness of our government. I’ve always felt like the government’s narrative in this game is close to how it would play out in real life. Lie to the public until they’re literally incapable of lying anymore.

[@SuperCakeKing]

yeah chills original ideas and no cliches game has zombie in the name and in the lore the characters refer to them as “those…things” very subtle and incredible new story telling amazing

[@MartinFinnerup]

​@@SuperCakeKing Boohoo. My zombie game has the hallmarks of a zombie game. Who would have known? PZ is clearly meant to be exactly your standard romero zombie apocalypse, so if that didn't meet your expectations that's on you.

[@Dumb-Comment]

Calling zombie behaviour "Unamerican-like" is so funny 🤣

[@Man_Aslume]

Im like "Yeah right, not like Americans scratch each other and shoot each other during black friday."

[@kirvu9677]

@@Man_Aslume The FBI crime statistics make it even more funny!

[@FraggnAUT]

the dialogs could have been better, wonder if they'll work on a proper story script at some time. Tho its not really needed. but i'm a guy who falls willingly into rabbit holes of game stories.

[@federicoallegretti3798]

This communist zombies

[@dannydanny2789]

​@@kirvu9677there are walkers, there are runners, and the most terrifying kind of zombie is the joggers

[@TAMThomasTAM]

35:24 "The British Queen likes to stay behind in Windsor Castle as the Royal Family evacuates" This line still works even now, since it would make sense for the royals to flee from Windsor Castle since old Lizzie has come back from the dead and is wandering the halls.

[@invadergirness7817]

I think it could be a reference to World War Z as in the books the Queen does stay behind in Windsor to meet her fate even as the place is evacuated.

[@-Commit-arson-]

you know if she isn’t dead She’s in her hibernation pod waiting to regain her youth and then continue the cycle

[@DuplexWeevil337]

​@@-Commit-arson-fr

[@DuplexWeevil337]

​@@-Commit-arson-we are actually cloning a lizzy army

[@jmjedi923]

I like to imagine that she just fortified the castle and is completely fine

[@Leolanding]

"We know we are being lied to." Puts into effect how dire and desperate this situation has became.

[@pilotmanpaul]

To an extent, they are. Even days before anything happened. When people were just smelling something rotten in the air. The military was already active and was prepping for something.

[@privateuser3726]

Well atleast today we know how vile and twisted the government is

[@parkerrountree]

I forgot the context but if you’re referring to the government lying then like…Does it really put that into effect? The government just lies to lie most of the time I swear.

[@TuriGamer]

that really isnt unusual lol governments blatantly lie all the time

[@Leolanding]

@@pilotmanpaul I know. It makes it even more of a tragedy

[@Vermilleno]

I like that the virus is similar in a way to Wildfire from The Walking Dead, but improves upon it, by having airborne strain actually turn a lot of people without bites while others being immune. This solves the problem that TWD had, of how military didn't stop it.

[@Nightfurygaming247]

Also how it got to other countries so easy.

[@erinw.9256]

I keep forgetting that the infection in TWD is called Wildfire. It's such a cool and pretty name for something and then I remember that it's about zombies lol

[@Nightfurygaming247]

@@erinw.9256 get it? it spreads fast.

[@spaceman9396]

You're biggest mistake is using the show as a reference. The show isn't cannon

[@liamnehren1054]

I have seen other solutions to it, like: -they started fast but their lack of regeneration or slow regeneration caused them to lose high level mobility soon after. -Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z suggested that military training is for against people and zombies don't stop unless they are completely disabled or head shot-ed. So the military and police being taught to aim for center mass made them ineffective on the ground until they kicked that habit and bombing was imprecise as well as much more limited in effectiveness for the same reasons. It became a nuke all cities issue and they couldn't do that since it would just kill everyone either way.

[@Meme_Deity]

Imagine the pure dread you'd feel after learning that the infection was spreading without contact. Truly a horrifying way of story telling. I love it.

[@C.A._Old]

image in it 30 years ago today. Alternative Universe.

[@bean_boy4511]

Dude, I gotta say, the most immersive thing to happen in PZ was when I was watching WMBN in one of my first playthroughs, and suddenly, the newscaster starts telling the viewer to change to Triple N after saying the Knox Infection was spreading without bites. To make the player actually have to interact with the TV was genius work by the devs!

[@aldrinmilespartosa1578]

Instead of walkers infecting, they merely make the disease already in you mature faster.

[@lukitasdeveras]

@@C.A._Old What does this mean? you ommented this more than one time

[@niallreid7664]

​@@C.A._Oldok screw it, reporting you for spam. Annoying.

[@swarmofhungrydeathclaws]

Ngl when the infection spread to the world i was disappointed. Not surprised given zombie media, but I really loved the idea of knox county being successfully quarantined, and we're just trapped within, no help, stuck in a cage with the people on the outside watching on in pity unable to help. Something about that is more horrific to me, and a unique way to spin a zombie outbreak. Especially given without npcs we are completely alone.

[@Whiskers4169]

I know right such a wasted opportunity If it wasn’t for the airborne strain than it would make sense and you could have some hope of a vaccine in the future maybe even a day where the game ends after a successful vaccine is created with the option of sandbox mode of course

[@deusvult6229]

I don't know, for me, the idea of the world getting infected is more horrifying. If the Knox is successfully quarantined, there's a little glimpse of hope for you - you are not a zombie, you're, well, smarter than them, maybe you can still break through, maybe you can gradually purge all the zombies in Knox or at least your town - there won't be any more of them because the county is locked down. And even if you don't succeed in any of these things - you still know that the rest of the world is safe. In the game, however, you have completely no hope. The humanity is almost completely wiped out. The civilisation has ended. Zombies will keep coming from other places no matter what - the quarantine is breached. There is no safe place on Earth anymore.

