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ZaKa TV News Crew
The Cameraman AKA Dwight Murdoch (Suspense)/ Teddy Snooker (Erotic)/ Andy Steamboat (Immoral)/ Diego Morales (High Immoral)
Voiced by (Japanese): Masafumi Takada (Suspense), Jun Fukuda (Erotic), Toshihiro Fujikawa (Low Immoral), Ryoichi Kubodera (High Immoral)
Voiced by (English): Robert Tsonos''' (Suspense), Chris Koprowski (Low Immoral), Jack Merluzzi (Erotic/ High Immoral)
- All Men Are Perverts: You can choose to take erotic shots. Taking enough earns you the Erotic ending.
- All There in the Script: Played with. His name is explicitly revealed to be Andy Steamboat in the Low Immoral ending and Teddy Snooker in the Erotic one. While he never says his name in the Suspense or High Immoral endings, the cast listing in the end credits bunch the first two names with two others that are never said at any point, implying these are the names of the other cameramen. Going by this, the Suspense ending cameraman is Dwight Murdoch and the High Immoral one is Diego Morales.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: At the end of the High Immoral ending.
- The Chessmaster: Implied in the High Immoral ending.
- Depraved Bisexual: Implied. One of the erotic cutscenes happens to be the cameraman walking in on Brisco showering with their camera still on.
- The Faceless: Until the ending, excluding the High Immoral one.
- He Knows Too Much: Why he is killed in all endings except the High Immoral one.
- His Name Is...: Any ending besides the High Immoral one has him shot in the head before he can reveal who was behind the disaster.
- Jerkass: Can be this if the player makes him ram into other characters for no reason, and also in the Immoral ending.
- The Lost Lenore: The Suspense ending reveals him to be Dwight Murdoch, Nina's boyfriend. Before being shot, he will reminisce about Nina and her bravery.
- Ramming Always Works: His method of getting the reporters out of harm's way.
- Schrödinger's Player Character: His identity changes depending on how you play.
- Villain Protagonist: In the High Immoral ending.
- The Voiceless: Also until the ending.
- Walking Spoiler: As far as actual characterization.
- Zombie Infectee: If you fail on most occasions, and in the High Immoral Ending.
Jean-Philippe Brisco
Voiced by: Greg Irwin (English), Kentaro Ito (Japanese)
- All Love Is Unrequited: He had a crush on Pamela, although it's suggested that he never got to tell her. He spends the vast majority of the game mourning her death, especially when she's brought up and when they discover her mutated form.
- Ambiguously Brown: He has darker skin compared to every other character excluding the High Immoral cameraman, Diego Morales. Based on that and his French name, he is very likely Haitian-American.
- Black Dude Dies First: Inverted, he is the last person (besides the cameraman) shown to die.
- Captain Obvious: "That's the telephone!"
- Character Catchphrase: "GODDAMNIT!", often stated while frustrated and when Pamela comes to mind. "Son of a-!" also seems to be a Verbal Tic of his.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Upon his mutation, his last action is to jump out of the lighthouse window to stop himself from killing and devouring the cameraman.
- Is This Thing Still On?: During the tutorial, he'll briefly trash-talk the cameraman under his breath. He then notices him still recording and stops.
- Last-Name Basis: Outside of the logs, he only ever uses his full name during his rant to the Chief.
- The Load: Doesn't really contribute much in helping survivors or his fellow co-workers escape from death, and prefers to let the reporter and the cameraman do all the hard work. The most egregious example is his refusal to step forward and help a man up when he crosses the rail tracks with a broken leg, and yet he'll chew out the cameraman if he also stands by and do nothing.
- Super Window Jump: Jumps out of the lighthouse window right after his mutation.
- Sweet Tooth: He once wanted to a own a large refrigerator filled with ice cream.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Will call out the player if they choose not to save someone. He also occasionally does this if the player takes erotic shots, especially when he's in the shower.
- Zombie Infectee: Revealed at the end of the game.
Debora Flair
Voiced by: Bianca Allen (English), Akiko Muta (Japanese)
- Asshole Victim: You can let her get killed by the mutated Pamela, one of her reporters who she had ordered to enter a monster-infested Chicago to make reports, which got Pamela killed.
- Big Bad: She's one of the people responsible for the viral outbreak, evident from various messages sent to "D" from "M" and in the footage.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Is implied to be the one responsible for the epidemic, as a note outright states this near the end of the game, as well as one of the tapes.
