Don't forget on March 14th 1997, the last survivor in Knox county finally found their first sledge hammer. Truly a historic moment

Don't forget a part where on 9th July and basically few days prior, infamous Kentucky Gasoline drinkers gang went rampant and almost completely drank all the gas from the cars

you forgot the part where on July 8th every single resident of Kentucky does their civil duty to throw all the sledgehammers they can find into the Ohio River

The saddest thing about this is that so many survivors heard that final message, "We will come for you, further updates will be broadcast on this channel" and yet no one came, there were no more updates.

I find it to be so bonechilling to know the world went dark, no internet, no voices, only yourself in a apocalyptic wasteland

man this game seriously has the most depressing and hopeless athmosphere of any zombie game, despite the graphics. i just love it.

Project Zomboid does an amazing job with conveying that sense of despair, hopelessness and fear and unknowingness of death. I don’t even think the new pretty exploration music will be enough to negate that feeling, that sickening silence.

If you listen closely, sometimes you’ll catch some military chatter. Mainly just about a sector cleared, but it shows that the government is still active. When NPCs are eventually added, perhaps you’ll eventually see squads of servicemen trying to clear an area, only to be overrun

One thing that always stood out to me is at 2:44. You’d think a public health official would be the one to announce the virus, but no, it’s a military general that does. To me, that not only solidifies the idea that the military is behind the virus, but it also explains how quickly mass panic set in.

I imagine, that the fact that shots can be heard from The Exclusion zone is basically our survivor leveling up his aiming and reloading skills, along with using an ambulance to swarm hordes and burn them down.

Barely anyone mentions this, but there is a huge chunk of lore in the home VHS tapes that mention various stuff like the rarely mentioned 'Raleigh Outbreak' of 1990 that was very similar to the Knox event, and there is also tapes about government testing, Spiffo's, Ohio Rivers high pollution, and other snippets.

July 30th Helicopter: let’s make sure every survivor dies

"The spread if the Knox Event infection is now total." That line is absolutely horrific. What's even more horrific is how people who never had contact with the infected are getting sick. Not just a bite or scratch, these people have never even been near a zombie and they're still getting infected. Either the military _really_ messed up, or this isn't just an infection. I hope we never get an answer, because that's what makes it so terrifyingly good.

It's really interesting to note that the player can make it to Louisville, and find it fully infected *before* it reached there canonically Of course, that's Lore vs gameplay, but it's interesting they didn't set the start date to post total infection kentucky

Don't forget July 8th 1993 when the virus was announced to also affect vehicles making all cars either be at 30% or not have the keys

There is one broadcast speaking about how Louisville is compromised as the millitary have left beyond the bridge, the voice tells you to "Get off your tv right now and begin to gather supplies, lock yourself up in your attic or basement and that if you have a firearm you must have the safety off and be ready to shoot" I think it's on triple N as it marked me that the usual very professional broadcast suddenly went to this, especially as I was on a sprinter run so it all felt even worse

i think what makes this story so much more effective than other zombie stories is the fact that you're there. you're in the zone, where the apocalypse has happened already, listening to those in the outside world wonder what's going on in there. but you know, and you know it can't last. so when the quarantine breaks, you know what's going to happen. you know the new perimeter isn't going to be set up you know it's not going to be stopped, and as the media broadcasts go dark one by one, you're struck with a sense of... finality. that's it. it's out. there's no hope left. now everyone is in the same boat, and there's nothing you could do but watch.

Don't forget on July 9th hundreds of people began to swarm bathrooms to do a little trolling when they turn.

One thing I noticed with this. Most of the locations where the Knox infection spread outside of the US were areas that the US had either military garrisons or at least a military presence in in 1993. Could just be a coincidence.

I know the Devs have stated they won't do this, though I really wish we'd get this (either officially or through some excellent mod work): a story heavy start scenario with most professions added. Starting right before the first zombies rise - you're either a soldier at a local army base (who will be called to setup the exclusion zone and will be tagged friendly by other soldiers until a certain point), a local news reporter who has to travel into a nearby town to investigate what's happening (without upsetting the soldiers and potentially being shot) or a regular office worker who can either stay at home as ordered or join in the protests. On the first day things start happening - people get sick, riots happen, soldiers and scientists lock the area down. And then zombies start rising and increase in numbers. Being able to walk around and see regular people going about their lives would be... cool, frankly. And seeing how badly things go in short order, and either trying to help others or just escape with your own life.

