Space Pirates and Zombies (S.P.A.Z.) is a real-time strategy video game released on August 15, 2011, on the Steam distribution platform. with a top-down perspective based around space combat. The game was developed by a two-man team under the studio MinMax Games using the Torque engine. The game was later ported for Mac OS X and Linux systems.

A sequel, Space Pirates and Zombies 2, was announced on February 5, 2014, and was set to be released in the 1st quarter of 2015, but it was delayed until 2016. Space Pirates and Zombies 2 has been in Early Access on Steam until its release on November 7, 2017.

S.P.A.Z. integrates top down shooter gameplay with role-playing video game and real-time strategy elements within a futuristic space setting. The game also features large-scale randomly generated galaxies to explore. Players command a fleet of ships, and may control any one of their ships individually at a time. The galaxy is organized into systems, each system containing a star and a set of planet bodies and areas which may be "warped" to via an in-game map. These areas may contain faction stations where trade, missions, or sieges may take place. The player's standing with the faction affects what services the station will give you. Players can improve their faction standings through missions and level up their fleet through missions and combat.

When controlling the craft players can fire the craft's main weapons, fire alternative weapons such as missiles, or launch shuttlecraft filled with marines. The view of the game world can be scrolled in or out, enabling a distant view or a closer view for combat. Combat involves positioning your ship to hit the enemy with your weapons while dodging enemy fire, and tactically deploying larger weapons such as minefields and mass bombs. Each vessel has different shields, armor and hull types and each is strong or weak against certain types of weapon, encouraging players to diversify within their own fleets in order to engage different enemies. Initially gameplay involves interacting with the UTA or Civilian factions, depending on the player's standing with them in the current star system. Shortly into the game a faction of Bounty Hunters is introduced, and later in the game the eponymous and extremely dangerous zombie force appears.

Three types of resources are available in-game; Rez, Goons and Data. Rez is the material that is mined from asteroids and is used to build ships and buy technology. Goons are crew members found in ejected escape pods or bought from colony worlds, and are used to crew your ships and can be gifted to factions to improve relations. Data represents gathered technology and forms the basis for the game's experience system; the more the player destroys enemies and completes quests, the more Data is rewarded which can then be spent on upgrading the various aspects of the fleet.

There are currently 43 different types of controllable ships split into 5 size categories; Tiny, Small, Medium, Large and Huge. These can be fitted with a variety of weaponry such as lasers, cannons, torpedoes, guided missiles, mass bombs, fighter drones and mines whilst the ships themselves can be customised with different types of propulsion, reactors, shields, stealth technology and various utility boosters making them more effective in certain situations.

Humanity has expanded throughout the galaxy after the discovery of the miraculous Element 126, colloquially known as 'Rez', which enabled matter replication technology (including cloning), advanced artificial intelligence and faster than light travel in the form of the warp gate network. With more of the new element found near the galactic core, the outer worlds, including Earth, have become neglected backwaters. With humanity now numbering in the thousands of trillions across thousands of planets, the spread of interplanetary diseases caused the collapse of many human governments. A totalitarian militaristic police force called the United Terran Alliance (or UTA) stepped in to fill the void and began to strictly police access to the warp gates. Civilian access to interstellar travel was abolished in what was described as a 'temporary move' but this state of affairs has existed for over 1000 years. With humanity living in the decaying remnants of its past glory the civilian populations of many sectors rose up against the UTA in the vicious 'Lockdown Wars' over control of space travel and the supply of Rez.

There has always been rumoured to be an endless and hidden motherlode of Rez in the galactic core, but none have ever managed to find it. Chasing this dream, thousands of miners and pirates in the Earth system band together to take on the UTA and claim their fortune.