Zombie Survivors is an action-packed roguelite from indie developer Cube Games. There’s a reason this game genre is trending"”it's just plain fun.
Gameplay
In Zombie Survivors, you step into the shoes of a lone Survivor facing relentless undead hordes. Your starting character is an Archer, equipped to fire arrows straight ahead. As you progress and earn gold within each level, you can unlock additional characters with unique abilities. Initially, only the first level is accessible, but as you advance, new challenges await.
The first level serves as a perfect introduction to the game mechanics, giving you space to learn the ropes. The levels are impressively large; at first, I assumed movement was restricted to a small area, but discovering the freedom to explore"”and even walk across obstacles"”made the game significantly easier. While each level has boundaries, there's still plenty of room to maneuver and strategize. The zombie horde starts off slow but quickly ramps up, until it becomes completely chaotic.
Defeating enemies drops green EXP gems, which help you level up as you collect them. Each level-up lets you choose a new skill or upgrade an existing one, with options presented randomly"”so you'll need to choose wisely! You can pick new attacks or enhance stats like critical damage, health, defense, and more, customizing your Survivor as the horde intensifies.
Enemies drop more than just EXP gems"”they also drop gold, blue jewels, chests, food, and special items. Gold and blue jewels can be spent in the main menus after each level, letting you upgrade and prepare for future runs. Chests offer a free spin, which might reward you with money, blue gems, bombs, food, EXP magnets, or a gold bonanza.
Each run lasts about 10 minutes, and when you hit that mark, the Grim Reaper arrives"”essentially spelling game over. I always try to outrun him, grabbing as much loot as possible before he catches me. Successfully completing a level unlocks the next one, expanding your adventure further.
Upgrade Mechanics
After completing a level, you can spend your hard-earned gold and gems on new playable characters, Cards, and Slimes.
Zombie Survivors offers a total of five playable characters, each with unique stats and a distinctive starting weapon. Personally, I found the Monk to be my favorite and always picked him once I saved up the 1,000 gold required to unlock him.
Cards are unlocked by achieving certain milestones within levels, though the exact criteria isn’t clear. From my experience, leveling up specific passive skills seems to help unlock new cards. The developer has mentioned that an update is on the way to clarify these unlock conditions. Once unlocked, cards can be upgraded using the blue gems you've collected, with costs increasing as cards reach higher levels. Each card provides passive upgrades that are active once unlocked, offering perks like additional gem or gold drops, health recovery, and even resurrection. Upgrading cards consistently is well worth the effort, as these bonuses can make a significant difference in your runs.
The other purchasable items are Slimes, adorable pets you can unlock that become available as skills to acquire within each level. Each Slime comes with a unique ability, such as freezing or poisoning enemies, causing earthquakes, summoning tornadoes, triggering lightning and firestorms, or even healing the player. These Slimes add a layer of strategy and charm, as their varied powers can be invaluable for tackling tougher hordes.
Final Thoughts
Zombie Survivors absolutely gets a thumbs up from me. The cartoony, vibrant art style adds a lot of charm, and each level is paired with classical music that's sure to feel familiar to anyone who's heard it before.
Roguelites are massively popular right now, and this one hits the mark quite well. The gameplay stays smooth, even with a screen full of zombies, and I didn't encounter any glitches throughout my time with the game. For reference, I managed to earn the full 1,000 Gamerscore on the Xbox One version. I continuously kept wanting to go back for just one more run. While there's room for more upgrade mechanics, what’s available is solid and it wasn't a dealbreaker for me.
Coming in under $4 on Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, this game is a no-brainer for any roguelite fan.
Zombie Survivors was reviewed on the Xbox Series X, with a review code provided by Cube Games. The game was released on October 23, 2024 on Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, following its initial release on Steam and PC on August 9, 2024.
