Info about Zerowake GATES:

Official game description:
**\[ Characters \]**
--------------------
**Park Mujin/Esper**
_"What am I, your d\*mn puppet? Sit when you say sit, go when you say go?"_
*   Alpha energy commands the room and you.
*   Once he marks you, it’s game over: obsession begins
*   Beast-like instincts, especially scent
#ObsessiveTop #SizeDifference #DarkTop
\------
**Seong Yebin/Esper**
_"The military’s looking for a way to end the Creature crisis. I believe you’re the key."_
*   Control freak
*   Strategic brilliance
*   Smiles when he's about to destroy you
#BeautifulTop #SchemingTop #PshycoTop
\------
**Han Gaon/Guide**
_“Even if it hurts me… I can’t just ignore someone suffering right in front of me.”_
*   Mature beyond his years
*   Brilliant, but chooses silence over action
*   Carries the exhaustion of someone who's seen too much
#SmartUke #Reserved #NarrativeTwist
**\[ STORY \]**
---------------
When I finally opened my eyes after seven years,  
something was straddling my body… moving against me.
Han Gaon wakes with a shard of meteorite buried deep in his chest.  
The world he knew is long gone. Now, monstrous alien creatures called "Creatures" fill the skies, the land, and his vision.
Among the infected, only a rare few are born with the ability to suppress the creatures’ power and unleash supernatural strength.
_**They’re called the Awakened.**_
_The battlefield belongs to the 'Espers'— men with power, driven by madness.  
And the only ones who can calm that storm… are the 'Guides'._
_**Men who wield power. And men who know how to handle it.**_  
_In a world where bonds are forged through submission, desire, protection, and obsession,_  
_survival depends on one thing—_  
needing each other completely.
_\------_
Meteorites fired by alien Creatures to invade Earth pierced the atmosphere and crashed across the globe.
From the Gates opened by the impact, parasitic monsters poured out relentlessly.
_Due to the Creatures seeking Earth's life force, almost all of Korea has been devastated._  
The survivors scattered across the country, forming new survival orders through factions like the Awakened guilds New Tiger, Daybreak Dragon, and Taeul,  
military organizations such as the 710 Commando, the S.E.M.A Research Institute,  
and those who belong nowhere—the Wanderers.
Why did I gain these powers…?  
The truth of this chaotic world lies hidden  
_within the shard embedded in my chest!_
**\[ Game Description \]**
--------------------------
Draw cards at random to build your own deck and join the battle.  
Each Esper card is paired with a Guide card.  
When you include a connected couple in your deck, they unleash even greater power.
In a battlefield where madness and pleasure collide,  
you must fight alien creatures and find the most effective pairings to survive.
Between battles, a dangerous and provocative story unfolds—  
centered on the protagonist Han Gaon, and the tangled fates of Espers and Guides.  
Uncover the secret behind the meteor fragment in his chest and fight to save a world in ruins.
**\[ Game Features \]**
-----------------------
**Battle System & Survival Strategy**
Deploy Espers and Guides into battle for every fight
Your choices determine each action—plan your attacks wisely
Use couple synergy to form optimal strategies and survive to the end
**Deep Worldbuilding & Rich Story**
Enter a deadly universe of madness, obsession, pleasure, and longing
Between battles, unlock the captivating story of Han Gaon and the Espers
Take on story missions to uncover the alien invasion hidden within the fragments
**Diverse Characters & Strategic Deckbuilding**
Build your deck with random card draws
Pair Esper and Guide cards to strengthen couple synergy
Activate couple bonuses and special skills to claim victory in battle

Release date: 25 Nov, 2025

Categories: Deckbuilding, Turn-based Combat, Strategy, Single-player Story, Visual Novel, Gacha System, Character Management, Character Relationships & Romance


