SECTOR ZERO

This is not a game, it's a paid demo. The game the dev of this game is working on, which looks suspiciously like this game, is linked several times and at the at it literally says "Want more? Than wishlist [other game from dev].". If you're a small dev and need funding be open about it, don't make me pay for advertisement.

Quite a fun little game, it's definitely made me interested in the dev's main project. It's well-polished, charming and features a surprising amount of replayability thanks to the achievements. It's one of the few games where going for a completionist or a near competionist run is worth the effort, it's kinda what you're supposed to do after getting through the game normally. Source game lovers will definitely appreciate it too, the homages are cute.

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Fun platforming precursor to "Artificial" that is priced less than a quality burrito these days. Feels like a first-person cat simulator in that you are a nimble little critter escaping an underground facility.

---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☑ Potato ☐ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☐ Floppy Disk ☑ Old Fashioned ☐ Workable ☐ Big ☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive ☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it ☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☑ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☑ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☑ Short ☐ Average ☐ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☑ Worth the price ☐ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☐ Never heard of ☑ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☑ 9 ☐ 10 ---{ Author }--- ☑ https://vojtastruhar.github.io/steam-review-template

fun little obviously half life and portal pilled puzzle game. Recommended for a brief little evening game to do some fun puzzles. Aesthetic is peak. While not perfect, its well made and its moderately charming with a killer visual style. No glitches nor frustrating locks. Dev also has a good sense of humor with the achievements. 1 hour is what it says it takes, and that's about right.

A pleasant indie title. The game is fairly short, but the controls are smooth and well-suited for speedrunning.

Interesting game where you first person platform around a dangerous environment mergine/using various specific machines. Minor issue the grab/pull physics is clunky at best. Major issue the checkpointing, which is mainly in reasonable places, sometimes does not reflect the actual environment you left it in eg all the mines you previous eliminated are now re-enabled. Part of me want to give it a "meh" at this time, but giving a marginal thumbs up.

SECTOR ZERO is a fascinating indie sci-fi puzzle adventure that thrives almost entirely on atmosphere, mystery, and a genuinely creative perspective. Instead of placing players in the role of a heroic survivor escaping an alien nightmare, the game flips the formula by letting players control a fragment of an ancient hive-like corruption spreading through a doomed mining facility hidden inside an asteroid. This unusual setup immediately gives the experience a darker and more unsettling tone because the player is not fighting against the strange force infecting the station — they are the force itself. That simple role reversal helps the game stand apart from many other sci-fi puzzle titles and gives the entire adventure a unique identity from the beginning. The atmosphere is easily one of the game’s greatest strengths. The abandoned mining complex feels cold, mechanical, and deeply oppressive, filled with malfunctioning machinery, broken systems, flickering lights, and corridors swallowed by darkness. As the corruption spreads deeper into the station, environments slowly become more disturbing, blending industrial science-fiction aesthetics with organic alien growth. The visual contrast between sterile human technology and the living corruption creates an unsettling atmosphere that constantly feels tense even when nothing directly threatening is happening. Exploration becomes compelling simply because the world itself feels mysterious and dangerous. Gameplay revolves around manipulating machines, corrupting systems, and solving environmental puzzles using the player’s growing influence over the station. The corruption mechanic is surprisingly versatile because it affects nearly every aspect of progression. Players redirect power, interact with machinery, disable obstacles, and twist security systems to open new pathways through the facility. The puzzles gradually increase in complexity without becoming overly frustrating, allowing players to naturally experiment with different interactions and mechanics. The game does a good job of introducing ideas step by step, ensuring that players understand new systems before more advanced puzzle combinations begin appearing. One of the most satisfying aspects of the gameplay is how connected the mechanics feel to the story and atmosphere. Corrupting human technology does not simply function as a gameplay tool; it reinforces the idea that the player is becoming an increasingly dangerous force spreading throughout the station. Security systems become weapons, machines become extensions of the corruption, and the facility slowly transforms under the player’s influence. This connection between gameplay and narrative gives the experience a stronger sense of immersion than many puzzle games where mechanics feel disconnected from the story itself. The platforming sections also help maintain momentum throughout the adventure. While the game is primarily focused on puzzle-solving and exploration, navigating damaged industrial structures and dangerous machinery adds enough movement-based challenge to prevent the pacing from becoming too slow. Some sequences become genuinely tense because environmental hazards and automated defenses force players to react quickly while still thinking strategically. The game constantly mixes exploration, puzzle mechanics, and traversal in ways that keep the experience engaging despite its relatively short runtime. Audio design contributes heavily to the overall atmosphere as well. The facility is filled with distant machinery sounds, eerie ambient effects, and unsettling audio distortions that make every room feel lonely and unstable. Music is used sparingly but effectively, often remaining subtle until key moments where tension suddenly escalates. This restrained approach works extremely well because it allows silence and environmental sound to carry much of the emotional weight. Certain scenes become memorable purely because of how effectively the game uses sound to create discomfort and suspense. The narrative itself is handled in a smart and understated way. Instead of relying on constant exposition or cinematic cutscenes, the story unfolds gradually through environmental details, scattered logs, and interactions with corrupted systems. Players slowly piece together what happened after miners uncovered the ancient entity buried inside the asteroid, and this slow reveal helps maintain mystery throughout the entire game. The writing trusts players to observe and interpret information naturally rather than constantly explaining everything directly, which makes the world feel more immersive and believable. The reverse-horror perspective is another reason the game remains memorable. Most science-fiction horror games focus on fear and survival, but SECTOR ZERO creates tension through transformation and control instead. Watching the corruption spread through the station creates a strange sense of power while also making the player feel increasingly alien. This unusual perspective shift gives the game far more personality than a standard “escape the monster” sci-fi story would have provided. However, the game is not without flaws. Some movement and platforming sections can feel slightly awkward due to inconsistent physics or imprecise controls during more demanding sequences. The industrial environments, while atmospheric, occasionally become visually repetitive as players move through similar corridors and mechanical areas. Certain puzzles also feel simpler than expected, especially later in the game when players may hope for larger or more elaborate mechanics built around the corruption system. The relatively short runtime may also disappoint players expecting a longer and more expansive adventure. Just as some mechanics begin feeling especially interesting, the game starts moving toward its conclusion. While the shorter length helps prevent repetition, it also leaves the impression that the game could have explored its ideas even further. The world, mechanics, and narrative all feel strong enough to support a much larger experience. Despite these shortcomings, SECTOR ZERO succeeds because of its creativity and atmosphere. The combination of physics-based puzzles, environmental storytelling, industrial horror, and corruption mechanics creates an experience that feels distinctive and carefully crafted. It captures the feeling of exploring a dying sci-fi facility while constantly reinforcing the unsettling idea that the player is the source of the station’s destruction. For fans of atmospheric puzzle adventures and darker science-fiction worlds, SECTOR ZERO delivers a memorable and refreshingly original experience. It may not be the largest or most mechanically complex game in the genre, but its strong atmosphere, creative perspective, and immersive world design make it stand out among many indie sci-fi releases. Rating: 8/10

