Recent reviews by WookieBandit

Yes, Play this game

We all play games that are generally developed by studios, we gripe over functionality, graphics, sound, lack their of and either continue playing or since there are so many games... we dont give others a chance based on peoples feedback.

This game is made by 1 person and it has more choice than alot of AAA games do with depth in characters and world.

Zero Sievert is a lite roguelike, top down pixel art shooter. It is harsh when it needs to be, has a slight learning curve and a gameplay loop that is relatively addicting. 11 hours in and I had more positive things to say about this game than most and it kept a smile on my face.
Lets break it down.

Sound Design: 8/10 - it does what it needs to, the rain, running on certain surfaces, guns, tactical devices etc all sound great and are appropriate for the world were in. It immerses you and does a great job not trying to overreach on what is necessary for the tone.
Questing: 7/10 - I think there are too many quests (i know, shoot me), the main ones to progress faction reputation were great but the collect and bring back were a bit much, that being said. Still great quest design overall.
Atmosphere: 9/10 - as with the sound design and partially because of it, you feel like youre in the biomes that you are exploring, a forest with rain feels cold and you dont need a cold monitor, it just feels right. When youre in a radioactive area, it makes you feel like somethings wrong with your character, its great!
Enemy Variety: 9/10 - I think there are ~8 different enemy types, all with unique behaviours/pathing and approaches to combat, Without getting into details, they are all solid.
Combat: 8/10 - the loop is great, armor helps reduce damage and has durability, you can visibly see what enemies are wearing for the most part and understand what weapons to use for that situation if youre going in with that intent and the guns are consistent in how you would expect them to perform. Solid combat, i would like to see some ways to use pistols as a personal preference, they are far too weak to progress but that is also appropriate for the setting.
Weapons / Uniqueness - 9.5/10 - It is abundant and they all feel unique!
Upgrade system: 9.5/10 - the attachments are amazing, they change the way your guns feel and there are alot of them. The added scope to extend your field of view is a great touch
- Lighting is phenomenal at dark with a torch and the lasers look badass as they should

Gameplay Loop: 8.5/10 - Loot, Extract, Hand in quests, upgrade your base, upgrade your character, go back in and loot some more - its exactly what you want in this type of game.

Impressions: 8.9/10 - its amazing, dont let the art style deter you. This game should be played by all who like a challenging experience with a rewarding loop.

Updated portion of review at the bottom - game completed - no spoilers.

This will be the start of something edited further but we are ~4 hours in and the game is... Bleh
If youre looking for dead space, there are similarities with the music/sound, quest/lore and some functional things that stay the same, like the stomping, stasis, light dismemberment... My gripe with the game is the combat loop which i will get into detail below.

(8/10) Sound Design is phenomenal but stereo/headphones are a bit wonky sometimes, its like youre just surrounded by enemies and grunting/panting but no discernible location sometimes (still gets you though).
(6/10) Questing: Its linear, the side quests/locations are not far off a beaten path which is somewhat unfortunate.
(9.5/10) Atmosphere, this is something you need to play the game to appreciate however to explain simply. You feel like you are on this planet, dread fills you as you march to your destination and there are some genuine creepy moments
(5/10) Enemy Variety - i am sure this will change and i will appropriately update this as i complete the game (likely by tomorrow), there isnt much here and the few that are present are relatively easy to combat
(4/10) Combat - Here it is
- The combat loop is simple, once you upgrade your stun batton to have a heavy hit
> Light, heavy, light heavy, dodge, dodge, Light, heavy
- If there are multiple enemies, sprint in and smash, dodge, dodge...
They tried to add some cinematic moments with your pistol after smashing some enemies to dismember but they are too quick to appreciate, especially for how intentional the game is supposed to feel so this whole system seems lost (to me)
- They provided you with Stasis like attacks which are cool, but once you upgrade that it can throw enemies into the dozens of environmental hazards which is just odd that they are so prevalent, i mean if you lived on this planet they would have a 0 days till incident perpetually stay at 0, its crazy how many there are.
- The dodge mechanic is unfortunately lazy to me, hold left or right and your character dodges. you cant keep the same dodge more than once so you need to go Left/Right/Left etc or add a block in there once in a while
(5/10) - Upgrade system, its just lacking...
(6.5/10) - Death animations - some of these are very cool but they become repetitive quick