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Highly engaging and enjoyable (weight 0.55): Players find the game's core concept, compelling story, attractive characters, and overall presentation highly engaging and fun. The smooth gameplay, unique art style, and emotional storytelling contribute to a very positive experience, with noted improvements since beta.
- Excellent art and characters (weight 0.28): The game receives consistent praise for its beautiful art style, detailed character designs, and high-quality voice acting/dubbing. These elements contribute to well-developed characters with distinct personalities and strong chemistry.
- Strong BL and character appeal (weight 0.16): The game successfully caters to the Boys' Love (BL) community with attractive male characters and well-adapted BL Manhwa stories. Players appreciate the beautifully written BL narratives and specific suggestive content, despite some mention of censorship.
- Engaging and curious plot (weight 0.12): The storyline is a significant draw, described as good, pleasant, and enjoyable. It consistently sparks player curiosity and effectively maintains interest through its main narrative and additional side stories.
- Strategic and fun mechanics (weight 0.12): The combat system is well-received for its strategic depth, providing an engaging experience. Specific mechanics, such as the 'bond system' and 'Esper-Guide concept', are highlighted as particularly fun and meaningful additions to gameplay.
- Positive gacha mechanics (weight 0.09): Players generally report a positive experience with the gacha system, appreciating its integration with visual novel elements and often favorable pull rates. This contributes to player satisfaction with character acquisition.
- Immersive audio design (weight 0.08): The game's music and sound design are praised for their quality and ability to create an immersive atmosphere. The soundtrack effectively enriches the romantic elements, while funny sound effects add a charming touch.
- Appreciated collaboration characters (weight 0.07): The inclusion of popular collaborated Manhwa and webtoon characters is a significant highlight, with players enjoying their interactions. There is also considerable excitement and anticipation for future collaborative content.
- Accessible and engaging design (weight 0.06): The game is noted for its moderate puzzle difficulty and effective scene atmosphere that encourages player progression. Its free-to-play model also contributes to its accessibility and broad appeal.
- Excellent animations and cutscenes (weight 0.05): Players appreciate the high-quality animations and well-produced cutscenes, which enhance the visual storytelling and overall presentation of the game.

Common complaints:
- Severe, poorly executed censorship (weight 0.97): The game, especially on Steam, features heavy and poorly executed censorship, often blacking out entire scenes, rendering content incomprehensible. This is frustrating given the advertised sexual content, and players cannot link accounts or transfer progress to uncensored mobile versions, leading to feelings of being cheated after purchases.
- Prominent AI art and low-res visuals (weight 0.4): Players frequently noticed the use of obvious AI-generated art, particularly in backgrounds and some dialogues, which many found distracting and unprofessional. Additionally, other visual elements like side character details and general image resolution were low-quality and pixelated, contributing to a cheap overall appearance.
- Uninspired, generic combat and gameplay (weight 0.39): The combat system is repeatedly described as simple, boring, and lacking depth, akin to generic mobile games. Players find the overall gameplay experience uninspired and tedious, with static character images and subpar graphics further detracting from enjoyment.
- Inadequate language localization (weight 0.35): Despite expectations, the game lacks promised translations for several languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese. It was primarily released in English and Asian languages, disappointing a segment of non-English speaking players.
- Unfair gacha and restrictive progression (weight 0.28): The gacha system is heavily criticized for predatory rates, high pity requirements, and an imbalance of 'guides' over desired characters. Players struggle with insufficient resources (EXP, gold), limited daily farming, and expensive upgrade costs, creating significant paywalls for progression.
- Numerous technical issues and crashes (weight 0.26): Many players experienced frequent game crashes, inability to open the game, error messages preventing progression, and general buggy behavior. Issues like freezing, loading problems, and forced closures significantly disrupt the gameplay experience.
- Unintuitive UI and missing basic features (weight 0.13): Players found the user interface to be confusing, cluttered, and outdated. A common complaint was the complete absence of an exit button, and the game forces players through initial story chapters without access to settings or graphic options.
- Lackluster animations and sound (weight 0.11): The game's presentation suffers from very still animations, especially during combat, and uninspired ultimate moves and attack effects. Sound effects are also noted as bothersome and low quality, contributing to a perception of an unprofessional product.
- Weak and problematic story (weight 0.1): The game's story is criticized for being confusing, incoherent, generic, and even problematic, with mentions of non-consensual themes. This significantly detracts from the narrative experience, which is crucial for a game in this genre.
- Inferior to similar BL games (weight 0.04): Some players noted that the game feels like a worse version of existing titles like 'Nu Carnival', especially given its use of AI and overall low quality. This indicates a failure to live up to benchmarks set by competitors in the BL genre.