I love the 3D models representing the events, though it would be nice if the dates were also listed next to the time, not only on the KZfaq slider

I like to think the “riots” happening across america are actually outbreaks of the knox virus happening in the major cities which are being covered up by the army.

I find it funny how a full group of military couldn't fight off a large group of hordes. While the immune one could literally take care of a full hordes with only molotov and a handmade pole.

The most chilling part of this to me is how “All further updates will be broadcast on this frequency” is the final broadcast. The whole message implies a plan, or at least the hope of a plan.. and then it’s off the air.

For such a small indie team they make it sound and feel so real its kinda scary

I think it's interesting that all the locations the infection is reported in at 14:00 are the sites of US military bases. The Okinawa base is quite well known, and the US also has the Yongsan garrison in Seoul, and several bases in the UK including in Norfolk. 1993 is during the Somali civil war, at which point the US had an active military presence in Somalia (Black Hawk Down anyone?). Also you obviously have the military base in Knox County which you can go and visit. Also susicious is the the very rapid response from the military, the fact that the virus was announced by the military and so on.

So a few points here. 1) The "foul smell" is likely represented ingame a "queesy" moodle - an early sign of infection. So when a bunch of people started complaining they were sensing this odor, they likely were already infected for some time before that. Also the military responding that fast most likely indicates they were anticipating what might happen next and some preparations were underway before the exclusion zone was established. .... The prion theory is not really that convincing. Yes the "Chronic Wasting Disease" makes victims look like zombies, and is a prion based... And technically mad cow disease proves that prion based diseases might infect people, but prion diseases are not airborne. And their incubation periods are universally really slow. So imagining a prion disease that can kill a host within days is not believable. .... Also it never occurred to me before but general mcGrew's insistence of infected not being dead and curable is a cliche "in denial about turned relative" moment most likely.

What makes the Knox Event so terrifying is the fact that it acts just like a Virus and it doesn’t just spread trough Fluids and Bites. If those few People weren’t Immune, Humanity could have been easily wiped out. We need more Zombie stories like Zomboid. Praying I can get the Game soon.

Just throwing this out there: Project Zomboid would make a good miniseries

While an odd suggestion, would be interesting to see how Eerie County’s situation fits in as you see the checkpoints, quarantine camps, mass graves, and the signs of the riot at the fort that caused massive devastation.

i think they did an almost perfect job cultivating the story for this game. it really gives you the sense of sitting in front of the tv, feeling that sense of dread slowly creep in as you hear more and more about this mysterious illness, until eventually it's outside your window, which i think is how it would be in real life.

I’d love there to Easter eggs in the game for these outside of just radio transmissions. For example, imagine find the zombie of Jackie Jaye

You forgot about the 8th July where a single survivor in saper bomb suit cleared out entire map with single shotgun and 1200 gauge 12 shells, while driving ambulans and throwing molotovs, creating massive forest fires resulting in even greater destruction of Ohio.

Ngl i haven't been so scared of a zombie universe like this in a while, i've been through Last Of Us Lore, Days Gone, the World War Z book, hell even L4d with it's airborne virus that killed everyone. But this is probably the only one that has genuinely unerved me in a while, everything is so ominous and sinister.

The one thing that takes away from the loneliness is the emergency broadcast station, it's always there, telling me just the vital information I need. Sometimes announcing activity in certain "sectors", like vehicles or aircraft. I have the heli event setting always on "sometimes" instead of once, just because I like feeling less alone and having a need for radio.

it is actually kinda depressing and scary knowing that the world is falling to the undead even the armed forces cant stop them it makes the zombies look like a force to be reckon with and they are, one way or another none the less, thank you for sharing this ig

most zombie media doesnt show what the media would do during this time, but zomboid does this and shows the decay of all news and stations zomboid has all that extra realism that makes it so much better

9:05, i'd like to possibly expand on this as a resident of louisville and someone who travels through the knox area, this is probably "Fort Knox" also known as where america keeps it's gold stock and a major US military base. It's very common to see military convoys around the area traveling between one area to the next or transporting equipment. It would be a very scary thought of that place being absolutely overwhelmed as it's a very scary looking fortress from the outside with snipers trained on portions of road nearby, choppers, and tanks are all within the area. There is also the Patton museum which i would love to see worked into the game one day if it isn't already, containing a lot of WW2 firearms and it was also a huge tank museum back in the day before they moved the tanks, 1993 to 2005 there would still be a lot of the tanks there.

