In 2009, a huge gaming franchise debuted that continues on to this day. It’s difficult to get across quite how massive Plants Vs Zombies was when it first released, and its huge appeal only caused it to grow more and more. It spread across every console, handheld, and smart phone you could pick up, and it hooked a ridiculous wide range of people. To this day my most played game in my entire Steam library is Plants Vs Zombies, because my mum (usually seen playing match 3 puzzlers and very little else) spent thousands of hours with it. It’s just as fun today as it was back then too, but if you’d rather play a spruced up version of this classic then Plants vs Zombies: Replanted will be right up your lawn.
The concept of Plants Vs Zombies is simple: there are zombies in your garden, and to defend your home you need to grow plants to get rid of them. It’s essentially a tower defence game, but instead of using archers and cannons you use Peashooters and Cherry Bombs. What makes the game both really clever and really accessible though is that instead of featuring complex routes, zombies (pretty much) always go from right to left along individual rows of the garden. This means there’s an incredibly clear visual of what you need to do, and where to focus on planting your next Wall-nut barricade or Cabbage-pult.
To actually grow the various offensive and defensive horticultural tools you need in the garden, you’ll need to gather sun. In the daytime this comes from the sky, but you can also grow sunflowers to produce much more sun so you can afford more expensive plants. In early levels you’ll likely realise that focusing on a couple of rows of these first will ensure you have a wall of plants waiting for the hordes yet to come, but the game does a great job of shaking things up and making you adapt as you progress through the campaign.
Upon reaching the second world you’ll be greeted by night stages, where the sun doesn’t shine. There you’ll need to use new cheap mushrooms to deal with the undead. Further still into Plants Vs Zombies there are levels with a pond where you’ll need to plant lilies, and more and more new zombie types paired with fruits and vegetables to counter them will appear. Few games manage to have as perfect a learning curve to introduce these new mechanics as Plants Vs Zombies, and even in 2025 it’s impressive.
Another huge part of this seminal tower defence game that fans will remember are the minigames, which are spread throughout the campaign and unlocked to play outside of it. From silly distractions like Wall-nut bowling to enticing puzzle experiences like vase breaking, these add so much more to the experience. This is also where Mother-Lyle spent so many of those hours on my Steam account, so take it from her they’re no small distraction.
Everything I’ve talked about so far in this preview was as true in 2009 as it is now sixteen years later, so I should probably talk about Plants Vs Zombies Replanted and what it changes. I’ll admit when I first launched the game I thought it was newer and smoother looking, but didn’t really appreciate the visual upgrade hugely. It was only when booting up the original game that I truly appreciated how much of an overhaul the flora and reanimated fauna has had in this new version. Replanted looks how you remember Plants Vs Zombies looking with your rosy nostalgia glasses, but it’s actually so much prettier.
There are also a whole host of new modes and ways to play in this Replant, like the addition of local multiplayer. You can grab a buddy and play Plants Vs Zombies Replanted in co-op and work together to purge zombies from your lawn, or even take them on in versus mode. I’ll admit it felt a bit weird crowding around the laptop with a mouse and controller to do this, but console players will be well set up to enjoy this hefty new addition.
There’s a garden shed load of new content for you to enjoy alone too, like cloudy day mode that gets rid of the sun and provides a load of extra challenge in the process. I’m really looking forward to squeezing every drop of content from Plants vs Zombies: Replanted when it’s released in under a month, because this preview build has reignited a passion for tower defence lawn management I forgot lurked in my heart.
Plants vs Zombies: Replanted could be the best way to play one of the greatest games of all time when it’s released, and getting to spend a whole load of hours with it has only confirmed this. With gorgeous new visuals, loads of new content and even multiplayer modes added, this is one juicy brain sandwich you don’t want to miss.
Plants vs Zombies: Replanted is coming to PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on October 23rd.