[@bdbdkdfotbrveiw]

Dead rising exists

[@exu7325]

You can't have the zombies respawn with that premise. These are small towns with barely a thousand people living in them (less if we discount the children). You can easily clear a whole town within the first month, the game would get boring real fast.

[@kitealaster]

@@exu7325 yeah you can like don't care about if the lore was changed or not but thats a videogame mechanic entirely unrelated to lore lmao

[@reigomba]

Props for the Chad that decided to spin that jeep on those infecteds at 33:34

[@JG-vh6oy]

Yeah lol. Pro gamer

[@msc2127]

The theory that the zombies came from eating bad meat is probably a reference to that "mad cow" disease that happened in the 90s. I think it was retty cool for them to perhaps mix up some diseases like this, since in real life when people dont know what's going on we might confound things from different origins as the same thing

[@MIXI115]

So a mix of zombieland/the walking dead?

[@pedrotbird5426]

In the UK this was a very real seeming reality for a few years, could've been bad

[@declanjones8888]

​@@pedrotbird5426Oh yeah you guys did deal with and it was super bad over there.

[@Pariahmary]

Now I have William Shatner in my head, complaining about the mad cow

[@kazmark_gl8652]

the only thing that keeps be from believing that Knox infectionion is a Prion or Mad Cow variant is that Prions can't become airborne.

[@Santo_shuffle]

I'm absolutely loving the multiplayer recreation of events, amazing work from everybody involved imo 🤘

[@everythingsalright1121]

Helps make a lore dump vid more engaging for sure. Love to see it

[@tangytango2749]

Some of the chatlines and poor consistency really took me out of it. More professionalism would really sell it to me. Overall it's a really nice addition.

[@mahtayhoe]

@@tangytango2749 D1 hater

[@tangytango2749]

@mahtayhoe Is constructive criticism really hurtful? It adds to the video but could have some improvement.

[@BugCatcherGwen]

​@@tangytango2749It wasn't constructive though. You didn't explain why you felt that way. You just said "This is how I feel". Why is it immersion breaking for you? What portions of the video are inconsistent? Your own vagueness procludes you from actually being constructive. You were just being critical. Not trying to be rude here. Just saying that constructive criticism has to actually point to stuff and explain why it doesn't work. You were just pointing

[@dikdikmarzipan2819]

Bro just summons the zomboid community to make lore. Literal Top G.

[@Ricksdetrix]

This is my ploy to become a writer for indiestone

[@silverandcoldone]

they need to hire the modder who made survivor radio too

[@CrimsonPants]

@@Ricksdetrix You got my vote

[@declanjones8888]

​@@RicksdetrixAnd my vote.

[@erinw.9256]

@@smeebus Dude, if you don't like the game why are you watching content centered around the game?

[@ItsJabo]

Okay I expected this to just be a lore read, but you’ve put so much work into the visuals. Great work!

[@cptpheges1028]

Hey Jabo! Love the vids! (Obligatory When's the Project Zomboid Everytime I die I install a mod)

[@himerpaint]

Jabo, when zomboid vid pls

[@michaelakadap924]

Funny seeing you here. ❤

[@thor6872]

I was NOT expecting to see Jabo in this comment section lol

[@masquerade3852]

The ironic thing is it really was contained, but the populace refused to listen to reason and attacked the checkpoint, the noise of it drawing enough to break through and make the issue flare up in earnest again(obviously before they knew about airborne but if they stayed in quarantine itd at least buy a few days of airborne spread) Which is chilling because thats exactly what would happen irl

[@ShinePaw101]

Honestly I can't blame em... witch is what makes it worse imo.

[@MikeHunt-zy3cn]

I have to disagree. With the prolonged incubation period, it's likely a number of soldiers at the Knox Event that rotated out to foreign bases (likely to empty them of supplies before a total pullout) were probably infected with the virus, causing it to spread far and wide. Seeing how places like Mogadishu, Norfolk, Okinawa, and Seoul are all infected. Areas with American overseas bases.

[@Jim-qz6vp]

a game made by leftist making leftist ideas look smart weird, no ironic.

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

That situation hits especially close to home in [current year] yes, but I feel like the constant claims of 'the virus is contained and under control' mayhaps were a bit too 'mission accomplished'-ey at times as well. With the phone lines cut 5 days prior, stuff was going down bad already after all.

[@MiguelGellida-hc8vf]

It might have still mutated to airborne even without the breach tho. Besides, there is very little explanation on how it got to Somalia and the UK since all flights were grounded by the time of the breach and I doubt many people from Kentucky would fly to Somalia during the civil war in 1993 anyways. The theory that explains this is either that it was spread by the army either accidentally or not or that it was some kind of extraterrestrial event/mad cow spiffo’s disease. There’s clearly more than meets the eye whatever the case.

[@sairus3239]

There are 3 home VHS in the game, that confirms the existence of another outbreak of the zombie virus on way smaller scale. And it seemed to be cured, since the town it happened in survived and even made an instructional tapes (one of those home VHS) how to deal with the infected individuals. Though that virus seemed to only make people aggressive, not undead. Also another home VHS takes RL event and puts it into the game lore. Im talking about the meteorite falling in Brazil. The VHS claims that after it fell, the people in the closest cities were feeling nauseous and biohazard units were dispatched to the site. Which may either mean that the virus is alien in nature, or the meteorite wasn't a meteorite.

[@PitterPatter20]

Do you remember the names of those tapes?

[@sairus3239]

@@PitterPatter20 sadly not... if i was, i would've given them in my original message.

[@dewitnow1765]

I wonder if its also a nod to Call of Duty zombies and element 115, which was an element from a crashed meteor that reanimated corpses.