- Manipulative Bitch: At one point, your reporter and Brisco go into her office furious and mistrustful, about to make her account for sending innocent reporters to a hellhole like Chicago, but a few chosen words later and they're both (if not entirely on her side) at least following her orders to continue investigating. Brisco thinks she may have a Compelling Voice, but neither he nor the reporters are overly bright, so it seems unlikely.
Reporters
Pamela Martel
Voiced by: Bianca Allen (English), Mai Hoshikawa (Japanese)
- Advertised Extra: Much like all of the other reporters (besides Mark), Pamela appears on the manual and cover and has a Fanservicey picture to herself. This is despite the fact she dies roughly ten minutes into the game and makes a few appearances as a monster later.
- Came Back Wrong: After her initial death, she reappears as one of the monsters. Then, after being incapacitated for some time, she returns to attack and steal Debora if the cameraman doesn't intervene.
- Character Death: She cannot be saved, as her death occurs during a cutscene just after a tutorial section.
- The Lost Lenore: Becomes this for Brisco after the tutorial level.
- Nice Girl: She says that if the situation calls for it, the cameraman should stop filming and help someone.
- Sacrificial Lamb: She is killed during the tutorial level, and is the first reporter character to die.
- Swallowed Whole: How she meets her end.
- Too Dumb to Live: She goes on reprimanding the cameraman despite Brisco freaking out about the monster behind her, and only turns around at the very last second.
- Tragic Monster: Her eventual fate, which Brisco does not take very well.
- Walking Spoiler: Mainly due to how she is killed off shortly after the tutorial level only to return as a monster.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: She is killed off less than ten minutes into the game.
Ann Anderson
Voiced by: Lynn Harris (English), Sayori Ishizuka (Japanese)
- Asshole Victim: Can be killed by the same monster that had killed Becky, the girl Ann prods the cameraman to film as she is being killed by a monster.
- Alliterative Name: Ann Anderson.
- Badass Normal: Like the other reporters (excluding Pamela), she is capable of holding her own against the monsters.
- Friendly Rival: Ann describes her relationship with Pamela this way.
- Hypocrite: She scolds the cameraman if he stops filming to try and save someone, but later begs to be saved when a monster is eating her.
- Ice Queen: Brisco even describes her as having "ice in her veins", and considering that she prioritizes reporting people being killed above saving them, he's not wrong.
- If It Bleeds, It Leads: A firm believer in this. When the team find a woman being eaten by a monster, she chastises the team when they stop filming. Though by the end of the game, she appears to be exhausted from filming death.
- Jerkass: Among the reporters, Ann is the meanest and most willing to report shocking events for as long as possible. Especially seen when she doesn't stop Becky from being eaten, even chastising the team for not filming enough.
- Karmic Death: If the player wishes, they can leave Ann to suffer the same fate as the previous person.
- Too Dumb to Live: It's entirely possible for her to die not too soon after her introduction by not noticing a giant spider above her head, which she won't do anything about.
- Ungrateful Bastard: If you save Ann from her above-mentioned Karmic Death, she promptly starts chewing Brisco and the cameraman out again for not shooting more footage.
Carly Reis
Voiced by: Terry Osada (English), Yoko Sasaki (Japanese)
- Despair Event Horizon: Falls into this upon finding her boyfriend Robbie infected. She'll refuse to shoot him to defend herself, deciding to let him kill her instead.
- Nice Girl: Compared to Ann, Carly is considerably nicer and more willing to help others in need.
- Together in Death: Will refuse to abandon an infected Robbie and allow him to devour her if she is the one to discover him. The only way to avoid this is to not open the locker Robbie is hiding inside.
Justine Rhoades
Voiced by: Peggy Woo (English), Natsuki Rio (Japanese)
- Damsel in Distress: In her introduction, she is found bound to a pool table with a chandelier about to be dropped onto her. If the player takes too much time or refuses to help her, the chandelier will fall and kill Justine.
- Smooch of Victory: If the player saves her from the chandelier trap, she thanks them with a kiss.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: She disappears from the story if Carly is killed during level 9-13, as the game skips to level 14 starring Paula as the new reporter instead of recalling Justine.
Nina Volkov
Voiced by: Rachel Walzer (English), Mayumi Yanagisawa (Japanese)
- Action Girl: Moreso than the other reporters. She even brags about having killed a bear at one point.
