A Tense Zombie Experience
In the early days of tabletop Dungeons & Dragons, where epic campaigns were played out with paper, dice, and maps, there was one thing that would make everyone very sad – the death of a character. You see, you’ve invested all that time in them, levelling them up, gaining experience, and creating memories along the way. But when they died, that was it. Seeing a Dungeon Master rip up your character sheet was one of the worst feelings in the world.
In video games though, we are used to respawns, save points, and the opportunity to try and try again. But still, the tension, fear, and anxiety that comes with permanent death is something else entirely. And it’s that which is back with No More Room in Hell 2 – it’s heart-attack-inducing and brilliant in equal measure.
Zombies – we know them very well by now. There are the fast ones in huge hordes, the slow ones lurking around mansions, and lately, we’ve even had ones still doing their old jobs or carrying guns. In No More Room in Hell 2, you join a group of up to eight survivors heading into a small American town to take on the undead, rescue people, gather supplies, and complete a series of objectives. It’s nail-biting stuff because if you die, that’s it – the end of that character and all the progression attached to them.
Surviving With Others
There is a solo mode to play, but the more satisfying experience comes from teaming up with seven other people, all trying to help each other while occasionally getting in each other’s way. Mics are encouraged, although general gaming dictates that you might want to mute some people. It also doesn’t matter if you don’t have one. In the sessions we played, things seemed to work surprisingly well even when others stayed silent. There is also a shorter survival mode, but also a much longer, much deeper objective mode, which we will start with first.
There isn’t a huge narrative on show here, as you play an emergency responder caught up in the middle of a zombie outbreak. But, much like games such as Left 4 Dead, stories naturally emerge through the action on each map. The real narrative comes from the adventure and survival shared with your teammates, as well as those crazy escapes from death that you will inevitably encounter along the way.
Scavenging, Objectives And The Undead
You start out on one of the four maps alone. Played from a first-person perspective, you begin with very little if you are starting fresh – basically just a pistol and a flashlight. From there, the key is to scavenge anything useful you can find, including pills, bandages, weapons, and ammunition. Be sure though, ammo runs out quickly…
Your next major task is to link up with the other survivors somewhere on the huge map. Once together, you can begin working through a series of objectives. These might involve turning on generators, exploring dangerous areas, or simply holding down a location against the infected.
And yes, the zombies are everywhere. Most of them are slow-moving, at least until they get close enough to become a serious problem. If they manage to get their hands on you, there is a chance you can become infected. Your screen begins to blur, and you have to quickly use the right medication before things get worse.
Why Permadeath Changes Everything
At the beginning, death doesn’t feel quite as important because you have little to lose. But as you complete maps, gain experience, collect resources, and start investing time in your character, things begin to change. You start to care about keeping them alive, and that completely alters how you approach each encounter. Finding yourself out of ammunition with no teammates nearby suddenly becomes a genuinely high-stakes situation. Permadeath means there is no easy way back, and losing a character means starting again. It adds a huge amount of tension to the experience and makes every successful escape feel far more rewarding.
There is also that solo mode, which is a good place to practice before heading online. However, nothing you do there counts towards progression or experience points. The survival mode offers a shorter, more focused experience, working much like a horde mode where you and an online team defend an area against increasingly dangerous waves of zombies.
No More Room in Hell 2 is effective in the way it presents its world. The zombies look great and suitably gruesome, especially when they take a few bullets. The lighting is probably the highlight, though, with a good balance between darkness and light creating an environment where you are never quite sure what might be waiting in the shadows. The sound design is superb too, from the groans of the undead to the score that builds nicely around the action.
A Thrilling Online Horror Experience
No More Room in Hell 2 is a brilliant online game, with permadeath adding real tension to both the action and the way you approach each mission. The stakes feel high, and working alongside a group can be exciting, even when those people are complete strangers. My main criticism is that the objectives can start to feel a little familiar after a while, and the game is certainly crying out for more content.
However, should you be looking for a new horror extraction shooter where the fear of losing everything is part of the thrill, No More Room in Hell 2 could be your next obsession.
Important Links
No More Room In Hell 2 Is The Zombie Co-op Nightmare You Have Been Waiting For! – https://www.thexboxhub.com/no-more-room-in-hell-2-is-the-zombie-co-op-nightmare-you-have-been-waiting-for/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/no-more-room-in-hell-2/9pf1q2f7jm9g
There’s a Deluxe Edition too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/no-more-room-in-hell-2-deluxe-edition/9PKCVF4PT070/0010