[@Kiralmao]

strange how its not mentioned in the news, youd think if another zombie outbreak happened after the first headlines would go CRAZY over it lol

[@sairus3239]

@@Kiralmao i guess it was a secret military operation and since it is on home VHS i doubt the owner had time to share the information

[@hiddendesire3076]

7:23 There are also the night events that can occur, one involving hallucinations of zombies breaking in. They can’t hurt you, but a startled survivor firing off their gun at them would be enough to lure in the real deal.

[@dextra9753]

Is that a mod? I’ve never seen that happen in the game and haven’t read about it on the wiki

[@hiddendesire3076]

@@dextra9753 It is one of the Night Events that can occur. Granted it is still a rare one considering Night Events aren’t that common.

[@Artuniverse01]

@@dextra9753 theres a mod called Schizophrenia Trait Mod and it makes you hallucinate zombies or hear sounds that isnt real when your stress is too high

[@C.A._Old]

image in it 30 years ago today. Alternative Universe.

[@polishnope5609]

​@@hiddendesire3076i think they are turned off by default in the setting

[@loscause7927]

I think the Knox infection was made by the secret lab but was released accidently by someone who didn't know they got infected.

[@radziugames8708]

I think so too, just look at the mess in the offices at the military base, pieces of paper scattered around as if scientists were looking for something. I hope that when the basement is added, we will be able to take the elevator (while there is electricity) to the laboratory

[@HollowBagel]

@@radziugames8708 I mean, everyone was in a state of panic and the infection reached the base, so of course some stuff is gonna get knocked over.

[@radziugames8708]

@@HollowBagel maybe yes, maybe no, or they tried to burn all the files so that no one would blame them

[@etherealhawk]

Huh, the same as COVID huh

[@FiendMatadorSlayerOfNoobs]

I still believe it was someone's failed attempts at immortality given the Arabian lyrics in some of the music mentioning "The Fountain of Life" and asking what the price for it will be.

[@gromblereal]

I think one of the most horrifying parts about this is how cases start coming up in Japan, England, Africa, the Middle East, and then all contact with anything outside of America just abruptly stops. Either the world has ended and humanity is dead or this is the world’s biggest surprise party and the infection is actually really easy to take care of.

[@blazeburner303]

I mean, the military in zomboid is kind of a pansy, just bait the zomboids into a hoard with choppers, then drop a B-52 carpet on them

[@halinaqi2194]

Nahh, I thinks it makes sense the military couldn't do much. Its airborne, novel and fast acting. It probably starting spreading rapidly, public unrest and logistics falling apart probably led to the military capability being hindered greatly. Militaries aren't great at fighting infections or preventing viral outbreaks or pandemics, they likelihood of them preventing the zombie infection could only occur if they took drastic measures early and enacted a sort of scorched earth policy and killed everyone on site and prevent anyone from coming near but they would never in that universe.

[@JezielProdigalSon]

The world put America in quarantine, probably.

[@captiancholera8459]

@@halinaqi2194the beauty of it is, this is something the military would be way too slow to come to terms with in the US, in more repressive countries like say North Korea and China the military would likely immediately be put on that kind of footing if the government had some idea about what was going on (and I’d argue that at least parts of the US government knew what they were dealing with, even with the impressive logistical capabilities of the US military, you don’t blockade half and then an entire county by land without having planned for such an eventuality) the US while it could turn its army on its own citizens would face massive pushback from its troops unless the situation was fully understood, however like in the lore fully understanding a situation like this would simply take too long, and by the time the military cracks down, it’s too late.

[@halinaqi2194]

@@captiancholera8459 exactly, its not like the US military lacks the capability, but the government and society itself. Its because it is the US, socially and culturally, an intense and focused and quick brutal reaction from the military would likely never be accepted by the population, especially when they are none the wiser as to what is going on and especially if it is occurring to their own people.

[@CHRB-nn6qp]

The other day, I managed to get a car for my new character. I went on a quick drive for supplies, and ended up stopping in a rural area with houses overnight. When I woke up, I turned on the TV and managed to catch the, "IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN CONTAINED" broadcast. I genuinely got really interested and stayed in the house in order to get more updates from the news, and I got it, with zombies storming the army camp after hearing the gunfire and biting the reporter. I drove off, put KnoxTalk on the radio, and listened to the stories that survivors told about their family members dying and reincarnating. It was absolutely chilling, I almost felt bad for surviving for so long. I can't get over how immersive this game is, I love it to pieces!

[@ethanmcfarland8240]

i love the fact that the game takes place in 1993 instead of the modern day. There are no smartphones or wifi. You are entirely alone. Knoxville is descending into hell and the whole world has no idea

[@atatatatatagsad]

Yeah back when internet was a baby and only military personel or giga rich people were using it, and the only means of mass communication were tv news and newspapers

[@Asterion_Mol0c]

​@@atatatatatagsador social outcasts

[@kasperdomagala7031]

​@@atatatatatagsadin '93??? it wasn't that hard to access the Internet back then lol, AOL was on the rise and many internet cafes opened up this year

[@AsymmetricalCrimes]

Totally alone? My guy, people had home phones and phone booths in the 90s. You could still call people just about anywhere...

[@ethanmcfarland8240]

@@AsymmetricalCrimes The phone lines are cut dude

[@erinw.9256]

Considering the cannibals: imagine surviving in the zombie apocalypse and thinking that eating people is a good idea.

[@t1mingisnecessary]

The only way it would be a good idea is if you don't have any more supplies.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Strangely enough it could be! Another human would need all the same things you would so their meat would nourish you in exactly the way you would need. Also a lot of meat on a human body. Then we got to consider properly cooking the meat might just make it safe. Unknown but it could. There are reasons why cooking is something we humans generally do to our food. Sanitizing it is one of them.