Imagine a Project Zomboid mini-series that is episodic, focusing on different perspectives of survivors.

Damn bro this video is SO GOOD!! Love the the editing and the 3d stuff, it looks like its a cutscene right out of the game! Like how did you even do it?

July 9th 1993 local veteran burns half of the West point and then dies from laceration

13:32 this basically means that selecting your character to be immune in sandbox settings is lore-accurate. i love it

With the planned implementation of NPCs i hope that they make this lore come to life; always thought it was weird that when you played with the preset ‘initial infection’ there were still a lot of zombies, no military, no presence of anyone being there. Hopefully with the coming roadmap for development they make active military zones and you can watch the military fall in real time along with the people

I’m glad someone else is covering the lore and story which typically takes a backseat in terms of importance. Loved this video and it’s in-depth research and images. Looking forward to a bigger utilization of this presentation style. Also, one of the more harrowing things I noticed that exemplifies the over-looming dread of the apocalypse is around Day 6-7, when the radio reports a mass exodus from Louisville. Both military and civilian getting out on foot and in vehicles, some walking and some dying on the roadside. Just the mental image of folks making the march across the river with only what they can carry and the clothes on their back, alongside the troops meant to be ensuring order in Louisville. Really depressing.

More zombie games/media should do recent historical settings like the 90s and 00s. Instead of just "the current year-ish?" (Like 7 Days To Die). It provides a steady continuity and setting to draw from.

Don’t forget about October 8th 2000 when the last survivor of the Knox event finally left the house after previously being deathly afraid of being swallowed by a hoard.

I read the transcripts of all the news broadcasts on the wiki a couple months ago and it was really depressing seeing the story unfold, i recommend anyone do the same after watching this video you really can't express the feeling you get from reading it

This makes me really excited for B42. I hope when you start there are normal amounts of citizens going about their day, as you aren't in the deep end of the infection yet on July 9th. As time goes on, there are less people and more zombies, until other people are a rare occurrence. You could also probably disable this in settings and immediately start in the full apocalypse like how it is now.

As someone born on July 9th 1993 this makes the game all the better.

One thing I think about is how, if this did occur in our real world, my father would've been in the military at the time of the game

I wish they'd add a few broadcasts that would play a few times later on and gradually get rarer or something. Basically just enough to give you a glimpse of hope that someone is out there somewhere, even if the number of them keeps getting smaller. How cool would it be to keep a radio running for a few years and finally see a sign that someone is alive? Of course, it's not like it'd really help you in a meaningful way, but I'd like to see it.

And there I was, in-game waking up every morning at 6AM to catch a news Broadcast and keeping up with updates every 2 hours, following these events unfold. Eventually the TV stations cut out and I had to resort the the remaining radio station's to gain an understanding of the civilian perception of what was going on. The loneliest I ever felt was when everything went radio silent after a week of chaos.

I remember driving my car threw Muldraugh looking for a new base, the helicopter event had my main base overun and the second one I went to also got full with zombies in only a day, I felt frustrated, wanted to just shoot down as many zombies as I could and die, but I had a car with a full tank and mor gasoline on the trunk, as I drive by streets and highways full of zombies I had the radio on, listening how the world you know is comming to an end

"The last broadcast comes from paster James hardnell, who gets attacked by the infected" well thats the most underwhelming but still technically true way to describe that one dam.

Nice animation, but for the fades to black, don't fade each image/object individually, as it causes some artifacting. Group everything together into one layer and then fade, crossfade, etc.

Don't forget that on July 2nd, random people in Knox County thought itd be "totally cool" to stuff batteries inside of rubber ducks.

