Have you or a loved one been recently bitten by one of the undead in hardcore survival RPG Project Zomboid? Fear not! The game does not have to end here. We are going to show you what to do when bitten in Project Zomboid and talk about whether or not your can survive a bite from a Zombie in the game.
Forewarning before we even get into the guide. In the current version of the game (build 41) it is not possible to survive a bite injury sustained from an infected in the game. if your character has already been bitten in the game then they will eventually contract the Knox virus and perish. This guide will show you how to see if you are in fact bitten and show you some of the things you can do to prepare for the next character.
Getting Bitten In Project Zomboid
Whilst playing Project Zomboid you will soon find out that enemies are lurking absolutely everywhere. While they may seem slow and harmless to begin with, you will soon find out just how deadly these zombies can be. Be it from having one sneak up behind you, trap you in a room or simply just be overrun by a horde thanks to the Helicopter Event, you will eventually be attacked here.
There are a few different types of injuries you can sustain if an undead managed to sneak up on you and attack you. Judging by how the enemy attacked you and what you were wearing you may just simply get a scratch or other injury. Don’t take this lightly, as these scratches can also lead to infection and later possibly zombification. Whilst scratches are a bad injury to sustain, bites are definitely a lot worse.
If you have had a close run-in with a group of zombies and are not sure what types of injuries you have sustained you can check out your body part health by using the health tab. Here, you can see each body part and what type of injury it has sustained. If you have been attacked but you don’t see the word ‘bite’ when you hover over your body parts, good news! You have not been bitten by a zombie.
If you do see in this health panel that the injury you sustained is from a bite, unfortunately this means that your character will eventually succumb to the zombie virus. They will indeed at some point turn. The only thing you can do now is try to prolong the infection and set up your next character as best you can.
What To Do When Bitten
If you have in fact been bitten by a zombie you should act fast! The quicker you act on an injury the longer your character is going to last. Apart from actually treating the possible infection, your character will also be bleeding at this point should anything pierce their skin. The first thing you should do with an injury is try to disinfect the wound.
As shown at the bottom left of the health menu, you will need to right-click a body part in order to see the treatment menu for that body part. Certain treatment options will only be available if you have some of the required items. Take disinfecting for example. There are a few different items that you can disinfect a wound with, such as alcohol wipes, a bottle of disinfectant as shown above and strong alcohol just to name a few. If I didn’t have any of these items in my inventory I wouldn’t even see the option to disinfect the wound. You should try to disinfect every wound you sustain, you never know what could eventually get infected.
Cleaning Wounds
Once the wound has been cleaned with disinfectant you should then try to cover it up and stop the bleeding. There are a few different items that can come in handy here as well. Take the above image below for example. Whilst looting a car i found a packet of adhesive bandages in the glove box. I can now either apply these bandages through the health menu, or by right-clicking the item in my inventory.
Make sure you disinfect the wound first, otherwise you’ll have to take the bandage off again and it will be wasted.
Congratulations! You’ve survived your first encounter with the zombies. For now at least. One thing you have to be aware of when you get bitten by a zombie is that in the current version of Project Zomboid’s early access there is a 100% chance that your character will fall when bit. Even if you do everything above there is still the fact that you will be eventually turn in to one of the zombie horde. Honestly the best thing you can do is try not to be bitten.
If you have been bitten and are slowly dying however there are some things you can do to help yourself in the next round.
Can You Ever Survive a Zombie Bite?
There has been some confusion across different forums on Project Zomboid where some players claim that even though they have been bitten they survived the bite. This is probably due to the fact that there WAS a version of Project Zomboid where you character could survive being bit. This was earlier on in the game’s development and involved a bug where if you chose the Tough Skin trait there was a chance the bite wouldn’t technically pierce the skin and you wouldn’t feel the effects.
This is known as a bug and the developers have clearly intended the game to be over should you sustain a bite injury.
Setting Up For The Next Life
If you have been bitten and you can see that your health is slowly declining don’t fret! Although this may be the end of your character’s journey this doesn’t have to be the end of the game. One of the main points of the game is that you will die. Everybody eventually dies in the game whether it be from a bite, a scratch, infection, car crash, from the elements or more. The best thing you can do is enjoy the time that you’ve had with your character and prepare for the next one! Grinding up a new character and trying a different build is part of the fun!
If you can see that the end is near for your character, try to take them and the items that they are carrying to a place on the Project Zomboid map that you can find again later. If you plan to start again in Muldraugh for example, take your character to the local convenience store and lock them in a room. Or, grab some paint and mark a certain house in the area for your next run. When your character turns into a zombie they don’t cease to exist. You character will roam around with the horde and become a part of the world. This include all clothing and items that are on the person.
Staying on the screen after your character has passed will show them get up and begin their life as a zombie. These characters can be found once again in the world by starting a new character and going back to that location.
Getting Your Stuff Back, Putting Them Out of Their Misery
If you wish to get all of their items back, you’ll have to take your former character down and loot the items from their body. You could, drop the backpack and all of the items in a safe place somewhere, but where’s the fun in that?
Coming across a previous person can be especially tragic when playing Project Zomboid in multiplayer. Seeing your friend go down and then having to take them out is always a sad event. (That is unless you’ve had your eye on that shiny rifle they have been carrying around.)
Changing Infection Settings
One thing you can do to improve the experience of bites for yourself is change the game settings surrounding zombie bites. A lot of veteran players choose this setting change so they don’t have to wonder about their character and wait for them to turn. This is called the Infection Mortality setting.
When you first start Project Zomboid you get to choose a difficulty level. If you pick Custom Sandbox you can fully customize your experience. One of these settings is Infection Mortality. You can find it under the Zombie Lore heading. If you change this to Instant then your character will die as soon as they get bitten. This takes the guess work out of figuring out if the infection has gotten you or not.