I Walk Among Zombies Vol 2. Review – Zombie Strikes Back

After playing I Walk Among Zombies Vol 1., I was left with a pleasant experience considering the themes presented in the game that took readers through a unique zombie-filled story, which turned out to be as disturbing as it was thoughtful. I should add that if you haven’t played the first volume, you should do so, but there is prologue that catches readers up to the events of Volume 2.

I Walk Among Zombies Vol 2. finds Yuusuke Takemura in some troubled times. He’s not the loner shut-in that we met in the previous game and he seems to have warmed up to the company of other humans. After facing off against some crazy people and zombies, he and Mitsuki rush to a strange radio signal promising shelter and hospitality, which they are in need of after Mitsuki’s brother suffers an injury.

When they arrive at the building they are taken in to get settled with the other survivors. The doctor of the compound, Sayaka, is introduced here and plays a rather large role in the rest of the story. It’s strange to see Yuusuke interacting with other people, but he never quite loses his wits about him. He knows he’s special and uses that to get what he wants. It just so happens that instead of sex this time around, he’s using his ability of not attracting zombies to save Mitsuki’s brother.

Where the first story showed what someone would do in a zombie apocalypse if zombies didn’t care to eat them. I Walk Among Zombies Vol 2. attempts to show how a group of people work together to survive. It turns out that there is little hope for this group if they don’t put themselves in danger. As they go out to gather supplies, the reader gets the chance to see how regular humans deal with zombies in this new world.

The game has a slow start as new characters are introduced, but it does speed up rather quickly when Yuusuke finds his own personal mission. With that said, it does have some pretty awesome zombie fights, but again, these are mostly represented with blood splats on the screen. It’s also interesting to watch Yuusuke slyly hide his power and get information out of the other characters.

If the story focused only on Yuusuke, I feel that it would have become a little too straightforward. Luckily, halfway through we get to read through Sayaka’s backstory and how she found herself surviving in this new world. Being a doctor, she was perhaps in the worst place imaginable when the outbreak began. However, the things that she had to go through were pretty traumatic on her mental state.

This is where the story shines as it explains how she copes with these issues. She’s not completely there mentally, but over time she relies on Yuusuke to help her through some pretty dark places. Also, she’s not a young girl so she can’t be easily manipulated the same way that Mitsuki was. Instead, she notices Yuusuke is lakes knowledge about the importance of human interaction and so she opts to teach it to him.

I Walk Among Zombies Vol 2. does focus on zombies for several moments of the story, but I feel like this entry of the series was meant to learn more about the normal humans and their survival. Watching Yuusuke fight the urge to be his normal “whatever” self, put an interesting spin on the whole story as Sayaka seemed to have a little more control over them. Their relationship together was a nice change of pace and seeing this side of Yuusuke was interesting.

The game features some additional zombie CGs, but mainly focuses on the 18+ content here when it comes to the CGs. Yes, there are non-H CGs, but not many. However, the CGs that are here are all great and well-illustrated. I love the way the characters can look visibly confused or lost when something is happening that they are trying to understand. It was a great touch when trying to present a group of humans fighting for survival.

I should say that the story is a little shorter than the Volume 1, but after the main story is complete, additional story entries are unlocked. Most of this extra content is more h-scenes, but there are also some new stories that shed light on some of the side characters.

I Walk Among Zombies Vol 2. doesn’t just repurpose what was established in Volume 1, instead, it turned the focus to different themes. Thankfully, this only adds further details to this post-apocalyptic world by showing a different side of it. Overall, its Sayaka who saves the story and makes this title stand out on its own. Much like Mitsuki in Volume 1, Sayaka not having a special power, yet still finding a way to survive, created a real tension that you can’t get with Yuusuke.

I Walk Among Zombies Vol 2. sets up a nice midpoint for this trilogy and I was glad to have read through it. While I wouldn’t have minded fewer characters and more zombie killing, it still held my attention throughout the entire story. Now that I’m hooked, I’m eager to play volume 3.