Xbox's latest free game is the closest the console will ever get to The Last of Us

If you’re exclusively an Xbox gamer, then there’s a chance that you have never played The Last of Us, despite no doubt hearing of it, for better or worse.

Developed by Naughty Dog, The Last of Us was instantly considered to be one of the great PlayStation games of all-time when it was originally released on the PS3 in 2013. Since that time, it’s had a sequel, a remaster and a remake. Now, fans are eagerly awaiting any news on The Last of Us Part III.

The Last of Us is set in a post-apocalyptic world, but what made this particular concept so unique is that, rather than using the typical brain-hungry shuffling zombies, it instead used humans infected by a cordyceps fungal virus, which had a sole purpose of spreading said virus to as many humans as possible, turning them into ravaging, quick and deadly creatures.

Live the life of a FEDRA agent (if that floats your boat)

Due to the outbreak bringing many towns and states to ruin (the virus was worldwide), quarantine zones were set up by the US government agency, FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency), which ruthlessly decided who could come in or out of that zone. The game that is the topic of this article, Quarantine Zone: The Last Check, basically lets you be a ruthless FEDRA agent.

Developed by Brigada Games and published by Devolver Digital, not only can Quarantine Zone: The Last Check draw comparisons to being a FEDRA agent, but it’s also inspired by the cult indie game of 2013 by Lucas Pope, Papers, Please.

“Command the checkpoint in a collapsing city. Screen survivors, manage scarce resources, and hold back the undead. Every choice matters, and one mistake could unleash the plague beyond your walls,” reads the synopsis of Quarantine Zone: The Last Check.

In this mentally and ruthlessly game, you’re tasked with deciding which human gets to pass a strict checkpoint following a zombie virus outbreak.

While you’ll have gadgets at your disposal to help determine who is or isn't infected, resources are scarce, and the process is never straightforward; one wrong decision could spread the virus even further, beyond the checkpoint you're tasked to protect.

What does the community say about Quarantine Zone: The Last Check?

On the aggregate website Metacritic, it’s scored a low 67 from critics and 5.9 from users, which feels quite harsh. However, this game fares much better on Steam with a “Very Positive” rating from over 4,500 user reviews.

“Perfect for control freaks who enjoy surgically removing innocent people's spines with a laser. 10/10,” said Vel.

“This game is stupid fun. The atmosphere is great, and the replayability is great. You will end up playing it again, I know I did. When you first play the game, it does a great job of getting you so paranoid, even about bruises on the people,” explained Sammydeadeyem.

READ MORE: One of the greatest Xbox games ever made is now free-to-play on Game Pass

“This game is a really good alternate take on both simulators and zombie games, since it's set in the area that you never see zombie games take place in, which is a military quarantine checkpoint,” wrote legodude494.

“In zombie games, it's almost always the player shooting down or killing mass hordes of zombies, but here we are simply screening people with a variety of tools and ticking off symptoms to see if they are a zombie or not. It's a fun departure from the typical zombie killing fun we all think of when we play a zombie game,” they continued.

Quarantine Zone: The Last Check is out now on PC and Xbox Series X/S, as well as being available on Xbox Game Pass at no extra cost.