World War Z's Aftermath expansion adds melee weapons, crossplay, and a first-person mode in 2021

A major expansion to Saber Interactive's popular co-op zombie shooter is on the way later this year, as announced during the IGN Expo livestream. World War Z Aftermath is adding a truckload of new features that are likely to fundamentally change how the game is played.

Chief among them is an entire melee combat system paired with an interesting arsenal of weapons. We got a brief look at what I'm pretty sure is an electrified shield that you can use to charge straight through hordes of zombies (I bet Brad Pitt wishes he had one of those in the movie version). The expansion brings three new locations: Rome, Vatican City, and the Kamchatka peninsula.

Even more interesting is the addition of a first-person mode, a feature that you don't usually see added years after release to a third-person shooter. The mode comes across a little clunky in the trailer (the player's arms and weapons look stiff from the closer angle), but it's probably how I'll prefer to play it. World War Z Aftermath will also bring the game to current-gen consoles with full crossplay support, meaning all of us who picked up the game for free on the Epic Games Store can finally pair up with console pals.

The trailer didn't give us an exact date, but we do know it's coming sometime in 2021.

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.