[@tony1boss16]

- @@jacobfreeman5444, non-cannibal (self-proclaimed)

[@thebluepaladin]

Yea since survivers seem to only be partially immune enough to survive the low concentration of the virus in the air but will die to high dosage from a bite eating someone seems like a great way to get the required dosage from the before retively benign groupings of the virus that undoubtly exist in anyone still alive

[@simonkorica9467]

I shock that up to mass hysteria, some sort of doom cult or just people being infected but still somehow conscious. So they can rationalize their actions but not fight the strong urges to consume the living.

[@eestradam]

The smell could be from a chemical weapon gas-like that leaked from rosewood lab,because a lot of chemical gases are invisible and Odorless,for example butane gas is odorless,so we humans put odorants to know when there is a gas leak,so probably the military did the same and that would explain the awful smell.

[@moss_fetttt]

Could be, when the smell was reported that may have been the reason the military was immediately deployed.

[@sairus3239]

Nausea is one of the symptoms of the infection. Which means that the smell that was reported is most likely the first symptom of mass infection

[@smoogs1841]

Or the smell is rotting flesh or the virus concentrated in the air near large groups of zombies.

[@tedarcher9120]

It's from a lot of people throwing up

[@FlowerMareEnjoyer]

One of my favorite transmissions is from a caller at a gas station describing driving down the road with who knows how many other cars, and the shoulder and ditches are FILLED with the dying who haven't succumbed yet. Nobody wants to talk about it, but they know all those people are going to stand up again when they finally die, and everyone is panicking and fighting over the pumps. It's such a horrifying thing to picture. Imagine seeing hundreds or thousands of people on the side of the road -- in various stages of dying -- for hours, then sitting in line for a gas pump and hoping it moves faster than the infection does.

[@Darksky1001able]

The fact you see so many scientist zombies is not only disheartening but horrifying. Youre losing the minds that could have helped develope counter zombie tactics and armor.

[@gamingmoth4542]

Would anyone consider it possible that the Knox Event spreading to Mogadishu Somalia could've been unintentionally caused by an American Soldier being deployed there for Operation Gothic Serpent? I know that the events occurred a couple months before the events of the Battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down) but the U.S. Army were actually preforming Peace Keeping operations in the country alongside the UN since 1992.

[@jonharrison3114]

Yeah a lot of the places mentioned were where a lot of US troops were stationed so that’s another theory

[@theknoxcountytimes5216]

The infection starts in 1993 and as far as I know the US presence in Mogadishu was decreased heavily after Gothic Serpent

[@gamingmoth4542]

@@theknoxcountytimes5216Operation Gothic Serpent didn't end until October of 1993.

[@theknoxcountytimes5216]

@@gamingmoth4542 oop, thats on me, my bad

[@PitterPatter20]

That's pretty clever if that was intentional. Somalia does certainly seem like a random country to mention otherwise.

[@enbirobearnevadae.u.7866]

it must be a serious problem if garfield is there fighting for his country instead of lasagna

[@igsamiru]

I tought it was a Spiffo's

[@aporia3764]

The thought of Garfield fighting for his country😂😂, he looks into his helmet and see a photo of a freshly baked lasagna and a single tear drop falls from his face

[@TakumiOfCarX]

As someone who lives in Knox County (Barbourville) Kentucky i can verify these zombies are annoying as hell

[@ivanov9245]

Its been 5 months, how are you holding up there?

[@Offical_LadaRiva_1982]

I've been hiding in one of the houses, been holding for 3 months so far, but yes, the zomboids are annoying. Oh no, I hear knocking... Welp, time to get my shotgun out...

[@Man_Aslume]

Thanks for the update ​@@revix9465

[@Man_Aslume]

They died because they haven't responded 😔

[@petepeterson5917]

@@Man_Aslume Damn, rip

[@Neko_-je3hg]

I don’t know why but zombies scare me the most. Vampire, werewolves, ETs, A.I, criptids, est are all stuff I can handle. but zombies make my stomach queasy and me genuinely scared.

[@SuperCakeKing]

im a zombie outside your window and doors and im comin to getchya oogly boogly boo

[@HaykInWonderland]

​@@SuperCakeKingyeah right zombies can't type

[@OrionTheHunter098]

​@HaykInWonderland nah I'm pretty sure OP is dead...

[@iamrightoutsideyourwindowhello]

vampires and all those concepts are actually sentient and can make decisions for themselves. you have no idea if the zombies are actually zombies or that they are still people; but trapped.

[@philflorence590]

​@@SuperCakeKingStop it SuperCakeKing your scaring them!!!

[@CamWhiteMusic]

The B-roll is almost more impressive than the script. Excellent work

[@Chonkems]

the Knox Infection likely only affects dogs like a stomach bug would, though it could be fatal, as there are no dogs left.

[@treysonbates6110]

That might be the case but there’s not really any animals in game to

[@derpnip]

You do hear dog barks in game

[@eikementira1604]

@@derpnip after that you can hear shots being fired, probably the army killing dogs on sight

[@LucasTheOnion]

reminds me of the cursed dog mod XD

[@UlithiumDragon]

You also hear wolves howling, and wolves are almost biologically identical to dogs.

