This is not your typical fluffy retrospective by any means. The Guide to Japanese Role Playing Games for example detailed major and minor series and had information about each game in those series. It was basically an encyclopedia covering most Japanese RPGs. The structure for From Ants to Zombies is quite different and its uniqueness is clear from the introduction: a 17 page double column explanation of the thinking behind the book, its structure, the intent, and the way the author analyzes horror as a genre. The beginning of the book reads more like a university thesis than a casual coffee table book, which is unexpected based on the lurid cover imagery.
This is a volume that is clearly written for the serious horror genre fanatic and not designed for casual readers to pick through and find new series to play. While you’ll definitely find some titles you haven’t heard of before, the aim here is to provide a narrative about the history of horror in gaming, the inspirations of game developers, and specific games that revolutionized the genre in each era. To achieve this end, From Ants to Zombies is broken down into a very intentional 13 subgenre chapters including space horror, dark forests, rail shooters, survival horror, and many more.
Each of the chapters starts with the earliest example of that unique style of horror gameplay and then proceeds chronologically with an analysis of key titles that impacted the development of that subgenre. Every chapter covers at least 10 games with screenshots of honorable mentions at the end. What’s surprising about the approach here is that there’s no focus on detailing the pros and cons of individual horror series and no attempt is made at any kind of fan service. Instead, the goal is to create a timeline of key developments in horror game design for every subgenre, one that details their inception, inspirations, and direct comments from the creators of many of the games.
This alternative approach to organization leads readers down a path of slow development over years of horror gaming, demonstrating clearly how each concept built and evolved based on previous games and became something more complex and robust along with the technology to support it. Learning about the roots of horror gaming is an engrossing experience in this manner and the typical dry rehash blurbs about various titles are nowhere to be seen. Instead you get a rich, thoughtful experience that evokes careful consideration of the impact of horror games on the player and why the genre is so psychologically powerful and pervasive.
You might expect to see some sort of consistency in the length of each game’s coverage here but that’s not the case either. An obscure game such as Ant Attack has six full pages including a two page screenshot spread, but another might only have four pages and a handful of text. The focus is not providing equal coverage for every game. Instead, we are treated to a study in the importance of concepts introduced by the various titles in the subgenre. Frictional’s SOMA for example talks about the clear movie parallels of the game and it’s background while giving it an overview that fits tightly into the overall genre identity of the Terror From The Abyss chapter even though there’s far less detail than you might expect. In contrast, The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery feels almost lavishly covered due to lovingly reminiscent description of the game and the thorough interview with the creator which has been included.
There’s really no way to boil down the experience that is From Ants to Zombies, as it’s more of an experience than a typical horror retrospective. Vacillating from vintage to modern games and back every 50 pages or so leaves your head spinning from section to section and the volume starts to feel more like a collection of smaller essays rather than a cohesive whole. It’s that lack of continuity in the overall volume that keeps the book from being a true stand-out volume however.
When you do finally reach the end of the 13th chapter covering New Retro horror, you’d expect to find some sort of conclusion and overall thought process about the path the book has taken and the future of horror. Instead, the book simply ends. No afterword, no final thoughts, just a game index that does not distinguish between games which only had a single screenshot in honorable mentions and ones that have extensive coverage and a credits area at the end. That missing resolution is noticeable, leaving you to wonder quite what the point was of going so deep into these genres without a bit more introspection, especially given both the clear structure and detailed beginnings of the volume.
Regardless of how the information is presented and utilized within From Ants to Zombies, there’s always something to be said for Bitmap Books’ build quality and design work. As with other Bitmap volumes, the sewn binding holds this incredibly weighty 663 page volume together (they really should have added three more pages…). These books are designed to be left open on tables without destroying the binding, a welcome design feature for a book that is so heavy that you won’t want to be holding it the entire time you read. Acid-free glossy paper is the standard still and the pages themselves are thick and strong, showcasing the breadth of horror inside in glorious detail. A fabric bookmark is also sewn into the binding, something we’ve come to expect from Bitmap Books. A new surprise for From Ants to Zombies however was the title finishes. This was a complete surprise and after a long night of reading, turning out the lights revealed that both the spine and cover title of the book glow in the dark! That’s definitely a fun little inclusion!
As with all Bitmap Books releases, From Ants To Zombies stands alone as a singularly capable analysis of its genre. While it isn’t the comprehensive volume that some horror fans may be looking for, the idiosyncratic style of the work is appealing in and of itself, taking readers down thirteen rabbit holes of horror in a way no other book has even attempted. You are guaranteed to learn a wealth of new knowledge about horror gaming by consuming this book and it’ll take you some time to do it, justifying the $42 price tag of the book and the shipping. Bitmap has some of the best packaging in the business too, so don’t be at all surprised to find that it arrives in absolutely pristine condition. If you’re a horror fan and you really want to explore the depths of horror gaming and a plethora of unique titles, you really can’t do better than From Ants To Zombies. It might not cover every series and title you’re looking for information on, but it’s one hell of an interesting read nonetheless and you’re going to walk away with a new appreciation of the genre.
This review is based on a physical copy of From Ants To Zombies provided by Bitmap Books. The book is available to buy here and comes with a free PDF format volume as well so you can have a handy digital reference guide or some travel reading without exceeding the plane’s weight limit!
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.