Zombies Aren't Real Maps: Real Cities, the Level Editor & Steam Workshop

The maps are real places

Zombies Aren’t Real does not generate fictional cities. It builds them from public geo data, so the streets you wall off, the parks you avoid enclosing and the bridges you have to hold are the real ones.

The store page credits the sources the game draws from: OpenStreetMap contributors, the Overture Maps Foundation, TomTom, Microsoft, Esri Community Maps contributors, Google Open Buildings, work derived from BTN 2024 (ign.es, CC BY 4.0), and postal codes from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). That list is the reason a map can look like an actual city with an actual harbour rather than a grid of blocks.

It also changes how you plan. Real street layouts produce real problems: a perimeter that crosses a park covers a lot of ground cheaply and defends badly; a waterfront district is bounded by water on three sides; a canal city splits into islands that a wall has to connect. Nothing about a map is abstract, which is exactly why the same garrison setup that works in one district can fall apart two streets over.

The level editor

The game includes a level editor, and the store page is specific about what it supports: missions can be played in multiple large cities, the game uses public geo data, and you can pull in map data from many zip codes across the world for custom maps.

Practically, that means the question “can I defend my own city?” is answerable in-game, not just in the Workshop.

What the Steam Workshop has

The Zombies Aren’t Real Steam Workshop holds player-made maps and gameplay mods, and it has been active since launch week. The popular items at the time of writing are:

City maps (campaign scenarios):

Map	Creator
London, England	drizzlehalo
Tokyo, Japan	Devin
Moscow, Russia	Ambulans
Berlin, Germany	Devin
Stockholm, Stockholm County	General
Auckland	Jo
Sydney, New South Wales	Durnaviir
Istanbul, Turkey (Europe/Asia)	Ambulans
Dubai, Dubai Emirate	Wolf lad
Cairo, Egypt	Ambulans
Dublin, Ireland	Drep
Montreal, Quebec	Platycephalidae
Jacksonville, FL	Cumin
Manchester M60, England	VY Canis Majoris

Gameplay mods:

• Weak Bridges (Rage)
• Slower Zombies IMPROVED (felipeaita)
• Elite Paratroopers (XROCK)
• More money and skill points at start (Twinky)
• No Safe Zone Limit (ItchyBalls2017)
• Project zomboid (XROCK)

The mod names tell you where the community’s difficulty dial sits. Slower Zombies IMPROVED and No Safe Zone Limit are both levers on the two things that make a run hard: how fast the horde moves, and how much ground you are allowed to wall off. More money and skill points at start moves the budget constraint instead.

Picking a Workshop map

1. Is it a campaign scenario or a mod? The Workshop labels them. Campaign scenarios are missions; mods change rules and apply on top of whatever you are playing.
2. How big is the city? The Workshop ranges from single districts to whole metropolitan areas, and a small city map and a full harbour map are different games.
3. What does the target look like? Survival requirements differ between scenarios, so a map that asks for a small share of civilians to survive plays very differently from one that asks for most of them.

One caution for Early Access

The store page states that Early Access content is incomplete and may change, and that applies to the editor and the Workshop flow too. SteamDB lists a separate Zombies Aren’t Real Playtest build alongside the main game. If a specific editor feature or Workshop item behaves differently after an update, the developer’s patch notes and the item’s own Workshop page are the place to check before assuming the map is broken.

faq:

• question: “Is the Zombies Aren’t Real map my actual city?” answer: “It can be. The game builds maps from public geo data - OpenStreetMap, Overture, TomTom, Microsoft, Esri, IGN and GeoNames are credited on the store page - and the level editor can pull map data from many zip codes worldwide for custom maps.”
• question: “Does Zombies Aren’t Real have Steam Workshop support?” answer: “Yes. The store page lists Steam Workshop support for uploading and playing custom maps, and the Workshop already holds city maps for London, Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, Stockholm, Auckland, Sydney, Istanbul, Dubai, Cairo, Dublin, Montreal, Jacksonville and Manchester, plus gameplay mods.”
• question: “Are there mods that make the game easier?” answer: “Yes. The Workshop has More money and skill points at start, No Safe Zone Limit and Slower Zombies IMPROVED, which each relax one of the three pressures: budget, wall length, or horde speed.”