[@coleandhisvideos]

My favorite moment in the narrative is the infamous armless zombie picture It's one of the most iconic points in the game

[@Frosty-Genie]

This was an awesome video! The use of extra players and actors really pulled it together. Well done! I do find it curious, though, that the game does such an excellent job of making you feel like you're one of the last survivors as early as July 9 but looking at the timeline laid out here it seems as if things don't really go off the rails until a few weeks into the outbreak. I guess that's due to the lack of survivor NPCs currently in the game. Being unable to enter Louisville due to the initial military presence would be really cool, forcing players to have to consider whether trying to brute force your way inside early is worth it or if you should wait it out until the military gets overrun. There are so many cool things they could do with NPCs to better tie the game together narratively but I very much doubt that's gonna happen even when they add them. This video definitely got my mind racing, though, so thanks for that 😄

[@Ricksdetrix]

I'm really looking forward to the 1st quarantine being put in the game. Imagine you try to leave and there's patrols of military stopping you

[@Frosty-Genie]

@Ricksdetrix including a human threat like that would add so much depth to the game and also make it 10x scarier cuz suddenly the advantage of speed and distance doesn't matter anymore.

[@anobody410]

​@@Ricksdetrixdoubt* I'm pretty sure the devs confirmed there will be no "day one scenario" even after npc implementation. They said it's just way too much work.

[@GeneralKenobi669]

@@anobody410 Hopefully modders will make it happen.

[@melophobia0504]

You set the scene for this story perfectly. The hauntingly mellow banjo to the loud and intense violins. You know the pacing, vs when a moment deserves its silence. I’ve been following the development of this game and it’s story for awhile now, and you did a beautiful justice to its content. Keep up the good work!!! 💕

[@tokedoke2737]

I loved reading the twitter comments as the playerbase rped along with the official lore tweets. Seeing it all was fun and I liked different people such as Mayor Otto, or the nuclear power plant guys.

[@this_is_patrick]

I wonder how they will implement Louisville once non-player characters are added because, like you said, it wasn't "in the zone" on the default start-date. Will it be a normal city filled with hundreds of normal people with normal lives, or will it just be completely blocked off and inaccessible to the players?

[@Ricksdetrix]

I imagine they'll add checkpoints with military that shoot you if you go near. It would be too demanding to have npcs on a city side scale so it's likely you just won't be able to go there until it collapses. This is a LONG way in the future though, they might never get round to implementing it that way lol

[@artmanxp]

Would love to see a more phasic/event based game map where evens are lock until an effect script trigger or a number of zombies are made or killed. Like at first it's dealing with people coming over to barrow things or cops enforcing curfew than bandits and a fee Zs as the stores close down than more infected and army types when power and water start to fail.

[@SneedRemembrancer]

Even the exclusion zone seems to have a few days until everything just breaks down into chaos so are people just going to be going about their regular lives until those that aren immune start to turn. I do remember in one of their updates posts is that all npc’s will have backstories but it’s something that actually happened in the world and player can come across it and watch it play out and engage in it. not sure if this will ever come to be however because that’s extremely ambitious also I wonder with a system like that npc’s would have to have a limited number of those that were immune in Knox county.

[@sailor5853]

​@@RicksdetrixIt's set to be implemented build 42. We are currently in build 41.7

[@Ricksdetrix]

@@sailor5853 Human Npc's aren't coming in B42 im afraid. We're getting crafting overhaul, animals, basements, optimization as well as a bunch of minor additions. Probably B44 for Human NPCs since B45 is 'polish', like B41 is mostly polish

[@jamesamongus3338]

the reason why i love the project zomboid lore is that they NEVER call then "zombies" nor "reaminated" far as i know theres no tapes,magazines,nor anything that calls then "zombies" in-game and it makes sence! zombie movies where not popular at that time(i think)or the "zombie" idea was never thought of in the zomboid universe!!

[@Ricksdetrix]

I think about this alot. We would call any kind of human that attacks people a zombie nowadays

[@AleaIactaEst2009]

Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985) had all popularised the concept of the zombie before the Knox Infection in 1993. Romero pretty much invented the modern day zombie (in terms of the way we think of what a zombie is in pop culture) and they would call them zombies if those films had been made in that Universe.

[@gro8085]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@AleaIactaEst2009i mean technically true but not fully, Romero never even called them zombies until Dawn of the Dead. Still people didn't really use the term that much until the mid 90s and 2000s.

[@qwertyram4598]

​@@AleaIactaEst2009And I think that the movies were never released within the Zomboid universe, at least that's as far as my memory goes

[@omen2223]

This is pretty common in the genre.

[@basically_boring]

this makes me want an official zomboid tv series even more. you did an amazing job with this.

[@thinkinyblinko6666]

Modern film and tv productions are utterly talentless, and they are much more concerned with propaganda and programming than creating entertainment. I wouldn't trust any of them to do this beautiful game any justice.

[@SpringDavid]

its a jornal that records a horde following them 95% of the time until the civvie with molotovs show up lmfao

[@32BitJunkie]

Nah this is the exact same shit as The Walking Dead and people are sick to hell of that universe by now. It'd be dead on arrival. This game lore doesn't do anything different from TWD anyway, other than the airborne virus and government being even slightly dumber somehow

[@nevada6047]

@@thinkinyblinko6666take your meds, schizoid

[@Wallaceismyba]

@@thinkinyblinko6666Honestly I hate views like this. Art isnt dead because “Oh no gay people” Creative people don’t cease to exist because shit isn’t conservative anymore. Hell, just stop going for media made by big corporations lol

[@almabora405]

i love how the entire US military couldnt stop the zombies but slavic cleared entire knox county with just a swat gear and a shotgun. sure it did took him a few months, but considering he was alone, its impresive.

[@jeffrypoyer4855]

The peepeepoopooman is just build different

[@killer41756]

​@@jeffrypoyer4855fr

[@tedarcher9120]

Most of the zombies died already tho, or moved north

[@augustovasconcellos7173]

Yeah, but what made the zombies so dangerous was the airborne infection. If it weren't for that they could have been stopped rather easily.

[@shaykireas]

it's easy to be overlooked by a lot of people, but the voice acting in this video is just the absolute icing on the cake. i enjoyed it a lot throughout the video.