Some big WTFs
- Why is there a weird checkpoint system that throws you back 5-10 minutes, its 2022... Just let us save the game and pick up from that spot
- Why cant stasis pick up items like in deadspace, that as a phenomenal type of function, especially on harder difficulities when youre being swarmed, run out of ammo, stasis a drop to you and continue fighting... those are movie moments
- WHY oh WHY do enemies face you like a bad 80's kung foo movie, fight one and they block eachother or stand around, its just weird.
- Why do guns do minimal damage for dismemberment, I prefer to upgrade batton and go HAM vs using a pistol
- Gun Variety is limited
- Upgrade system is limited

I have followed this game from the start and I find myself difficult to not be disappointed.
Glen had multiple dev diaries speaking about the dead space mechanics that made it special and most of them are lacking on those exact fronts; aforementioned stasis, lack of weapons, dismemberment is not that necessary.
The random nature of the encounters in dead space made them all harrowing in their own right and the enemy varity made each one unique, in this case with lets say the invisible enemies... you stasis, drop them at your feet, go hulk smash and they are gone...

AS mentioned, I will have an edited section below once i complete the game and none of this with performance in mind, just as described above.
Running on a 3080, 32gb ram, 12700kf

Current Score:
5.1/10 with a triple sad face :( :( :( I wanted this to be a WOW from the start and i hope things get better.
Summary:
If you dont care about combat as much, but want a survival horror experience, it may scratch your itch and you should get it. I have a heavy focus/desire for survival horror with an intricate combat system that had depth and so far I havent gotten that.

What are your thoughts?


I still feel the game is incomplete, it seems like after the aquisition of the studio they were pressured to push it out.
Weapon variety continued until end game, they are boring. The shotguns are the best and the rifle can do some damage to tentacles but they are all boring.
Enemy variety didnt change and it seemed like they just put more face huggers by the end of the game
(8/10) for the few 'boss battles' there are
- with the way the game handles combat, they added to the game and made a few moments quite tense, close spaces, nowhere to go but they needed additional move sets, just like everything int he game, everything was telegraphed.

With the story in mind, im very excited for a round 2 of CP but im nervous with the DLC direction. There is alot of functionality i would like to see added/amended before new content and the lack of HC or NG+ (which is just insane) adds to the thought that development was rushed in the end to push it out this calendar year, unfortunate to say the least.

Looking forward to it with a cautious lens, as mentioned above. This may do it for you as a survival horror, its low on the 'action route' as everything is a movie scene and the dodges become far to repetitive to be considered action sequences, BUT if you want something tense... buy this game (or maybe wait for a discount). Otherwise, If youre looking for a dead space itch, its not there (for me atleast) and it sure as hell doesnt scratch a RE4 itch.

I want a 'partial recommendation option' :P

Note - Coming from someone with only 2 hours on the game
I would recommend but didnt feel the emotional connection to the story from the start as i did with something like the souls series (odd as the story is completely disjointed in souls). This along side with the difficulty is getting me to send it back as i know i wont enjoy putting in 100 hours as i have with Ds1 --> 3 and demon souls.

Graphics - Great
Gunplay - Amazing
Story - Meh
Difficulty - 2 bosses in and the game was relatively a joke

If youre looking for something difficult i wouldnt say this will scratch the itch. After my first upgrade path i stopped going back as the first 2 bosses were downed by only taking a few hits (getting used to controls) but is relatively easy. The mobs are similar, as the Scavenger with the maul you can run through trash and the bigger enemies require you to pull and time the dodge.

Great looking game, great feel. Bit too easy.

Definitely reminded me of Dark souls, had a fallout NV feel which was awesome. Crafting system feels interesting. I think its a great game for others but i would say, if you get it. Try it out and run through on hard difficulty and see :)

Note: Positive review as this game looks and feels great; but definitely not what i was expecting for the difficulty after what i was reading and viewing