Can't leave out how on July 29th, Two survivors looking for a supposed abandoned stash of weapons in Louisville get sidetracked by exploring the entire damn art museum, getting amused at a display toilet connected to a cubed marble base, and figuring out a way to stash said display toilet into their ATV and drive to their base to set up the toilet as a centerpiece decoration

I never knew that the Knox Infection hit places other then Kentucky I would love if the developers made a Ohio map along with other places to spawn. I also really loved the smooth 3D models made to represent each event as you narrated them I definitely have to subscribe I really love Project Zomboid.

I like how, while its a typical outline of a zombie apocalypse, Project Zomboid presents it's lore in a pretty mysterious and unsettling way. The idea that the last bit of communication you ever get is the government promising they'll come for you, then silence is terrifying.

Everyone talking about sledges and fuel, no-one talks about how in like half the houses the residents apparently left a lot of their canned food but couldn't resist bringing the can-opener

I thought up a storyline for PZ while watching that someone clears out a local radio station and fortifies it inside the exclusion zone, and make a kind of survivor advice station out of it, and occasionally shouting to the military or government to offer a stream of information to them although i'll admit i self inserted a bit and used a bit of meta knowledge from things that wouldn't have existed in 1990s

you forgot to mention somewhere in the timeline everyone decided to leave their tv on full fucking volume for no god damn reason.

Amazing video! The amount of story that hides in plain sight within this game is amazing! I'm very happy to see a video about it 😍

I've been waiting for a video like this, thank you so much for collecting all the storyline! I would love if the devs added other ways to get more information on the worldwide spread as it occurs.

The horrible thing about this is the fact that rather than trying to fully quarantine the civilians and 'get rid' of those that have the symptoms, they actively chose to keep them alive with the infected. It's truly the stupidity of officials and the lack of communication that has caused this, and the ones that are left to fend for themselves are the working and middle class in these urban areas, while the elites and high-ranking officials are able to simply fly away to more remote areas where they live their lives in luxury unafraid.

dont forget that the last survivor manages to hotwire a car in April 1998

Its quite sad that almost all zombies games end up with an bad ending. I would love some game like project zomboid where everthing goes wrong and then goes well and you end with a good ending.

Considering the other hotspots in the U.K, Somalia, and later on in japan and Korea, I would love a mod or expansion that has similar gameplay to current PZ, but set in one of those other locations with completely revamped assets. A pipe dream to be sure, but hey, they have been working on this game for like 10 years at this point. Might as well take your time and work on it for another 10.

The automated emergency broadcast system keeps transmitting after blackout, so there is some hope left

How are these 3D pictures done? I’ve always wanted to mess around with the player models for renders. This is amazing!

I have to keep rechecking that this is about a video game and not Corona when it first started out

theres a really cool thing that ur character actually gets nervous wreck after listening to it

This is wonderfully put together, can't wait to see more from you man!

Love how high quality this is, just subbed and liked for more

Imagine being the survivor in the exclusion zone, hearing the rest of the word slowly fall

Realistically... Surviving a zombie apocalypse wouldn't be _too_ difficult, provided you have some intermediate level outdoorsman and Foraging experience, and the means to build yourself a proper shelter. If you're in a place in the U.S with plenty of forest or woodlands, and where Icelandic Lichen/Reindeer moss grows, as well as White Pine trees and Rock Tripe lichen, then you'd honestly be set for at least a couple years, provided you could stand the monotony of eating that stuff every day, and could still find other bits of food like berries or small animals/bugs to break things up. White Pine needles can be boiled into a tea for vitamin C, to prevent scurvy. Rock Tripe lichen and Icelandic Lichen needs to be boiled 4 times, and each time the water must be thrown out, before they can be eaten. But they provide enough protein, carbs and calories to survive on for a couple years or so before you start running into nutritional related deficiencies. ( but if you're living on them for that long, you should already have found other food sources like meat or fish to add to your diet) Rock Tripe alone is very common where it's found. You can find a large Boulder who's entire side is covered in the stuff. Enough to last you weeks, if not months depending on the size of the Boulder. Personally.... I prefer Icelandic Lichen to Rock Tripe. Something about the chewyness of Rock Tripe, to say nothing of its earthy/Grey color when boiled, doesn't quite appeal to me. But the slightl crunch of Icelandic Lichen... well, if I can find more of it this summer, I'll be sure to add it to my Ramen. Provided you find somewhere secluded, near a primary or secondary water source with these things readily available to you, you could survive by just waiting for the zombies to decompose. Shouldn't take longer than a few years. Edit: "difficult" is a heavily relative term lol. The solitude and monotony would be enough to make someone likely go insane

Tryina work on a book that takes place in this universe about a number of characters me, my brother and some of our friends made. Love the info! Great vid!

