Check out our ZOE Begone! review to see how this 1930s-inspired shoot-em-up handles.
I know I got super excited when I heard “1930-inspired shoot-em-up”. Being a massive Cuphead fan and having proudly clocked the 100%, I was itching to get my teeth into something similar. Does ZOE Begone! manage to scratch that itch?
Insomniac
I have a lot of empathy for Zoe as someone who occasionally suffers from insomnia. Zoe just wants to sleep. I get that, OH SO MUCH. The difference between me and Zoe is that where I’m worrying about life and inconsequential nonsense, Zoe is being harassed by the Animator. And boy, oh boy, is the Animator about to get it for disrupting their sleep.
It Came to Me in a Dream
The main aim of ZOE Begone! is to take down the Animator and their various tools of artistry so you can finally get a good night’s sleep. You play as the titular Zoe, a triangular, sleep-deprived entity. They must fight through five levels comprising three ‘reels’ and a boss.
The bosses inspire the theme of each of the five levels. Enemies take the form of the boss’s level; stamps of words telling Zoe to “Die” shoot at you in Level 4, watch out for geometrically cut snakelike enemies in Level 2, and there’s a whole load of inky foes from Animator’s ink-drenched digits in the final film.
I’ve Just Woken Up!
To succeed, you’ll need to shoot, dash and pound your way across the five Films, 15 Reels, and five bosses. Zoe starts with a standard gun attack, a pound attack and a dash attack. The latter uses up energy that can be tracked in the bottom right of the screen. Advanced weapons that can be purchased also use said energy. This leads to some resource management. As you play, you’ll burn through more energy with a better weapon and your dashes. You can easily replenish your energy with a pound attack on a blue dot that sits along the floor. Well, I say easy, when it gets frenetic, or in the midst of a boss battle, I’ve never known such panic, and frustration with myself when I miss!
The risk of not keeping your energy topped up is that you might lose your fancy gun. If you keep firing after the ammo depletes, you’ll revert to your default gun. It also means you can’t dash or fly, leaving you grounded until you top up your energy. There is a benefit to being on the floor, in that you can shoot in more directions, but of course, you’re less mobile. Whereas, in the air, you can only shoot horizontally in the direction you’re facing but you’ve got much more flexibility in your movement.
I really loved how dynamic the combat was. You are very much encouraged to be in the air, then pound to the floor, dashing back into the air and flying around enemies before pounding down again. When you find a flow and you’re watching your enemies explode into apples, it is insanely gratifying. Yes, apples.
An Apple a Day Keeps the Animator Away
You want upgrades? You are gonna need to collect apples! Enemies drop them when they’re defeated, but they don’t stick around long, and they diminish in value quickly. Doing a ground pound creates a magnet that draws all on-screen apples towards Zoe. Between Reel 1 and Reel 2, you can spend the apples for upgrades to Zoe’s abilities, there’s movement speed, apple magnetism, a shield, or you can improve the power of your default weapon. This is where you buy your three different types of guns, too. There are plenty of build options to match your play style, and I’d certainly encourage you to play around and try different stuff out to get a feel for the game.
Annoyingly, your apples don’t carry with you at the end of each level. They count towards your overall score, and you start afresh at the beginning of each Film. I’ve been so close to that final weapon upgrade so many times, but just not close enough! That’s where your multiplier comes in. Defeating enemies and maintaining damage keeps your multiplier climbing and increases the value of your kill score and the apples collected. It’s possible to get up to (and maybe over) a 40x multiplier, but I haven’t succeeded in that as yet!
Do You Know Your Enemy?
The enemy variety is great across each level. Every foe behaves differently and has a differing attack, even if you’ve encountered a variant before. There’s a surprising level of depth to the enemy design. Some are armoured and can’t be easily taken down with your dash attack, for example. You’ve got to mix it up and use everything available to you to succeed, especially if you want that high multiplier / score!
There’s also a lot of character in the design of both Zoe and the enemies. Taking inspiration from the 1930s drawn on film animation, everything looks fantastic. Its unique style is charming, and most importantly, easy to follow. Sure, things get crazy, and you will definitely die, but that’s not a fault of the game’s design (well, it is, but not a fault of the visuals!)! It wants to kill you, obviously!
As you smash the blue energy dots at the bottom, the green health triangles, or the pink squares that cause damage, it changes the background colour to blue. A simple map on the bottom of the screen above your health bar (left) and energy (right) helps you see where you’ve been at a glance. It’s impressive how much information is portrayed on the screen without feeling cluttered or getting in the way of the action.
Like a Boss
I know the Cuphead fans will be curious about the bosses! I am happy to confirm they are fantastic. A great bullet hell challenge that takes the trial and error approach, crossed with a skill, ‘git gud’ mentality. You’re going to die, and it is a case of learning the boss’s moves to get around their attacks and damage them.
One of my favourites is the Stamps; it was great chipping away at each Stamp and seeing the boss’s phases evolve. Equally, I reckon I could keep all six alive until they are all nearly dead and then wipe them out quickly. I also loved the fight with the Animator; it was a super fun fight.
You can see the passion and fun that developer Retchy has had in making this game. I’m certain they are his hands in the game! As a solo dev, it certainly would make sense.
Sounds Good to Me
The music in ZOE Begone! is also excellent. It is incredibly catchy, and I found myself humming along when I was at work. The sound effects are great too, working really well with the chaotic-ness of the game, without being overbearing.
Importantly, the game handles super well. The controls are responsive and relatively easy to grasp. I occasionally struggled with jumping to flying. It involves holding the right bumper or trigger (Xbox) after jumping, and I occasionally didn’t get that right and took damage as I tried to get myself in the air. This could entirely be down to player error, because in other instances, I was absolutely flying around the screen.
The game is tough at times! Even on easy, you’ve got to have your wits about you. It’s never feels unfair, but it will challenge you. In a good way though, like Cuphead and other good shoot-em-ups. As you progress, and do better, you’ll unlock more lives to carry on your playthrough, up to nine lives (maybe Zoe’s a cat?). So it’s worth living, dying and repeating a bit!
Play it Again, Zoe!
There is plenty to keep you playing in ZOE Begone too! Not only have you got the main ‘Arcade’ mode, but there’s also a Time Attack mode, and a ‘Frame Trap’ mode. This is like a remix of Boss Rush mode where all the bosses attack you in waves. It was super fun! All of which have easy, normal and hard modes too.
So, there’s plenty to test your skills and reflexes. Not only that, the online leaderboards will have you vying to be the very best (like no one ever was). Plus, if you are an achievement / trophy hunter, I suspect that Platinum / 1000G will sit high up on the “I’ve earned this” rankings.
For the price of entry, you’re certainly getting bang for your buck.
ZOE BeGood?
ZOE Begone! is a classic shmup; bullets everywhere, and points to rack up. With it’s responsive gameplay, unique art style, and sound, it is a joy to play. It is gloriously addictive and can sit proudly alongside the likes of Cuphead as a shoot-em-up, providing you with that incredibly rewarding feeling when you succeed, and can finally get some well-earned sleep!
ZOE Begone! is available on PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series.
ZOE Begone! releases on 17 September 2025 and was reviewed on Xbox Series X. We’d like to thank the developer for the review code.
