Zombicide’s second edition brings better rules, zombie-killing kids and more abominations

A new edition of dice-chucking co-op game Zombicide is crawling out of the dirt next year.

Zombicide: Second Edition is the first full update for the original zombie board game, following three ‘seasons’ of spin-offs and expansions, from the fantasy-themed Black Plague and Green Horde to the sci-fi Invader, and even a standalone mobile game and upcoming tabletop RPG. According to publisher CMON, Zombicide has shifted over two million games since it debuted in 2012.

The new game will tighten up Zombicide’s rules, with senior producer Thiago Aranha claiming that every element of the gameplay has been revisited.

Among the aspects mentioned specifically by Aranha in the initial announcement are streamlining the opening and closing of doors, improving the control of vehicles, and overhauling target priority for ranged attacks, as well as brand new features such as dark zones where it will be harder for players’ characters to shoot at the undead.

The game remains fully co-op, with enemies controlled by the game and all the players working together; it’s worth mentioning here that Zombicide: Second Edition will be a completely separate game to the recently announced Zombicide Evolution – Las Vegas for CMON’s ‘board gaming console’ Teburu, which controls the zombies with a digital companion app AI.

25 connected scenarios will form a campaign-like story, with different branches for players to go down based on their actions and the outcome of missions. The story is set in an undead-infested city.

New for the game are six child survivors, who join their adult companions. Zombicide’s monstrous abominations – massive undead monsters that shrug off most attacks and ignore character armour – are back, with twice as many of the formidable foes said to be in the box this time around.

As you’d probably guess, Zombicide: Second Edition will come packed with hordes of miniatures. CMON has confirmed that the game will be backwards-compatible with past Zombicide games, letting fans use their existing bits with the updated rules. (The announcement says that previous releases will be supported "as updates will be available", suggesting that upgrade kits might be required.) There’ll be brand new components in Second Edition, too, including plastic player dashboards.

Zombicide: Second Edition is due to arrive on Kickstarter in 2020 where, if past Zombicide games are anything to go by, it’ll probably make a whole lot of money.