One detail to add: The world does not go completely dark. An Automated Emergency Broadcast System frequency still exists during the entire game, and despite what the name suggests - it is ran by humans. It makes complex (and very precise) weather forecasts, reports "detected survivor activity" in different sectors, and gives orders to surviving personnel. Considering this is 1993, that's way too much for a computer AI to handle (considering computers were terribly primitive, and AI wasn't really a thing until decafes later). In other words, the player is never truly alone.

Thank you!!!! I love the lore of PK, including all the gaps. Makes it more realistic. Thank-you for making this video and pulling the lore together into a clear presentation

theres the radio frequency block that changes "you are not fogotten" to " bzzt you are bzzt forgotten"

now kids, this is the perfect example of how not to handle an outbreak

Report unusual behavior'… 'Barricade your homes'… 'Avoid all contact with infected individuals'… 'Wait for official instructions, Huh wait my ass

Fantastic video man. Loved the added touch of voice acted radio broadcasts. Listened to it while playing my own file, thoroughly enjoyed your work!

Just want to say the quality of this is way higher than any other zomboid story timeline! Seriously love the uniqueness of this video!

Its almost depressing how quickly all this happened its almost similar to Dawn of the Dead

August 1993, the lone survivor got up to finding frogs with foraging.

Keep stuff like this coming! This and the VHS vid are awesome, can’t wait to see what you come up with next, I’ll be watching your content every once and a while.

I'm loving the real-time twitter updates they're doing recreating the Knox Event. Most of your timeline syncs up with it pretty well!

Nice vid about the lore! Been looking for something like this. I bet PZ lore can be a good zombie mini series/movie.

What i want to see when NPCs are introduced ( May not happen ) Is a scenario were our character goes through the events from weeks prior when the residence smell a foul stench in the air to when the communications goes out and the world is infected ( or when the character eventually dies after the communications are out ) to see what life was like before the virus started and what it was like during the virus and when the zombies ( or zomboids what ever they are called ) started to rise ( sorry if this sounds really confusing, not really good at phrasing stuff ) may also see what our characters life was like with their occupation ( Job ) and what they were doing when the worst of the virus started ( eg when the first zomboid or zombie breaks into the building they were in and see people being eaten or bitten, or on the road and see the hoards of the zombies or zomboids attacking people or maybe some place outside and see people running or driving away from huge hoards of zombies or zomboids and hearing their screams of terror and fear )

Wow, thank you so much for putting it all in chronological order like this. Awesome!

Video so clear and concise Grammerly got jealous. Earns me sub. Would love to see new pz theories and lore from you since I haven't seen any other youtubers do it. My dad would also be in service at the time of the outbreak.

It's impressive how much the devs not only talk about the situation in USA,but in the entire world. The world is,literally, thrashed.

I actually live in Louisville and it's always so eerie playing this game and getting deeper into the lore. Absolutely brilliant game but it certainly puts me on edge.

People need to remember that when you find the ACTUAL emergency broadcast radio channel, it plays every day, 3 times a day, forever. On it giving you the weather for the day and tommorow aswell as sometimes pointing out how special orders have been given, implying that there are in fact, still remnants of the military alive and fighting somewhere.

Thanks for not spoiling the actual messages too much. One of the things I remember was a phone call from an infected woman in the hospital on the knoxtalk radio station.

To be honest, I think the virus shouldn't have spread out of Knox County in the lore. It would keep the player knowing that there is a world out there, and the broadcasts can expand more on how America is being affected.

very decent video, however, you omitted the part where in October of 2004 a small community of chain smokers living in phallus lake all simultaneously passed of lung cancer

on my first playthrough i just stayed at the starter house and just listened to all the news broadcasts, once the broadcasts were over. I tried to go to every broadcast and see if there was anyone still alive and broadcasting. there was none

i think its so cool how you can listen to the radios or watch tv to interact with the lore.