Dead on Arrival

Dead on Arrival is a top-down horror shooter. The story tells about a zombie invasion after the detonation of a mysterious bomb in a park. The injured were taken to a hospital but all soon died due to a mass cardiac arrest. Twelve hours after the event no one has heard about the situation in the hospital and now you are sent in. The game consists of a tutorial and a first chapter inside the hospital. A second chapter is listed in-game as coming soon, but as Dead on Arrival 2 is already in development, it is unlikely to be released.

The character is controlled using a virtual d-pad on the left and a button to shoot on the right. Aiming can be done in any direction. The gameplay has the character explore the hospital while fighting waves of zombies. There is freedom to explore in multiple directions, but the zombie waves with a countdown timer are infinite, so no area can be cleared completely. The character is able to carry two types of guns with limited ammo. Weapons consists of a pistol, shotgun, machine gun, crossbow, chainsaw, chemical bomb, freeze gun, gatling gun and more. Starting with a single pistol, additional weapons and ammo have to be bought at locations marked with a green weapon icon. All purchases require cash, earned by defeating zombie waves. Sometimes killed zombies leave behind power-ups such as bullet time, a complete ammo refill or single hit kills. The character has a red health bar and a blue armor bar (when unlocked). Zombies break through doors and these can be repaired by staying close to them while a blue bar fills up. Cash is also used to open up tougher doors to access new areas.

A second type of currency used in the game is called Z-Bucks. They are harder to come by, but are also earned by surviving zombie waves. These Z-Bucks are used to unlock and purchase more powerful weapons marked with a red weapon icon. They are also used to open random boxes with potentially a very powerful weapon. With patience a large amount of Z-Bucks can be collected, but to the free-to-play model the player is nudged to buy them for real money or to buy a booster that doubles the amount earned. They can unlock new weapons and a large amount is also needed to disable the advertisement screens that pause the game for about 30 seconds. The levels have a number of traps that can help defeat zombies. These also need to be activated with Z-Bucks or to turn the power on. Despite the freemium elements, the game can still easily be explored for free.