Yet Another Zombie Survivors

Review

Well, we all know the origin of the zombie apocalypse, and it is unsettling to think that if this is one of the upcoming chapters of humanity, with a population of over 8 billion of us, it is fair to say that it would be a tough day at the office for the survivors. So, here it is, the virus has spread quickly around the world, and a small number of survivors are about to enter the arena with plenty of zombies ready to swamp them like a bunch of flies attracted to cow faeces.  So, what do I think about Yet Another Zombie Survivors?

Yet Another Zombie Survivors is an isometric bullet hells action roguelike game developed and self-published by Awesome Games Studio on the 14^th of July 2023 on the Steam platform as early access.

As it is early access, Yet Another Zombie Survivors has limited content at this stage, but playing is enormous fun. Right now, the game has three levels of difficulty, which are Default (where you need to survive at least twenty minutes), an Endless mode (where the waves of zombies are getting faster and bigger every few minutes) and Hardcore mode (where you need to survive at least ten minutes).

You’ll have three characters at your disposal when you launch the game for the first time: the Swat, the Tank and the Engineer. The Huntress, Ghost and Medic will need to be unlocked further down the track, and only one out of five arenas is available right now. 

After having selected your character (leader of the group) and the mode you’d like to challenge yourself in, the game will start. For the first couple of minutes, the zombies will come toward you in detached groups of two or three at a time. From there on, the groups of zombies will be larger and will include new types of zombies as well. The first few minutes will have your stereotypical zombies, you know the ones . . . slow, some skinny and others slightly overweight. Then, a speedy Gonzales zombie will make its entrance, followed by spitting zombies a few minutes later. The bigger zombies will be next. One looks like a scarecrow and lashes a swarm of large insects in your direction. A slightly larger one will keep following you with a giant hammer to knock your head into your body, and a humongous athletic zombie will make a run at you to squash you as if you are a vulgar mosquito. It’s a lot of fun.

The gameplay essentially avoids being hit by zombies, and your characters will automatically shoot at the enemies by themselves. Every zombie killed will drop something. The yellow gems are the most common; you’ll need them to fill in the experience gauge. Each time the gauge is full, you’ll be able to choose three different upgrades from weapons and perks for your main character (leader). For the next update, the gauge will be empty again, but the number of gems to collect will increase and so on and so forth. The bigger zombies will also drop a few larger gems (red or blue), and when you collect them, the gauge will fill in quicker than for the yellow gems. Some will drop icons such as a bolt, which, when picked up, gives your character speed for a short time. The shield will give you a short burst of invincibility, and the star will get your character into a frenzied killing spree. The heart is to get your health back up, and the dollars will go toward the money bag. Each time you reach the specified amount of money in the bag, you’ll receive a training point that you can use to upgrade your skill before your next run.

As you play the run, you’ll see green and yellow arrows popping up on one side of your screen every few minutes. The yellow arrow points to a metal case, inside which you’ll find three options to enhance your skills and cooldowns. You must get your party or character on it for a few seconds to open the case. Then you can choose one of the available options or redraw them if you don’t like what you get, but you can only redraw the three options three times during your run. You can discard one card for the entire run. The green arrow directs you to rescue a person who may become the next member of your party. Same setup as the case; you must stay on the person for a few seconds to rescue him/her. Then, you’ll be prompted to select one of the two characters to join your party; just liberate them and receive a large sum of money for your trouble. Even if your party is full (three characters), the rescue will still pop up every few minutes, but instead of choosing a character, you’ll be able to choose weapon upgrades every time you rescue a person.

As mentioned, the training points you have gathered in your previous run can be used to upgrade your skills. There are five upgradable skills, and each has four sub-skills to be upgraded from three to five times to get the maximum benefits.

I have surprisingly enjoyed this game so far, even with the small amount of content. It gets better when you have unlocked the other three characters, upgraded some of the skills, and managed to survive a bit longer. My best run has been 25 minutes so far on the Endless mode, and I have unlocked all characters and their weapons and perks. It is repetitive but really fun and addictive. The graphics are good, and the game runs smoothly.

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com 

Yet Another Zombie Survivors Steam store page