SurrounDead, a relatively unknown indie open-world survival game, has seen a staggering surge in popularity on Steam in the past few months, going from 250 average players to over 5,000. Made by a solo developer known as Zurvivor, SurrounDead originally launched in early access in June 2022. Since then, the title has flown under the radar of most gamers, though not without garnering a loyal yet modest audience over the years.
SurrounDead is a low-poly zombie survival game that tasks players with navigating a post-apocalyptic world crawling with the undead. Unlike many brutal survival games, SurrounDead offers a streamlined experience with fast progression. Players are able to get their hands on vehicles, guns, and various tools quickly, though the game’s balance is also adjusted accordingly. Co-op multiplayer has not yet been implemented, but the developer has a clear roadmap for future updates, which includes this feature as well as many more.
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As shown on its SteamDB page, since releasing in 2022, SurrounDead has maintained an average of roughly 250 monthly survivors. However, beginning in April 2025, SurrounDead’s player count underwent a dramatic shift. What had been a mostly flat graph for nearly three years suddenly started rising, culminating in an all-time peak of 5,477 users. SurrounDead saw growth of over 2000% within a few months, with the trend likely to only continue in the coming days.
SurrounDead Player Count On Steam Increases by 2000%
A look at the pricing history and player charts on Steam reveals an inkling of what might have transpired to propel the unknown indie title to such heights. On April 8, 2025, SurrounDead went on sale at 50% off, slashing its already low price of $9.99 to just $4.99. Within 5 days, monthly players had jumped up from 129 to 1,150. The chart evened out a bit after this milestone, but spiked again on May 26, when the game went on sale again at half price. This time, the player count increased from 781 to 4,151 in a span of five days. The next discounted window for SurrounDead came on June 26, 2025, increasing the number of players from 2,387 to 5,375.
Discounting alone does not fully explain SurrounDead’s meteoric rise, however. If a lower price were the only thing holding the game back from popularity, then it would’ve made a splash in December of 2024 when the price was slashed by 60% for the Steam Winter Sale. The missing piece of the puzzle appears to be Patch 0.7.0, a massive update released on April 9, the day after the first major discount. Improvements, new additions, and bug fixes introduced by 0.7.0 may have played a crucial role in driving newcomers to the game following the price decrease. From there, Steam’s recommendation system, glowing user reviews, and positive word-of-mouth likely contributed to the surge in players.
SurrounDead
Systems
- Developer(s)
- Zurvivor
- Publisher(s)
- PlaySurrounDead
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Early Access Release
- June 24, 2022
