What is the appeal of zombie and survival games?

because they are popular now... zombies are all the hype right now, cool kids love zombies...
i preffer mechs... MECHS ARE AWESOME

Zombies are cool.

Survival is fun.

Exploding heads with a shotgun is very satisfying.

Truthfully,I find that zombiez and survival don't appeal to me.I have only ONE zombie game on steam(CoD Black ops 2 zombies) and I think that its safe to say that I would rather pass than getting drunken guys&gals with blue eyes and grey-ish skin to come crawling at my computer screen and start slashing till the screen is completely ripped off,giving me the "Game over sign"

Last of Us.

well as antisocial gamers we falsely feel that we would do well in such a setting. Afterall with little to no connection to your fellow man you get to skip right past half the psychological drama of killing your neighbor's carnivorous corpse. But we tend to forget how out of shape we are, it'll once again be the jocks who survive and even thrive in this setting where the ability to run or fight, as well as get along with others is what keeps you alive, not the weakling loner geeks who can't run for shit

its our own fault for using both charisma and strength as dump stats. you could get away with losing one of those but not both irl

For me the thing that really makes me enjoy survival games is the choices you've gotta make, and the freedom you have in those choices.
For example, if i'm running low on food as well as bullets, and i decide to look for food but end up being chased by zombies thus wasting precious time i might die ingame, but i will still have enjoyed making those choices and if i still survive despite having made the wrong choice it only adds to the pleasure.
The reason why survival games are all the rage nowadays imo is because most games have become too casual, you always have ridiculously overpowered gear, you never have fear for your life and even though a lot of games have skilltrees and whatnot, most of the times you end up being able to do everything extremely well.

I understand the appeal of survival games overall - it's fun to be in hard position, you have to need to fight for you life while using whatever you have in your inventory. It's a good idea for games, really fun when executed well.
But I totally don't understand why Zombies are still so popular. They are nothing really interesting. Most often they are created by some virus epidemy and crap like that. God damn, developers, think of something original already. Not those borign rotten corpses over and over again. While you still can make a good game with Zombies, I think devs should take a different approach and try something new.

But I guess that's how every industury works, some theme gets popular, so milk all the money you can. Reality is sad.

the only zombie game i could like would be a HOTD one

As for zombies: I never got why it got so famous and stuff. As for survival: It's a thrill. You never got enough ammo and are basically on the run the whole time. Plus the atmosphere and story are super eerie. Silent Hill games are a perfect example.

Preparation for the upcoming zombie apocalypse.

well, we don't go outside, so we get our nature fix by surviving in the wild within the safety of our four walls

One word; Immersion. (But about survival games, not zombie games.)

About zombies games? I'm not that much into it, what I like is post apocalypse, not zombies in particular, but I guess people like it because it's popular now, that's all.