Zombie Homestead: Idle Defense

All you do is walk. Picking up, building and shooting happen on their own.

Run around a zombie-filled town with a tower of supplies on your back, and grow an empty house into a base of your own. It's an idle base-building game with one twist that most cozy builders don't have: guard it, or lose it.

■ Three things to learn • Walk close, stack it up Stand on a work pad at the scrapyard or the garden and resources appear. Walk by and they stack up on your back. Upgrade until you can carry 24 at once. • Carry it, and it's built Bring materials to a build site and construction takes care of itself. Garden, workshop, sawmill, canteen, research lab… an empty house turns into a base you can count on. • Carry ammo, and the turrets shoot You never shoot. Bring ammo to the turrets and wood to the barricades. Hauling is defending.

■ Guard it, or lose it Zombies walk in from the edge of the map, heading for your warehouse. Barricades stop them, turrets shoot them. Let both run dry and they walk off with your supplies. Every zombie you repel drops scrap, though. The better you guard, the more you gain. A small tower defense sits right in the middle of your base building. Four kinds come for you: walkers, runners, tanks and hordes. Take down the rare Jackpot zombie for a big payout.

■ Close the app. Your base keeps going While the app is closed, your survivors keep working and the zombies keep coming. When you're back, one screen shows what happened. Restock the ammo, start one build, close it again. A session takes 3 to 5 minutes. You only lose what you gained while you were away. Your stock never drops below what you had when you closed the app. Close it without worrying.

■ Six safe zones A suburban house, a gas station, an elementary school, a shopping mall, a farm and a military base. When this place won't hold, load the truck and move on. You rebuild every building from scratch, but all your cargo, two survivors and your personal research come with you.

■ Radio League: every week, one night, same for everyone Fix the radio in the school's broadcast room (stage 3) and you're linked to survivors everywhere. Each week, everyone takes on the same Outpost Night. Build and defend for 5 minutes and your score goes up against a league of 30. Promotion and demotion every week. Lose, and your own base is still safe.

■ Change clothes, get stronger Hit achievements to unlock new outfits, each with its own perk. Courier, Ex-cop, Lookout, Mechanic, Soldier… You can finish the game with achievement outfits alone.

■ Six promises • No forced ads: the only ads are rewarded ones you choose to watch by tapping a button. No pop-ups, no banners • Time stops during ads: game time doesn't move while an ad plays • Your stock has a floor: you only lose what you gained while away. Buildings never get destroyed and there is no game over • No sign-in: no account needed, jump right in • Plays offline: the main game works with no signal (only the Radio League, ads and purchases need a connection) • 7 languages: English, 日本語, 한국어, 简体中文, 繁體中文, Español, Português

■ Made for you if • You like idle games, cozy builders and colony sims, but just watching numbers go up isn't enough • You like tower defense but not frantic tapping • You want a relaxing game you can play one-handed on the train or before bed • You like zombies but not gore (ours are goofy and vanish in a puff of smoke)

■ Invite a friend, both of you get a survivor When a friend who starts from your invite link finishes the tutorial, a new survivor shows up at your base and at theirs.

Free to play. You can buy gems (the in-game currency) and a Starter Pack with an outfit. The game is balanced so you can finish it without paying.

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