Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad, a pixel art top-down shooter developed by São Paulo-based indie studio Fogo Games and published by Nuntius Games and Vsoo Games, was officially released on Steam on January 16th. The game has been recognized for its originality by experts and users alike for incorporating unique Brazilian cultural elements such as graffiti culture and favela identity into the popular zombie game genre.
A zombie apocalypse set in a Brazilian favela
“Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad” is inspired by the favelas of São Paulo, Brazil, but aims to represent slums around the world. In a post-zombie apocalypse world, four teenagers with mutant powers become humanity’s last hope and battle the hordes of zombies.
The core of the game isn’t just about defeating zombies, but also about creating graffiti throughout the city. However, each graffiti you create carries the risk of attracting hordes of zombies. The developers emphasized the game’s unique concept, saying, “We never knew making art in a zombie apocalypse could be so dangerous.”
A diverse game system, with everything you need.
The game revolves around a Safe Zone and a Battle Arena. In the Safe Zone, you upgrade your character and weapons, while in the Battle Arena, you battle hordes of enemies, defeating them before encountering a boss.
The graffiti system allows players to leave their mark on the chaos, transforming the environment and completing strategic objectives. The graffiti conquest system is a key element of progression, unlocking new paths, challenges, and opportunities across the map. However, each attempt to paint a wall can attract a horde of zombies, making artistic endeavors a risky endeavor.
You can also experience various play styles through the upgrade system, such as character attribute enhancement, weapon enhancement, and special ability unlocking.
A pixel art top-down shooter with quirky weapons and humorous zombies.
The game features over 70 unique weapons, including ketchup blasters, gumball shooters, shark-headed shotguns, and witches’ brooms. The zombies that threaten players also add humor with their bizarre designs, including puppy zombies, tentacle-armed monsters, muscular police zombies, and even Frankenstein’s monsters clad in nothing but underwear. A total of 22 zombies appear in the game, each with a variety of attack patterns and behaviors to pressure players.
The game is divided into four chapters, each comprising approximately ten stages. At the end of each chapter, the boss zombie “Carne Seca” appears, each time displaying new abilities and transformations to torment the player.
The game is designed to be an addictive and challenging experience, featuring fast-paced matches, continuous progression, and diverse scenarios. Players can choose from four characters, each with unique abilities, and switching between them mid-game allows for a variety of strategies.
Expressing the identity of developers from the Brazilian favelas
Beyond the simple zombie genre, “Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad” is a unique example of developers from actual Brazilian favelas expressing their culture and identity through a game. Through the medium of gaming, the game introduces themes such as the worldview, storytelling, music, and artistic traditions rooted in Latin and Brazilian backstreet culture to the world, and is recognized as a significant example of diversity and inclusiveness in the gaming industry.
What about Brazilian indie game developer **Fogo Games**?
Fogo Games, which shouts “The Hood as the Protagonist,” is an indie studio based in São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 2020 by alumni of FATEC Carapicuiba’s Digital Games program (enrolled in 2018). The team is notable for the fact that all members, from artists and producers to programmers, are from favelas, and through this, they focus on incorporating the cultural characteristics of the region, such as storytelling and musical diversity, into their games. Following the recently released “Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad,” the studio is currently developing “SuperKid Street Soccer,” a street soccer game about children with superpowers.
| division | Main contents |
| Studio name | Fogo Games |
| Representative and Director | Fabio Pacheco |
| Year of establishment | 2020 |
| scale | About 15 people (as of 2025) |
| Key milestones | • 2020: Team formation, company establishment • 2024: Participation in Gamescom Latam 2024, Brazil’s Independent Games Festival • 2025: Participation in Brazil’s Independent Games Festival • 2026: Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad launches on Steam |
| Official website | http://www.fogogames.com.br/ |
| Official Trailer | [ Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad] Official Gameplay Trailer |
| Steam Store Page | [ Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad] – Steam Store |
