[h1]GOOD, BUT COULD BE MUCH BETTER[/h1]
[i]IMPORTANT: THIS GAME IS STILL UNFINISHED, SO MY REVIEW MAY CHANGE IN THE FUTURE AS MORE PARTS ARE RELEASED.[/i]
Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven is an interactive text-based novel (or interactive fiction, if you prefer) set in a post-zombie-apocalypse world. It feels similar in vibe to early The Walking Dead, though the story is obviously very different. Personally, I like it - but I can understand why some people might find it boring.
Compared to other games in the genre, Zombie Exodus is surprisingly long (as long as you buy all the parts), so I don’t really understand why some people say otherwise. As of now, the whole series is approaching 3 million words in total, which is seriously impressive. What’s also impressive is the number of choices available to you. The main plot always follows a similar path, but you can significantly change everything around it - that’s the game’s greatest strength. Want to be a good person, a villain, a diplomat, a murderer, or anything in between? You can!
Is Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven an underrated masterpiece? Not really. [b]It’s a solid game that excels in some areas and falls short in others. What it does best, however, is capture the feeling of how interactive fiction should work[/b] - you’re not just following the story with minor variations. You actively shape the narrative through both major and minor decisions, while still having enough unique content to make each playthrough feel distinct.
[b]Overall, I enjoyed Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven and can definitely recommend it.[/b] Just keep in mind that it’s an unfinished product, so if you’re not okay with waiting a few more years for future parts, you might want to hold off.
[b]World[/b]
The story takes place in a post–zombie-apocalypse USA - Colorado, to be exact. There’s nothing particularly unique about the setting: The Walking Dead-style zombies (with a few small twists), the government completely failing, and people often being worse than the zombies themselves. You know the drill.
[b]Characters[/b]
I have mixed feelings about the characters in Safe Haven. There are simply too many of them, which makes it hard to care about most. For every Rachel, Madison, Jillian, or Jaime, you get characters like Billie, Dante, Jude, Parker, or Sean. It gets even worse in Part 4, which dumps a lot of lore about random NPCs while people in your own group feel shallow as a puddle.
If you’re here for romance, I’ve got both good and bad news. The good news is that some romance options are genuinely well-written and have a decent amount of content. The bad news is that others have so little content that it makes you wonder why they’re romanceable at all.
I also really disliked the artificial "hard" limit of two love interests. It’s poorly implemented and leads to some very awkward situations. For example: [spoiler]I slept with Madison, kissed Jillian, and was interested in Bailey as my second option. Then the game gave me the option to swap romances. Suddenly, Bailey became my main romance, Jillian was second, and Madison was just... there. The game completely forgets everything you had with Madison just because she’s no longer marked as a love interest. She doesn’t even react if you kiss or flirt with someone else. Part 4 tries to address this with jealousy scenes, but in my opinion, it’s too little, too late.[/spoiler]
[b]Part 1[/b]
This is probably my favorite part. It essentially shows the very beginning of the zombie apocalypse in the USA, and it’s really enjoyable to experience it through your own character. There are plenty of customization options, different professions, and more - some of them even come with their own mini-storylines!
Navigating the initial chaos is handled well, and you quickly learn what you need to do to survive. The main objective is to secure your home, but along the way you can also encounter other survivors and decide whether you want to help them or not.
[b]Part 2[/b]
Part 2 takes place just a few days after the outbreak begins. Overall, it’s nothing special (and it’s fairly short). The focus is mainly on building your camp, managing supplies, strengthening relationships, and going on your first larger scavenging missions.
I’m not a fan of how this part starts - especially the [spoiler]fight with the zombie horde. The apocalypse has just begun, and we’re already dealing with a horde? It’s not a huge one, but still...[/spoiler]
[b]Part 3[/b]
[spoiler]We arrive at the junkyard and claim it as our new base.[/spoiler] This is also where the real action begins. We still spend a lot of time building up the base, managing supplies, and strengthening relationships, but this time we also finally start interacting with other survivor groups - and that’s where things get interesting.
You can play as a cold, ruthless ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ who kills everyone for their resources, be diplomatic and try to forge alliances, or mix both approaches. The game doesn’t try to tell you what’s right or wrong. Your decisions simply come with potential consequences later on.
Overall, it’s a very strong Part, with plenty of branching choices and great interactions.
[b]Part 4[/b]
Easily the weakest Part. We learn about "important" things and do "important" things, but it almost always feels like filler content. Of course, some filler is necessary from time to time as setup for the future, but there’s simply too much of it here.
The unnecessarily long dialogues with random survivors were especially painful. Sure, it makes sense to talk to them, but why do they need to tell us the entire history of their lives? You can spend literal minutes reading through uninteresting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. That time would be better spent developing key characters instead of padding.
I also really disliked the [spoiler]wendigo scenes. It could be passed off as some strange zombie variant, but it still pulled me out of the experience. Why is it there? Is this supposed to be a supernatural element, or just an odd mutation?[/spoiler]
There’s also finally a larger time skip in Chapter 17 (sixteen weeks), which was definitely needed in my opinion. It gives room for character growth within the group and shows more changes in the world around them.
I know the author is aware of some of these issues and is working on improvements, but the ending of this Part was just awful. [spoiler]We learn about massive hordes moving across the region and eventually discover one of them, with the implication that it could reach our base soon... and then the chapter just ends. I get that a cliffhanger was needed to build anticipation for the next part, but it’s handled poorly.[/spoiler]
[b]Gameplay[/b]
Besides the obvious choice-based storytelling, Zombie Exodus also includes building, crafting, scavenging, and even gifting mechanics. Not gonna lie, about half of them feel underwhelming (like building), and some are completely unnecessary (like gifts). Sure, these systems make sense in a survival game about a zombie outbreak, but I rarely found interacting with them enjoyable.
Before starting the game, it’s also worth remembering that it can be quite stat-heavy. I’m not saying you’ll be completely locked out of content, but if your build isn’t well-rounded, certain options may not be available or some events may become harder to handle.
[b]Audio & Visuals[/b]
This game is almost entirely text-based, so there’s not much to say about audio or visuals. There is an option to enable character portraits for romanceable characters, but they’re only shown once - when you first meet them. I would have loved to see them used more often, as it adds a bit more personality and presence to the characters.
[b]Technicalities[/b]
Parts 1 and 2 were mostly bug-free, but Parts 3 and 4 have a lot of issues with checks - some dialogue references events that never occurred or triggers the wrong scenes.
On top of that, I also noticed a few typos and some repeated words.