I was feeling lazy this morning, but really wanted to eat some Flying Biscuit (a local brunch spot), so I ordered it through Doordash. As I mulled over what I wanted, I eventually landed on a Hollywood Omelet with Firecracker Shrimp appetizer on the side. I've had that omelet a dozen times, and I was wanting some comfort food, so it was an easy pick. But I had never had the Firecracker Shrimp from this place specifically and it was...strange. Usually that title means a few fried shrimp covered in a creamy, slightly spicy orange sauce. It's something I've gotten from Chinese and Ramen shops in the past, but this was a different spin on it. It was the same fried shrimp, but it was over a bed of...pineapple slaw? And it was covered in...avocado slices? It was a strange combo, but I do like all of those components on their own, so I rolled the dice. Well, I lucked out because that shrimp was so good, I didn't even end up finishing the omelet. I mention all of that to say this: Sector Zero is that Firecracker Shrimp dish. It's a small course made of up familiar components but configured in a way that should be off putting, but ends up working way better than I thought it would. Sector Zero is a first person puzzle game in which you posses different robots and drones, move around physics objects, and dodge lasers and mines. Its Steam page openly cites Half Life and Portal as inspirations, but I feel that comparison sells it a bit short. It does gleefully lean on physics in the same way that Half Life 2 does, and many of the environments you play in have the messy, yet mechanically sterile design of the backrooms you see mostly in Portal 2. But the artstyle of this game is wildly different from either game, as it is completely black and white with subtle colored accents for certain interactables. It's a striking look that splits the difference between the warped first person view you see in some of the Alien games and the red filtered perspective used in Terminator 2. In fact, once you possess certain machines, their perspectives add a colored filter over the artstyle as well. It's incredibly striking, and coats a moody layer over the entire experience. The game overall is a puzzle platformer, but heavy on the puzzle. Despite you having to jump up to some crawl spaces and dodge some turret fire, most of what you will be doing is interacting with the world in indirect ways. For example, a number of rooms will ask you to possess a drone or a turret only to use it to shoot off a lock on an air duct, or block a laser in front of a door. This means you are helpless to fight back or dodge attacks in any real precise way, but instead of that being annoying it is actually compelling. Having to solve every problem in an indirect way forced me to think outside of the box, and that thrill held up the entire time. However, that "entire time" is just 50 minutes. Yes, at $4, this game charges about a dollar per ten minutes. That is actually not bad at all. I love a good short game, and for as good as it is, it's unquestionably worth the price. But I can't ignore the fact that I've played demos for games that were longer than this full release. That length hurts just a bit more when you add the fact that the title menu and steam page point to a follow up game that is meant to continue the story. That context makes the game feel so much more like a slice off a larger cake, sold as if it's a standalone cake itself. The choice to sell the game this way is understandable, as making games is expensive and selling a first taste at an extreme discount could be a great way to raise funds for the full product. But I still can't help but get a bad taste in my mouth, especially when I've bought many Steam games for less than $4 that I have played for 10 times as long, or even longer. Overall, I can't say much against this game. It has a striking style and vibe, solid puzzle mechanics, and while I have failed to mention it until now, the final boss fight is a frantic and fun battle of dexterity. But it is just SO short that it's hard to recommend the game to everyone at this asking price. Despite reaching a decent climax, the game does still feel like it ends prematurely. So, if I was to recommend that kind of experience to someone, I'd just point them to a free demo of a similar game. Perhaps when ARTIFICIAL, the game this is a prequel to, drops I can more enthusiastically recommend that once I get my hands on it. But for now, if you really want to play around with these unique mechanics and this wild art style, and aren't too attached to your $4, definitely give this one a shot.