Dawn of the Dead: The Game

Dawn of the Dead is an open world survival horror video game. The game's story sees players controlling Peter Washington, a member of a SWAT team who becomes trapped in a shopping mall within the town of Philadelphia that is suffering from a zombie outbreak, and finds himself not only surviving by salvaging various items for weapons, but also rescuing survivors trapped in the complex and dealing with crazed psychopaths, while attempting to stay alive. While players must complete major missions to advance the main story, the sandbox element of the game means that optional tasks can be done, with several additional endings available if the player doesn't complete certain conditions towards the true ending of the story.

Gameplay
Players can operate the game in one of two modes. The main mode and the only one available to players to begin with, in which the main objective is to survive in the mall for seven months, before Peter can be rescued by helicopter, completing a series of "Case Files" - major missions that, when completed, advance the game's main story. If the player fails a Case File, the game does not end, allowing the player to merely explore the mall instead until the mode is up, though failure to comply to certain conditions (primarily associated with Case Files) will result in then earning a different ending. Completing all the Case Files by the time 72 Hour Mode is over, will unlock "Overtime Mode" which players automatically begin, where the main objective to complete has Frank given one more day to complete an additional set of objectives within the mall. The second mode, ∞ (Infinity) Mode, is unlocked after completing Overtime Mode and allows players to roam around the mall in sandbox mode without any time limit, with Frank merely trying to survive as long as possible.

To survive in all modes, players need to find and seek out weapons scattered around the mall that they can use against the zombies. Over 250 items are available to use in combat; they can be found anywhere, such as in stores, and fall under two categories, melee and ranged.

The weapons and other items are firearms, sports equipment, children's toys, furniture, construction tools, electronic devices, and various bladed objects. Frank can carry only a limited number of weapons - baseball bats, 2x4 planks, hammers, pistols, shotguns, and so forth, though he can carry multiple versions of the same type.

Also, he can use them only a limited number of times before he must find new ones, as melee weapons eventually deteriorate and break, while guns must be discarded when out of ammunition. Some weapons can be changed by the environment - frying pans can be heated on a stove both to increase damage and grant access to a special move - while others are large objects that Frank cannot store in his inventory and which he will drop if he picks up or switches to another item.

Items other than weapons are available. Peter can try out various outfits from the mall's clothing stores - such as a Special Forces uniform, wrestling boots and a hockey mask. He can carry around certain books that can confer bonuses, such as increasing the durability of weapons. He can consume food and drink scavenged while exploring to recover health, or blend them together to make different "juices", which have temporary effects on the player. In Infinity Mode, players need to eat food to stay alive, as Frank's health drops every 100 seconds. They cannot access the supermarket within the mall, and food items are limited, but they can acquire weapons and food items from all characters; survivors are hostile to them in this mode.

In addition to these actions, Peter has the optional task of rescuing survivors within the mall, and defeating "psychopaths" - boss characters who have either been driven insane by the zombie attacks, or are using the outbreak as cover for their own purposes.

An in-game HUD is provided, which displays information on Peter's health, his prestige level and the amount of PP progress he has made towards the next one, his inventory of weapons and their condition/amount of ammo left, a counter for the number of zombies the player has killed during a play-through, and objective counters for both major and optional tasks, which consists of a bar that counts down the amount of time a player has to reach where the objective is located within the mall and complete it, before it is considered to be failed. Players also have access to a map to help them make their way around the mall and pinpoint where they must go in the main game mode, can receive calls on a transceiver about anything suspicious that Peter can investigate (he cannot jump, attack, switch weapons, or pick up/use any item when taking a call), and can view Frank's watch to determine what time it is; in-game time progresses faster than real time, with a day in the game taking two hours of real time. Players may save by using green couches or the mall's various restrooms, though the the save system is disabled for Infinity Mode. When Peter is killed, the player may reload from the last save or restart from the beginning.

Plot
Police SWAT officer Peter Washington and his team raid a housing project where residents are defying martial law of bringing the dead to the National Guardsmen. Peter meets Roger DiMarco who meets him that a friend of his Stephen Andrews intends to flee in a helicopter and suggests that Peter come with them. The two rendezvous with Stephen and Francine Parker and leave in the helicopter where they observe several violent incidents throughout the town. They are dropped onto the the helipad of a shopping mall. The mall is breached, forcing Peter, Stephen, Roger and Francine to take refuge in the mall's security room. Unable to call for assistance due to a communications jammer, the Peter and Roger rescue Barnaby from the unknown assailant. Roger is injured, forcing Peter to search for medicine.

In his search, he comes across a woman he met during the mall's breach. The woman rebukes him. Locating the woman again on security monitors, he questions her. Revealing herself to be Isabela Keyes, sister of the unknown assailant, Blades, she promises to set up an interview between the two. Isabela comes to the meeting alone, after being stabbed in a rage by Blades. Barnaby begins to zombify and attacks Francine, and is killed.

Roger and Peter disable the bombs. Peter and Blades engage in a fight, and Blades is mortally wounded. Roger is mauled by zombies however, asking Peter to euthanise him. Peter locates Blades and receives his locket, before Blades dies. However, U.S. Special Forces arrive in the mall regardless, and have cleanup orders. Stephen is allowed to live, but he zombifies. Any survivors that Peter rescued escape with in the helicopter. Peter and Francine return to the helipad alone to the other survivors left without them.

Peter discovers another way out the mall by reinforcing a shuttle bus. Peter gathers supplies. After exiting the mall, Peter encounters the cleanup operation's commander, Brock Wooley. The two fight, until Wooley is knocked into a crowd of zombies.

Peter and Francine escape from the mall.

Other Endings
Although completing all Case Files and Overtime Mode leads to the game's canonical ending, in terms of the game's lore, the player may encounter different endings in Dawn of the Dead, depending on certain actions that they perform, as listed below:
 * Ending B: Be at the helipad when time expires, but don't complete all Case Files - Peter returns to the helicopter to airlift the survivors he rescued out of the mall (Francine's dialogue will vary depending on how many survivors the player has rescued).
 * Ending C: Complete all Case Files, but do not talk to Isabella at 10am on the third day - Peter fails to appear on the rooftop helipad.
 * Ending D: Be captured by the Special Forces, and don't escape when time expires - Peter is taken away in a military helicopter by Special Forces.
 * Ending E: Fail to complete all the Case Files and don't be on the helipad when time expires - Stephen and Francine are forced to leave Peter behind and escape in the helicopter with the other survivors. An epilogue reveals the survivors credited Peter for saving them, but that his whereabouts remain unknown.
 * Ending F: Fail to gather all of Blades' bombs in time - A bomb's timer counts down to zero before a white-out follows, and a photo is shown of an explosion occurring within the mall.