With an edition already released in Japan, Zombie Tower 3D has now hit Kickstarter for an updated, English release.

Zombie Tower 3D is a cooperative game with a twist. Each player can only see their own play space in the 3D game board. How is it cooperative, then? There’s certain spaces in the walls where you can pass items through. The problem? Zombie hoards quickly build up, and getting an item passed through the wall isn’t always easy! You can always search the rooms for more useful items, but sometimes rooms will collapse or fires will break out. There’s also survivors to worry about…or use as zombie bait to make a quick escape.

I have to admit I thought the game would be all about the gimmick, and not much else. That didn’t turn out to be the case at all. The Emergence mechanic of how Zombies populate the board, item trading through walls, using survivors as bait only to have them turn into zombies…all these things make for an entertaining game with an awesome cardboard tower.

The game plays 3-4 players, with a different setup of the tower for each. The Kickstarter page has some of the updates that differ from the version I have, but most of them are graphical. $42 will get you the game if it’s funded, which is a pretty good deal in an age of $80+ games being Kickstarted lately. I have a good feeling we’ll see this one succeed, and that’s great. It’s a surprisingly fun game.

A copy of the original Japanese release of Zombie Tower 3D was provided free for review by Cosaic, LLC.