- Badass Normal: Like the other reporters (excluding Pamela), she is capable of holding her own against the monsters.
- Character Death: Just like Pamela, Nina cannot be saved.
- Eat Me: Lets a monster eat her so that she can blow it up from the inside.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Upon being caught by a monster, she makes the decision to sacrifice herself to allow Brisco and the cameraman to escape the lodge.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: She tells Brisco and the cameraman to leave her before performing her Heroic Sacrifice.
- The Lost Lenore: The Suspense ending reveals that the cameraman was her boyfriend.
- Ms. Fanservice: She wears a tube top.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: The cameraman recalls her "lovely black hair" and "soft, translucent skin" in the Suspense ending.
Paula Orton
Voiced by: Rumiko Varnes (English), Rina Sato (Japanese)
- Cute and Psycho: Underneath her cute and naive demeanor belies a bloodthirsty killer.
- The Ditz: During her report sections, she is clearly unprofessional due to her habit of forgetting her lines and stammering at times. This is likely a facade to hide her participation in the massacre of Chicago.
- Evil All Along: The secret tapes (which are only seen in a NTSC-J game due to a bug) reveal that Paula is a willing accomplice to whatever was going on with Chicago's infestation of monsters, and why the reporting team's co-workers are being killed off one by one.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: She's the only reporter to wear glasses, and happens to be part of Za Ka's attempts to cover up their involvement with the virus.
- Token Evil Teammate: Of the reporters.
Mark Bockwinkle
Voiced by: Chris Koprowski (English), Junichi Sawabe (Japanese)
- Generic Guy: Only appears to fill in the role of reporter if every other reporter is killed, and other than being a male reporter, he has no distinguishing features. This is mostly in part of the fact that the game skips ahead with every reporter death, with Mark appearing just near the finale.
- Secret Character: It is entirely possible to play the entire game and not realize that he exists, since he only appears if all four reporters (besides Pamela and Nina, who cannot be saved) die.
Dr. O'Conner
Voiced by: Robert Tsonos (English)
A deranged, misanthropic scientist and the creator of the Gagne virus.
- Big Bad: He's the man responsible for creating the virus that's causing Chicago's monster epidemic.
- Body Horror: Once he mutates, he's simply a giant red mouth on legs covered in green dots.
- Evilutionary Biologist: He expresses his excitement at the idea of becoming one of his "wonderful, beautiful new forms of life", before attempting to attack the news team after his mutation. He even states his disappointment about the monsters being uncontrollable.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He's the only other person besides Paula who wears glasses, and just so happens to the main villain of the game.
- Hate Sink: Besides creating a virus that kills several people and destroys a city, Dr. O'Conner is remorseless and rude to the news team, even mocking them for trying to "play hero", and leaves his own test subject to die.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Scoffs at the idea of the news team offering him a drink, stating that his body can no longer process alcohol. It turns out to be the key to killing him post-mutation.
- Inconsistent Spelling: The subtitles keep switching between O'Connor and O'Conner.
- Mad Doctor: He clearly takes a little too much joy in having created the virus and been infected by it.
- Professor Guinea Pig: Allows the virus to transform him into a monster so he can kill the news team.
- Psycho for Hire: He was hired by both ZaKa and the US military to create a Bioweapon to be used against enemy nations, only for the military to take the virus and the vaccine for it without credit.
George Gagne
A mentally challenged man who is the source of the mysterious fog and the Gagne virus that's turning people into monsters.
- Anti-Climax Boss: He dies in three shots, unlike the other bosses. Then he blows up.
- Ambiguous Disorder: The way he acts makes him appear mentally challenged, but it's unclear if he's suffering from some disorder or if he's just plain crazy. There's no explanation as to whether he was always like this or if he suffered any changes after becoming The Virus.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: He transforms into a giant fleshy mass, looking like he's going to become a monster... before he explodes and covers the camera lens with monster larva that fall off and die. All that's left of him is a pool of blood and some meat chunks scattered everywhere.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: His existence is only foreshadowed in an easy to miss note near the end of the game. Besides that, there's nothing else explaining his presence or even what his deal is.
- Immune to Bullets: Inverted. He dies fairly easily.
- Patient Zero: The source of the Gagne virus. The fog disappears as soon as he dies, implying that he's responsible for it, too.
- The Virus: He's the main source of the Gagne virus, which is named after him.