[@RussianKitty]

The voice acting is good, there are just too many British people doing it, and Kentucky doesn't have many of them

[@RobJonesWrites]

Love trying to place who you've got to do some of the voiceovers at time. Can't miss Hazzor's dulcet tones. Wicked video, Rick, absolutely brilliantly put together. Top PZ content.

[@Hroupe]

The meteor / space stuff could be a reference to Night of the Walking Dead which basically started this whole genre. In that film, it's suggested that a space probe returning from Venus brought radiation that causes zombies

[@Ricksdetrix]

Very well could be. I prefer that to stalker lore

[@turtlecheese8]

Fantastic video! Great visuals with a well made and digestible narration.

[@II-wu7mx]

Idk why but that “oh but here they come” is such a gut punch. Maybe it’s the project zombies experience in one line. A dying man trying to engage in one last act of humanity, and the dead won’t let him rest.

[@Real_fr-ong]

The fact that it gives you examples of people being infected is so cool. Like imagine sitting at your Radio and hearing that a mother had to hold her infant in her arms while it slowly gave her the disease

[@Yorgun96]

Its great to see that you've actually used nearly all of the scenes that we did

[@DOCTORRGLASS]

Yeah the b-roll is great thank you for providing the great viewing experience

[@Bone_Incidents]

I would really love it if in the future you were able to visit Louisville only to either be shot down by military, or getting checked as infected even though you aren’t, which would also get you shot. It’s a subtle way of saying “You’re not ready for this yet” without straight up putting an invisible wall there, it’s also a good introduction into NPCs if we ever get them.

[@gothound9479]

I love the ingame footage, especially the pre-appocaypse. Its a nice break from the isolationism and desolation of the game.

[@dopiestthyme3365]

I really enjoy this style of presentation for apocalyptic fictional settings. It's fragmented, inconclusive, and overall chaotic that leaves you with more questions than answers. I haven't played zomboid but I can imagine leaving the radio or the TV on in your base and desperately listening in for any answers; only to be left dazed and panicked.

[@waterfeather1358]

God. The fact that an infant caught it is more terrifying than the hoards of zeds to me.

[@dudepostal420]

awesome video man! keep up the good work

[@aanakk]

I just imagine how cool it would be once the NPCs come out to meet some characters like Hass (AFAIK, he's still out there). Maybe you can even save some of the reporters who died not because they fell ill, but because they were mauled by zombies. Even if they don't want to add something like what I'm about to say, modders will do a short work. Just imagine being a random grunt stationed at a military camp. You have to deal with people, both dead and alive. Your crew falls sick. Some come back, get put down in front of your eyes. Maybe you're the only survivor, maybe there's a few guys left who are immune to airborne strand of the virus. Either way, a massive horde is coming to break through the exclusion zone, and there's nowhere to run. You don't have enough ammo. This is how you died. Or once/if Nashville comes out, you could join one of the two groups there and work againsg the other, one being cannibals and raiders and the other regular survivors.

[@Dorastrickland1993]

"Theres this one lady....they just shot her..." shows some mustache dude getting shot x'D

[@Ricksdetrix]

nuh uh the hoodie covers his face

[@itsamine4840]

"His"

[@somedragonbastard]

Hey ladies can have a mustache

[@vukberbakov344]

,,His,,

[@ShibeDogetic]

the government calling zombies "unamerican" is so fucking accurate

[@defcon13gaming71]

So good im praying for more, nevwr realised the lore was so good. Being military myself and having buddies at Knox and Campbell its chilling to think about all of this happening. Great video non the less.

[@Quacktical]

Imagine a 1 year persistent world with most of the zomboid community in it, I’d hope to see it in the near future if technology is advancing at this rate.

[@scoutavius1975]

This video is extremely well done! And is quite honestly, very well needed! Ive been nitpicking at pieces of lore these past few months. Thank you!

[@maxcampbellmusic]

Amazing job Rick, this is the best Zomboid lore recap I've seen. The cinematography, the voice acting, incredible.

[@thedukinator9878]

i have food for thought here: maybe the "immune" actually arent. they have the infection but it helps them instead of kills them. a symbiotic relationship. you provide it with nutrients and it helps you heal. cos im damn sure you cant heal a broken leg in a few days

[@michaelakadap924]

I really like the idea. Being immune just means it doesn’t affect you. People who are immune to any kind of disease are usually carriers themselves. And can get other people sick around them even though they show no sign of sickness. Though, I think the whole healing factor in the game is more of a mechanical thing to make the game more fun. I mean, would you like to hobble around for a couple months in game? That honestly would just piss me off. 😂

[@thedukinator9878]

@@michaelakadap924 yea but like it could also still be a part of the lore, just to like round things out yk?

[@michaelakadap924]

@@thedukinator9878 there’s nothing in game that proves you wrong. The game isn’t finished so maybe we might get more lore further down the line.

[@Mythicalyst]

You know, this actually makes a lot of sense in a way. If the virus came from the military base, then it could be the US Gov trying to create a strain of virus that causes faster recovery from injury, and the airborne nature of it could be because they wanted to spread it all over the world as some sort of humanitarian aid.

[@Amenlimit]

The entire zomboid lore in just one phrase would be "if it's not in vanilla, there's a mod for it."

[@ArtistTheArtist05]

15:37 "We need to thank the US army" *One of the soldiers is wearing a Spiffy's Mascot head*

[@kagenlim5271]

Cause military furries are actually a thing lol

[@ArtistTheArtist05]

@@kagenlim5271 I'm aware of that, I just think it's not tactically advantageous to be wearing the HEAD WHILE IN THE MIDST OF A HORDE ATTACK. Live by the fur die as a fur I guess.

