Yet Another Zombie Survivors Review Summary

Last updated: 2025-02-24
  • Addictive gameplay with constant improvements.
  • Impressive graphics and sound design.
  • Easy to pick up and relaxing.
  • Good survivor/bullet-hell game, great value.
  • Limited build and skill diversity.
  • Frequent crashes and performance issues.
Yet Another Zombie Survivors header

What players like:

Common complaints:

Gameplay feedback:

Performance notes:

Recommendations:

Other player notes:

Review evidence

Why players say this

What players like

Addictive gameplay, constant improvements: The game is praised for its addictive gameplay loop, frequent updates, and satisfying progression systems. Players find it hard to stop playing due to the constant stream of unlocks, upgrades, and strategic choices. The developers are commended for their dedication to improving the game based on player feedback, adding new content, and refining existing mechanics.

Impressive graphics and sound design: The game's visuals and sound design are frequently praised, contributing significantly to its immersive atmosphere. Reviewers highlight the detailed graphics, realistic effects, and well-crafted soundscape as key elements that enhance the overall player experience. The game distinguishes itself from others in the genre with its high-quality presentation.

Easy to pick up, relaxing: The game is noted for its accessibility and suitability for casual play. Its simple mechanics, short sessions, and low cognitive demand make it ideal for relaxation, stress relief, and playing on the Steam Deck. The game is easy to pick up and play without requiring intense focus or complex decision-making.

Satisfying zombie-slaying action: The game delivers a satisfying zombie-slaying experience, with hordes of diverse undead enemies and strategic combat. Players enjoy mowing down zombies and appreciate the game's blend of action, gore, and strategic elements. The zombie theme is well-integrated into the gameplay, creating an immersive and enjoyable experience for fans of the genre.

Good time-killer, enjoyable initially: The game is considered a good time-killer and is enjoyable for short sessions. The reviewer found the game initially enjoyable and novel. The game is easy to get into and is suitable for casual, mindless entertainment.

Common complaints

Limited build/skill diversity: The game lacks meaningful build diversity and character customization. Skill trees are limited, synergies are weak, and item choices have little impact, leading to repetitive gameplay and a lack of strategic depth.

Poor character/weapon balance: The game has significant balance issues, with some characters (especially the Tank and Medic) and weapons being far more effective than others. This limits strategic options and forces players into specific builds or team compositions. Some skills are also considered useless or underpowered.

Frequent crashes, performance issues: Many reviewers report technical issues, including frequent crashes, stuttering, and performance problems even on high-end hardware. These issues can lead to lost progress and a frustrating gameplay experience.

Grindy, unrewarding progression: The game's progression system is grindy and unrewarding, with leveling up feeling slow and upgrades providing only minor stat increases. This makes it difficult for players to feel powerful and discourages experimentation.

Lacks multiplayer, language support: The game lacks multiplayer or co-op modes, which is a significant drawback for players looking for a shared experience. Additionally, the game is not available in several languages, limiting accessibility for some players.

Gameplay and performance

Squad-based character synergies: The game centers around controlling a squad of up to three characters with distinct classes (e.g., medic, engineer, hunter, swat) and roles, each possessing unique weapons, abilities, and upgrade paths. Players strategically manage and upgrade these characters to survive against zombie hordes, creating team synergies and build variations.

Survive hordes, upgrade, auto-aim: The core gameplay loop involves surviving waves of enemies in a top-down, bullet-hell environment, often with auto-aim and auto-fire mechanics. Players focus on movement and strategic decision-making, upgrading weapons and abilities to enhance their survivability against increasingly difficult hordes.

Lacks innovation, high difficulty: Some reviewers feel the game doesn't bring anything fundamentally new to the genre. The game's balance is tight, and the difficulty can be high in the early stages.

Unique character skills/playstyles: Specific characters like the Engineer, Ghost, and Flamethrower have unique skills and playstyles. The Engineer is recommended for beginners, while the Flamethrower relies on area-of-effect attacks.

Emphasis on movement, auto-attacks: The game emphasizes movement and strategic decisions over aiming, as attacks are often automatically executed. Resource management and ability fine-tuning are important during battles.

Good Steam Deck support: The game has good Steam Deck support, including dedicated settings and FSR scaling. While some users noted the UI could be small or that achieving a constant 60fps and long battery life isn't guaranteed, the game is generally considered playable on the device.

Performance varies by update: Several reviews mention performance changes tied to specific updates, such as lag being resolved in the 0.7 update or performance degrading after the Medic update. This indicates that the game's performance is actively being worked on and is subject to change.

Specific technical issues identified: Specific technical issues were identified, such as frame rate drops when alt-tabbing and improvements gained by disabling the gamebar presence. These are specific, actionable observations that could help improve the player experience.

Scalable across hardware: The game runs well on low-end PCs and the Legion GO, indicating good scalability across different hardware configurations.

Recommendations

Strongly recommend; great value: The game is widely recommended, with many reviewers considering it a worthwhile purchase, especially for fans of the bullet heaven and zombie survival genres. Many suggest it's a great value, particularly when on sale, and praise its addictive gameplay and overall fun factor. Some reviewers provide a numerical score.

Good survivor/bullet-hell game: The game is frequently compared to Vampire Survivors and other similar titles, with many reviewers recommending it to fans of the survivor and bullet-hell genres. Some consider it one of the better entries in the genre, praising its unique take on the formula and its potential to surpass existing titles.

Awaiting future content/updates: Many reviewers are anticipating future updates and content additions, such as new characters, maps, weapons, skills, and game modes. They express hope that the developers will continue to support and improve the game, addressing current limitations and expanding the overall experience. Some reviewers are waiting for the full release before fully committing.

Great for casual play: The game is often described as a good choice for casual play, suitable for short sessions, downtime, or when looking for a mindless and relaxing experience. It's considered a great way to unwind and kill time, especially while listening to music or watching videos in the background.

Needs more content variety: Reviewers suggest the game needs more content variety, specifically requesting more maps, characters, weapons, and skills. They believe that expanding the available options would reduce repetitiveness and enhance the overall gameplay experience.

Other review notes

Early Access with future potential: The game is in Early Access, with developers actively working on updates and improvements. Players anticipate more content such as new characters, maps, and features to be added as development progresses. Many reviewers express excitement about the game's potential and look forward to future updates.

More characters planned/desired: The game features several playable characters, with more planned for future updates. Some characters are currently locked, and reviewers are eager to see new operators added.

No Russian language support: The game currently lacks Russian language support, but it doesn't significantly impact understanding. The developers plan to add language support after the full release.

Grindy, cluttered leveling system: Leveling system has too many options, making it difficult to upgrade desired skills. Even after completing the game, character talents are not maxed out, indicating a high level of grinding.

Mixed development improvements: Development is ongoing, with mixed results in improvements.