The Last Stand: Dead Zone largely focuses on the player's own team of survivors, though it's also possible to visit other players'compounds and help out with tasks that need completing. Later, it also becomes possible to attack rival survivors, though low-level players are protected from attack for a period of six days or until they attack someone first.

Unlike many other Facebook titles that describe themselves as "hardcore," The Last Stand: Dead Zone doesn't feel like it makes any compromises for being a social network game. It feels like a standalone downloadable game, thanks in part to its excellent (if a little dark) 3D visuals and atmospheric sound effects. It also helps that the initial tasks players are given to do cover a wide variety of different activities rather than spending several hours doing nothing but building and upgrading, say, farms, cottages and barracks. Players are quickly given a taste of everything the game has to offer in the tutorial and are then invited to play their way. It's proof that "hardcore" doesn't have to mean "time-consuming" or "boring."