Ground Zero Hero

Game's awesome, so much fun, better than I expected it to be. I will say, it does need better optimization, and I do feel like there should've been additional bosses for the different levels. Hopefully maybe with time some additional characters will be added as well. That would be great, but again, it is a great little survivor game as is.

This game is BONKERS! It's a survivors-like on acid, I think? I don't actually know because I've never tried it but it's at least what I would imagine that's like! Colorful visuals, BANGER soundtrack, lots of fun weapons with the typical gameplay loop for these types of games. 5 levels with an endless option that unlocks after clearing it for the first time, wacky bosses, crazy enemies and TONS of candy. This is a really fun one, definitely recommend.

You will get to play through five stages, but you have to complete them in order, with each stage unlocking only after you beat the previous one. Unlike many similar games, the objective is not simply to survive until the timer runs out or survive a set number of waves. Instead, you need to kill a required number of enemies before taking down the boss. This leads to several unique mechanics that help the game stand out from the usual survivors formula. The basic gameplay follows the familiar survivors template. You move your character around the area, collect loot, and let your auto attacks deal with enemies as best they can. Loot comes in the form of green goo, which fills the tube on the left side of the screen. Once the tube is full, you can choose a mutation from a random selection of three options. Mutations are essentially additional weapons that fire automatically alongside your starting weapon, which you choose before beginning a run. Some examples include fireballs, explosive eggs that you leave behind you, and vultures that fly in circles around your character. There are also some more unusual and entertaining options, such as two clay hands emerging from the ground and shooting an exploding ball at enemies. The interesting part is that choosing the same weapon again improves it with additional perks. For example, picking another fireball mutation allows it to leave burning ground behind, while upgrading the clay hands increases the size of their explosion. This gives you a reason to build around certain weapons instead of simply taking a completely different mutation every time. The locations differ in both appearance and enemy types, but they also encourage you to keep moving through a few unique interactions. For example, you can ride a cow that tramples enemies without damaging you, or open a safe by standing inside a circle until it unlocks. Safes reward you with caps, a currency used for permanent upgrades after a run. The game also introduces two mechanics that make its runs more interesting. The first is candy, which essentially acts as fuel for your character. You can obtain it by smashing piñatas or attacking a candy seller who appears randomly. If your candy bar runs out, you start losing health, giving you another resource to manage while fighting enemies. The second mechanic is the day and night cycle. You start during the daytime, but after a few minutes, a visual warning lets you know that night is approaching. Once night arrives, more dangerous enemies begin appearing, and you are encouraged to reach a bunker marked by a waypoint. You can also take your chances and survive the night without reaching the bunker. This is not particularly difficult because nighttime is much shorter than daytime. However, reaching a bunker gives you the option to save your current progress and quit, which can be useful because some stages require as many as 10,000 kills. Personally, I recommend completing a run in one sitting rather than saving. I found that loading a saved game made things considerably harder because you immediately get surrounded by enemies from all sides and can die quickly from contact damage. I also noticed that some of my mutations disappeared after loading, along with all the green goo I had collected, making the save system feel particularly punishing. Instead, you can keep going by choosing the rest option, which heals you and allows you to continue the run during the daytime. This day and night cycle continues until you die or reach the required number of kills. While 10,000 kills sounds like a huge number, enemies eventually begin spawning in enormous quantities. It is easy to have more than 100 enemies on screen at once, which can also lead to some noticeable slowdowns. The longer you survive, the tougher the enemies become, and eventually it can be difficult to keep up even with good movement and a strong build. One particularly annoying threat comes from fast waves that periodically move across the screen and can be difficult to dodge. Bosses are another problem. Once a boss appears, normal enemies are no longer the main concern, but the fight can take long enough to drain your candy and start eating into your health. Because of this, it is worth saving powerful power ups, such as the cow or sun, for boss encounters. Having one available when a boss appears can make a significant difference. As with most games in this genre, death is also a form of progression. You unlock new mutations simply by completing runs and working toward the various unlock requirements. The better you perform, the faster you fill the unlock bars, and once a mutation is unlocked, it can start appearing in future runs. Most of these unlocks are weapons, but there are also passive mutations that improve your stats without directly dealing damage. For example, you can choose a third leg for increased movement speed or frenzy to increase your damage. All unlocked mutations can be reviewed from the main menu. This screen also displays a number underneath each weapon mutation, showing how many kills you have made with that weapon. Once you reach the required number, you unlock a chance for that weapon to enter "bonkers" mode. When this happens randomly, the weapon temporarily gains increased fire rate and damage. Passive mutations do not have this feature. The other form of progression comes from permanent upgrades purchased with caps. However, the selection available at the start is fairly limited, with additional upgrades unlocking as you complete more stages. This means permanent upgrades never feel like the main reason you are able to progress further. They certainly provide a useful advantage, but success still depends heavily on your gameplay and, more importantly, your mutation choices. This is especially important because some mutations are significantly weaker than others, and choosing poorly can ruin a run before it has really gotten started. Overall, the game does a good job of taking the familiar survivors formula and adding enough unusual mechanics to make it feel different. The mutation system is the highlight, especially when you build around a weapon and keep upgrading it with additional effects. The day and night cycle, candy management, environmental interactions, and large enemy counts also give the runs their own identity. There are some rough edges, particularly the save system, occasional performance issues, and certain enemy attacks that can feel more frustrating than challenging. Still, the combination of chaotic combat, strange mutations, and persistent progression makes the game an enjoyable take on the genre, especially if you like experimenting with different builds and seeing just how absurd your weapons can become.

