Infection Free Zone is a unique combination of zombie survival and city-builder that's currently in Early Access on Steam. Although it's a little rough around the edges at the time of writing, it's already shaping up to be a promising city-building game.

However, Infection Free Zone can be a little hard to get to grips with at first, especially for newcomers to the genre. Although the game features a tutorial that helps ease players into the game, it neglects to warn players of various pitfalls that are easy to stumble into. Here are some things that new players should avoid.

Squads Fighting Groups of Infected Horde Infection Free Zone
Infection Free Zone: How to Reload Weapons

Ensuring that your squad has enough ammunition for their survival is essential. Here is how to reload weapons in Infection Free Zone.

7 Ignoring Or Abusing Vehicles

A Misuse Of Potential Power

Infection Free Zone - Vehicle Condition

Vehicles are one of the most powerful tools players can find in Infection Free Zone. However, once acquired, players have to work to maintain and refuel them. While it's easy to put off making a trip to retrieve a far-away vehicle, it's almost always worth the time investment. Vehicles dramatically reduce the time it takes for squads to travel across the map, allowing for faster scouting.

Shelter in Infection Free Zone
How to Build a Shelter in Infection Free Zone

Shelters are buildings in Infection Free Zone where all your survivors can rest, and here we'll show you how to build these structures.

However, while players can use vehicles to run over zombie hordes and raiders alike, this should be used as a last resort. Vehicles do not survive long when being used as weapons, and take a great deal of damage from driving through hordes. If players choose to do this, they should make sure to keep an eye on the vehicle's health and ensure they repair it afterward.

6 Manually Ordering Squads

Unnecessary Tedium

Infection Free Zone - Ordering A Squad

One of the biggest mistakes players can make is manually ordering their squad every time they want them to search a building. While this won't result in players losing the game, it decreases their quality of life and increases the tedium of managing squads. Furthermore, this can sometimes result in idle squads if players forget to give them orders.

Instead, queue several orders at once. For example, rather than telling a squad to search a single building, players can hold down the control key and tell them to loot several buildings systemically. This saves the player from having to keep giving orders, freeing up time to focus on more important things.

5 Not Paying Attention To Squad Statuses

An Oversight That Results In Unnecessary Losses

Infection Free Zone - Squad Condition

In Infection Free Zone, players can see the status of their various squads by clicking on them. This allows players to see how much damage every member of that squad has taken, as well as how much ammunition they currently have available to them. It can be easy to forget to check on every individual squad, but it's extremely important. Failing to keep an eye on each squad can result in players sending in soldiers that aren't fit to fight, when they should be healing up instead.

To prevent members of a squad from dying, players must make use of a medbay. To build a medbay, players must first research it, which they can do by unlocking and building the research center. The medbay should be one of the player's first research priorities, as it can help them to create a sustainable defense against the zombie horde.

4 Exploring At Night

A Risky Endeavor

Infection Free Zone - Buildings At Night

The daytime is relatively safe in Infection Free Zone, as long as the weather doesn't allow zombies to stroll about under the protection of thick clouds. However, when the sun goes down, the world gets a lot more dangerous.

Warehouse in Infection Free Zone
How to Build a Warehouse in Infection Free Zone

If you want to increase your storage space, we will show you how to build a Warehouse, one of the basic structures in Infection Free Zone.

Avoid sending squads out to explore during the night. This can result in unnecessary deaths, especially early in the game, when these squads aren't well-equipped. Players should also be mindful of sending their squads far away from HQ, as it's unlikely they'll be able to return home in time without a vehicle.

3 Fighting In The Open

A Failure In Micromanagement

Infection Free Zone - Fighting Zombies

Squads are the player's primary way of defending themselves throughout Infection Free Zone. These soldiers can be controlled in real time, much like in an RTS. While it may be tempting to leave soldiers near the base and let them handle it, it's much more efficient to micromanage their actions.

Kiting enemies with one squad while another takes them out is a great way of handling smaller hordes. Although faster enemies may catch up eventually, a vehicle can also be used to prevent casualties. Furthermore, players should take advantage of natural choke-points until they have managed to build some defenses.

2 Not Building Defenses Early

A Fatal Mistake

Infection Free Zone - Defenses

Players will frequently come under attack from zombie hordes in Infection Free Zone, right from the start. While the player's various squads will be able to fend off smaller hordes, eventually they will need defenses.

Squads fighting out in the open are likely to get wounded or even killed, and losing civilians is one of the worst things that can happen early in the game. Building palisades and barbed wire to slow the hordes down is one thing, but players should invest in watchtowers as soon as possible, before upgrading to full-on metal gates.

1 Failing To Prepare For Winter

An Avoidable Misstep

Infection Free Zone - Farms

Infection Free Zone tasks the player with building a society from the ground up. While players may be more concerned about zombie hordes and aggressive raiders early on, they should not neglect preparations for the inevitable winter.

When winter comes, players who failed to prepare will find themselves in a sticky situation, as they'll no longer be able to farm crops. This can result in workers starving to death, and a swift downward spiral can follow. This is easily avoided, however, by building farms and assigning a solid number of workers to them as early as possible.

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Infection Free Zone Tag Page Cover Art
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Strategy
Simulation
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Systems
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Released
April 11, 2024
ESRB
m
Developer(s)
Jutsu Games
Publisher(s)
Games Operators
Engine
Unity
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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Platform(s)
PC
Genre(s)
Strategy, Simulation