This is an action horror game in which players assume the role of Frank West, a photojournalist trapped in a mall overrun by zombies. Players must navigate through the mall helping survivors to safety while battling hordes of zombies and human bosses ("psychopaths"). Players can use conventional weapons such as guns and swords or an array of chainsaws, giant drills, and lawnmowers to kill zombies and bosses. Depictions of red blood spray and blood splatter are frequent as zombies can be variously impaled, dismembered, and decapitated. Cutscenes include graphic depictions of zombies ripping chunks of flesh off a guard's neck, a priest being impaled through the eye, and a demented clown landing on a pair of chainsaws. Profanity (e.g., "sh*t" and "b*tch") can be heard in the dialogue.