I just published my review which is accessible here: https://youtu.be/bzQMZ4wkwLw In short, here's my pros and cons as well as some suggestions for possible future updates: 🟩 Pros: + Streamlined success condition tied to number of kills rather than to time + Amazing art in the style of Rick & Morty + Vibrant colors + Beautiful, fun and engaging soundscape as well as soundtrack + All attacks have the potential of activating a "bonkers" effect which makes for incredibly satisfying screen wipe scenarios + Uniquely interactive stages with their own mobs 🟥 Cons: - Short, like, very short - Somewhat very simplistic, depending on what you are looking for in this genre sometimes to a fault - Barebones roguelite upgradability 🏷️ Suggestions: ~ Power merges ~ Inventory system (gear pickup) ~ Skill tree progression ~ Expanding on the mega mutant power (NO SPOILERS)

Nine hours to clear the last map. When I got there, the game put a line on screen telling me I had spent nine hours on this nonsense. Hard to argue with that. This is a bullet heaven, the genre Vampire Survivors built. You move, the game does the shooting, waves come at you, and every level up offers three mutations to stack until either the map ends or you do. One person made all of it, and it is not pretending to reinvent the formula. What it does well is stay legible. The screen fills up and you can still tell what is an enemy, what is a pickup, and what is about to hurt you. If you have never played one of these, that clarity makes it a reasonable place to start. The part I did not expect to think about is the night. Days are ordinary enemies. When night falls, the night creatures come out and hit considerably harder, and you get a choice. Most maps have bunkers, and ducking into one heals you and flips the clock back to day, but it wipes every mutation goo you left on the ground and clears the horde chasing you. Stay out instead and the night creatures drop the good stuff at a much better rate. I used bunkers while I was learning the maps and stopped once I could survive without them. That decision comes up several times a run, on a timer, and it is what kept me thinking between sessions. Bunkers also let you save and quit mid run. Close the game entirely, come back another night, hit continue, and you pick up where you were. If you play in short sessions around other obligations, that matters more than any other feature here. Runs land at ten to fifteen minutes. You can pause mid run with nothing ticking behind it. Nothing about it demands a daily login or an online connection. It is not without problems. Nineteen mutations is a smaller pool than you want by hour nine, and you will have seen most of what the game offers before you finish it. The soundtrack wears thin well before the maps do. After the second map the difficulty steps up and you need upgrades to keep pace, which means going back for caps. The missions and the safes scattered around give that grind a point, so it rarely felt like busywork, but it is there. Right now, Unknown for Steam Deck. I ran it on mine and it worked fine. There is a demo covering the first map, and your progress carries into the full game, so you can find out whether the genre suits you before spending anything. Not essential. But it is a well made version of something familiar, with one idea of its own, and it ends at a length you can reach.

ridiculously ridiculous and addictive.

I played Vampire Survivors for 80 hours. I can see GZH hitting that number EASY. Like 90s Nick Toons? Like Rick & Morty? Like these kinds of games? Don't overthink it - BUY IT. Huge bang for your buck. Addicting as all get out. It's great to see Acclaim cranking out bangers again.