30 Floors Up Zombie Guide: What Zombies Do and How to Avoid Them

Quick answer

Zombies in 30 Floors Up fill the apartment building hallways and are drawn to noise, so avoiding an encounter comes down to how quietly you move.

• Stay quiet while moving through corridors — running makes noise that attracts them.
• Barricade your apartment to keep the hallway zombies out and protect yourself.
• Keep food and water stocked and avoid injury, since hunger, thirst or hurt can stop you from running.

30 Floors Up is a survival game set in an apartment building 30 floors above a zombie apocalypse.

What zombies in 30 Floors Up actually do

Two behaviors are established in the game description. First, zombies fill the hallways of the apartment building, which makes those hallways the main place you meet them. Second, they are drawn to noise: staying quiet keeps hallway zombies from hearing or finding you, and running makes noise that attracts them.

Together those two behaviors define an encounter. You are moving through a building whose corridors are occupied, and the loudest way to move is the one that pulls zombies toward you. Running can get you through a hallway faster, but the noise gives your position away.

How to avoid an encounter

The avoidance rule is quiet movement. When you move through the hallways, stay quiet. The game description pairs the zombie threat with that instruction directly: stay quiet as zombies fill the hallways, and stay quiet while moving through corridors because zombies are drawn to noise.

In practice, treat each hallway trip as a noise decision: the description contrasts staying quiet with running, so avoid running through a hallway where zombies are present. For more on moving through occupied corridors, see the hallway zombies guide and the stealth guide.

How to protect yourself when zombies are near

Your apartment is the defensive position. Barricading it keeps the hallway zombies out and protects you, so securing your apartment belongs to the zombie plan rather than sitting outside it. For that task, see the how to barricade apartment guide.

Your ability to move is a second layer of protection. Being hungry, thirsty or hurt can stop you from running. That matters in a zombie encounter because running makes noise, but fleeing may require movement: if hunger, thirst or injury take running away, you lose the option to move quickly when you need it. Keep food and water stocked and avoid injury so a bad status does not leave you stuck near zombies. The food guide and water storage guide cover the supply side.

The day-to-day routine that keeps zombies from becoming a problem

The game's survival routine ties the zombie rules to the wider loop. It has four parts:

Checklist

• Scavenge the building for food and water

  Supplies give you something to survive on from the start, and scavenging means moving through the building where zombies are.

• Store water

  Stored water keeps you ready when supplies run short, and keeping your stats up protects your ability to run.

• Barricade your apartment

  A barricade keeps the hallway zombies out and protects you.

• Stay quiet in the hallways

  Quiet movement keeps zombies in the hallways from hearing or finding you.

The parts reinforce each other. Scavenging sends you through the building, so the quiet rule applies whenever you leave your apartment. Storing water and keeping food on hand protect the running option that hunger and thirst can otherwise remove. Barricading gives you a protected place to return to. For the supply loop itself, see the beginner guide and scavenging guide.

Surviving 100 days with zombies in the building

30 Floors Up is a survival game by Dateline NBC. You are stranded on the 30th floor of an apartment building during a zombie apocalypse and must try to survive 100 days, solo or with up to 3 friends. The hallway rules are the daily layer under that longer goal: every supply run puts you in the hallways where noise matters, and every barricade protects the place you return to.

If you are planning a longer run, see the 100 day survival guide. For the up-to-three-friends setup, see the co-op survival guide; for playing alone, see the solo survival guide.