[@sillyking1991]

@@ArtistTheArtist05 tbf the fur suit head probably protects you better from scratches/bites than military helmets, at the cost of visiblity

[@rebel6301]

@@kagenlim5271 more than you think

[@corvaxblackfeather6529]

Love it ! You and your friends who helped voicing this did a great Job here!

[@strikeforce1500]

here is a dangerous one. Take a shot each time they say "The Knox event is contained"

[@theb.m.g5332]

You'd be in an ambulance by the 30-minute mark.

[@krenesh2420]

My theory is that it was always airborne. We know people in the zone were getting sick without getting bitten. Maybe a diluted version escaped from the lab and and once people got infected they began producing a stronger variant that spread much more quickly. Or maybe it was always super infectious but they got lucky and nipped it in the bud for awhile, kept it behind the line for a short time. Also the secret lab has an unusual amount of zombies around it, not sure what it means, but must mean something!

[@wackojacko4580]

I really like the idea that people in Knox county didn’t immediately realise what they were dealing with were zombies. All they knew was that slowly over time more and more people were just having violent out burst. I could imagine super early on people were trying to go about their days and they’d see fights happening down the street every now and then or they’d hear stories of people at the shops or at work suddenly turning around and trying to bite and scratch and tackle others

[@JaxG-t1d]

honestly, I would pay for a mod where you can use the radio station to broadcast the truth to the outside the zone and you have to do it before the military sets up jammers

[@Ricksdetrix]

I think jammers were in use from the start, or at least from the 6th (the quarantine). It's just that there's only one piece of evidence that remotely suggests that (the mixed channels). I can't remember if the broadcasts from inside the zone are after the military starts to lose control or not, but they probably weren't heard by anyone anyway

[@yosemitesam9576]

The problem with letting the truth out is that you doom humanity even faster as everyone panicks

[@everythingpony]

​@@RicksdetrixI heard it

[@Dodi-jf2jj]

this video made me want to start up a roleplay server for real, all of the scenes with actors are amazing

[@wowzersx-xwowzers]

There's nothing I love more than when somebody makes a lore video on a video game I'm heavily interested in. Thanks so much for making this, while Project Zomboid might just seem like a regular zombie survival game for some, it is packed with lore that I love discovering and the ability to piece it all together is something I'll always love to do. I hope that eventually when the devs achieve the end goal they've envisioned, we get some more heavy lore focused updates that really tie everything together. Super excited for the future of Zomboid.

[@michaelakadap924]

As a zombie fan, I’m really sad. I didn’t pick up this game until recently. Hands-down, probably the best zombie game out there right now. Can’t wait to see what the future brings. I mean, I wouldn’t mind a little bit more story or being involved in it a little bit more in someway. Like watching the downfall of humanity in those first few days. Looking at the game it’s a very ambitious thing to do. Personally, I wouldn’t mind exactly not knowing how it started. I think having a little mystery on the situation, makes the game better in a way. That way you can form your own opinion on how exactly it started. And f@&$ that helicopter pilot. He’s definitely a troll. 😂

[@Vapor272]

The lore is insane, loved the multiplayer bits recreating it

[@zv7ws]

Love the in game acting. Must have been a lot of work. You can tell this video was made with love. Nice job

[@bibus2282]

Imagine how cool it would be, if Louisville were actualy locked in the game for the first 6 days, so if you go there you would be killed by the millitary

[@sp1cychick3nsamm1ch9]

This was the best Zomboid video I’ve ever seen. Just saw it on my lunch break and was gonna listen to it while I played the game, but the in-game storytelling you included with so many well set scenes and players helping made this game feel like a genuine movie. This is the stuff that deserves 7 digit views brotha, thanks for all the hard work everyone spent on this, it’s a masterpiece

[@ZebraOnYourNose]

"The spread of the Knox Event infection is now total" will never not send chills up my spin. This is it, this is the end. Humanity's death is absolute, there is no one coming to save us. Death has come to embrace us all. And we are condemned to writhe in its yoke until our destined demise. Truly horrific. Wonderful world building by the devs!

[@Jesus_Offical]

Greenland will endure

[@kevinhenrique4256]

Its not the end yet,the end of civilization? Yes,Humanity? Not so sure about that,there are survivors all around the planet in fact given enough time survivors will meet up,form comunities and Rebuild society little by little,it will take time maybe thousands of years but humanity will bonce back eventually

[@moss_fetttt]

people living in snowy environments would be fine because the cold would likely freeze the zombies and force the virus into a stasis.

[@Kuro-UWU]

I doubt it, i think the end is the US military nuking Kentucky

[@Masthegreatest08]

I read this as the line played

[@SimplyFishy]

this must of been hell to get all the footage for, great job man

[@taintedgoose9138]

I like these types of stories in zombie scenarios. I’ve always found the outbreak scenarios to be more intriguing than the aftermath, seeing society collapse and people fighting each other because there scared is more scary in my opinion

[@superbad8008]

All of the President’s released statements sound like KZbinr apologies.

[@Ricksdetrix]

They kind of are, just for the president

[@DinoRicky]

@@RicksdetrixClinton was just elected, and now the end had came This is worst then Hoover in the great depression

[@doodlehates_uttp]

@@RicksdetrixHonestly the ukulele won't save the president

[@ChaosCube464]

This is one of the few aspects of the game that I dont know about. Looking forward to watching this

[@Ricksdetrix]

I almost fumbled it, realised after I uploaded the draft that I misinterpreted or changed my mind on whether or not zombies were all over the zone by day 9

[@leprechan9]

@@Ricksdetrixthey weren’t in Louisville not until the 12th or the 13th

[@projectspiffo9949]

man this videos always let me with a weird feeling like a mix of nostalgia? idk its like when you get out of the cinema and you have the vibes of the movie the pz lore deserves his own movie or short film, and the music or sountrack always gets me, the tutututu tutututu tutututu tu,tu its just so good

[@SpookyDeer]

Really have to applaud the amount of effort to to record in-game scenarios for ALL of this

[@kron7536]

"They shot my dog, what kind of soldiers do that?" The ATF lmao

[@therealgeneralMacArthur]

They're not soldiers. They're just goons with government approval

[@RaccoonsLeek]

The detail and work put into this video is utterly unbelivable to me

[@JToPocHi]

I love the passion and effort you put into this video. Project Zomboid's lore is amazing, thanks for compiling it and arranging the events in chronological order.

[@weirdcaveman777]

This is genuinely a great peace of film I can’t imagine how long this took to Make so much creativity I could have just read the wiki but this is infinitely better

[@takeaholiday]

I think it’s really cool that while you’re playing, day after day, these things are all happening. The whole world is descending into 7 days to Die and you have no clue, you’re just doing your best raiding a firehouse.

[@kadenthoreson9915]

Im hoping that when npcs are released, the starting days (july 9th and so on) have like a slow burn. Low zombie population, npc population is like at a medium or so. Then after days go by, the zombie pop grows larger and npc pop starts dwindling, and loot grows more scarce. Like you get the see the infection start to take hold. I love story building in games and i feel that would be a great addition. And obviously have this all customizable in sandbox options.

[@HelghastStalker]

That would be awesome to play through, especially since in most Zombie Apocalypse media we see the "Post" Apocalypse part of it, while in Project Zomboid we have a front row seat to the actual Apocalypse as it is happening.

[@cdemon78]

Wow, this looks like hard work! Awesome , i´ve really enjoyed it. Greetings from Berlin

[@ethanmcfarland8240]

My theory was that the infection was cuased by a Cold War Era bioweapon set to be destroyed after the end of the Soviet Union. Instead, it went horribly wrong, cuasing the bioweapon to leak into the sorrounding area.

[@HelghastStalker]

This doesn't make much sense, though, since the USSR formally dissolved on December 26th, 1991, but it was already falling apart months before. Keeping a bioweapon like that in storage for a year and a half after it was supposed to be destroyed makes no sense.

[@daxie__3210]

​​@@HelghastStalkernot to mention the fact that they don't have a cure for it, no one not even the US is dumb enough to create an ultra infectious disease without a cure or some other way of neutralising the infection

[@dr.vikyll7466]

​@@HelghastStalkerI can tell you have no experience with bureaucracy lol. But also the decision could have come later in '92/'93

[@HelghastStalker]

@@dr.vikyll7466 I do have plenty of experience with bureaucracy, I grew up in the DDR and immigrated to the USA. But it's one thing when it's some rifles or maybe a tank or two, it's another when its WMDs.

[@PitterPatter20]

Isn't that the plot of The Crazies?

[@morbe5276]

i just had an itch for zomboid lore that i needed to scratch, i love playing pz and just being there for the broadcasts and taking in bits and pieces of the world, this video brought that to life and ive just been playing it on repeat just enjoying the work you put into it. you better enjoy your rise to fame sir, you deserve it

[@batosalangit1438]

Are we just gonna ignore the fact that an army soldier ordered the "Big Smoke" fast food order? @2:36

[@Feldynn]

Great video, thankyou for taking the time to collate all the PZ lore into one handy clump for us! I enjoyed the "real time" live tweets TIS did and I'd love to see more lore in the future from them, PZ is the type of creature that could easily have, and I like to think deserves, a hugely in-depth and properly fleshed out background story that explains what really happened up to the point the game starts. A little bit Romero, a little bit Walking Dead, even a little bit "Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue".. there's so much story potential there! 😁

[@Dankoboi-f8y]

This is amazing man, I love how much work and inspiration was put into this. This is wonderful :D

[@ZoeLycan]

I've been hooked into PZ for the past year, and I've been though the 5 lvs of grief with this game. Needless to say, I really like the game now, and It's hidden in plain sight lore is very interesting. Specially because you could play the game purely as a survival or try to make it interesting and play it like a real person would. What I'm saying is that if we try a more realistic approach, we would stay at home most of the time, scared, trying to ration supplies, NOT fighting zombies, and listening to any info though TV or radio if possible. This way, you learn more about the Lore that is always there, but is so very easy to miss if you don't spend time actively searching for it. What I like to think, that the reason for the Zomboids (just like in real life) is a combination of multiple factors that happened to play at the same time and perfect for each other. I like to think the virus might have started OR detected at the military lab. Maybe some sample escaped quarantine OR they realized the mysterious virus is evolving way too fast to even study accurately. This could explain the military being ready for this. Si I feel like the virus has an unknown origin, the government knew and tried to keep it hidden to try to prevent mass hysteria. I feel the virus could have found in the wilds or is theorized it was 1st transported by animals, reason why they eradicated all pets, as an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. During 2020 we learned virus transition can be hard, near to impossible to contain, unless 100% of the population agrees to collaborate and work together in prevention. With this said, maybe some1 with the virus contaminated the meat use by Spiffos or some cook working at Spiffos didn't take any sanitary measures and contaminated all the food they prepared for the public. The biggest question, when it comes to Zombie apocalypse scenarios, is: HOW did it spread SO fast. When it comes to the game, a very interesting question IS: what would the survivor do, if they truly become the LAST human on Earth? what would that person do if they actually manage to eradicate every single Zomboid in the map?

[@naiveveg8447]

Ive always liked this type of story. Was bioengineered meat? Weird alien lights? Lab problem? The act of god? Dunno go hit some stiffs with metal pipe. Edit: clearly this was an outbreak of mass hysteria

[@theshadowulf3774]

Spectacularly put together, Rick. Had goosebumps listening to this throughout!