Gameplay feedback:
- Core Gameplay Loop and Monetization (weight 0.15): The game is identified as an 18+ yaoi visual novel featuring a turn-based combat system. Character improvement is essential for story progression and unlocking erotic content, which is tied to 'sexy men' needing physical contact. It incorporates a typical gacha system for character acquisition and development.
- Mature Content Access and Censorship (weight 0.1): Players highlighted that the mobile version of Erolabs games typically offers uncensored 18+ content, often with a toggle option. There's a suggestion for an in-game setting to universally control censorship, as the 19+ version already includes a warning upon launch.
- Confusing Early Game Experience (weight 0.09): New players expressed difficulty understanding the game's systems and menus early on. One reviewer mentioned being overwhelmed or confused enough to force-close the game after only a short time, indicating potential issues with initial onboarding or UI clarity.
- High Skill Upgrade Costs (weight 0.07): Players noted significant gold requirements for upgrading character skills; for instance, a basic skill upgrade from level 1 to 2 costs 40,000 gold, and an ultimate skill upgrade costs 60,000 gold. This suggests a potentially steep or grindy progression curve.
- Character Interaction Feature (weight 0.03): The game includes a 'link' feature that allows players to chat with espers and guides. This feature aims to enhance character engagement and potentially deepen lore immersion by providing an additional avenue for interaction.

Performance notes:
- Frequent game instability issues (weight 0.09): Players are experiencing critical technical problems including frequent freezes, crashes, and the game becoming unresponsive, especially during dialogue and loading screens. Network instability is also cited, consistently requiring game restarts to resolve these issues.
- Expectation for PC performance (weight 0.02): A player expressed an expectation that the Steam (PC) version of the game should offer better performance compared to its mobile counterpart. This feedback highlights player hopes for platform-specific optimization, though it is based on limited input.

Recommendations:
- Game has potential, needs fixes (weight 0.33): Players have mixed feelings, acknowledging the game's good foundation and appealing aspects like world and characters, but also expressing significant disappointment with its current state. Many believe it could be a 10/10 with fixes, indicating a strong desire for improvements to address existing issues.
- Steam version censored (weight 0.26): A significant portion of players are highly dissatisfied with the censorship present in the Steam version of the game. Many refuse to play or recommend it due to this, actively advising others to avoid the Steam version if they desire an uncensored experience and suggesting alternative platforms like EROLABS.
- Appeals to BL fans (weight 0.08): The game strongly resonates with fans of the Boys' Love (BL) genre, particularly those familiar with subgenres like 'guideverse.' While recommended for BL enthusiasts, some feedback suggests it might not fulfill every aspect of the 'full BL experience' expected by all fans.

Other player notes:
- Demand uncensored content on Steam (weight 0.32): Many players are disappointed that the Steam version is censored. They explicitly reference the uncensored version available on Erolabs and express a strong desire for Steam to offer uncensored content, a patch, or cross-platform account progression. Some even state they will stop playing if censorship is not addressed.
- Game has potential, needs improvements (weight 0.21): Players recognize the game's potential and express hope for future improvements across several areas, including bug fixes, combat effects, animations, and general quality of life. This indicates a belief in the game's future if current issues are addressed.
- Prefer Steam, need account linking (weight 0.07): Many players prefer the Steam platform for comfortable gameplay and are eager for a better experience there. There is a specific request for an Erolabs log-in option on the PC version to ensure account progression carries over between platforms.
- Concerns about microtransactions (weight 0.06): One reviewer is unsure about spending on microtransactions and hopes for more ways to earn in-game currency or 'pulls' without real money. This suggests potential issues with the game's monetization model for some players.
- Desire specific content and collabs (weight 0.04): Reviewers expressed excitement and anticipation for specific character cards or collaborations, such as Rix Vanus and Guildmate Nextdoor. This indicates interest in future content updates and specific character inclusions.
- Conditionally free-to-play (weight 0.02): A single reviewer noted the game's conditional free-to-play nature, which might imply limitations or expectations around its F2P model that are not fully clear or satisfying.

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.33): Players felt disappointed primarily due to pervasive censorship, especially on the Steam version, which often removed NSFW or 19+ content, blacked out CGs, and led to wasted time/money. Other significant causes included the use of AI-generated art and dialogue, overall poor game quality (visuals, story, combat, animations), lack of content or key features like account linking, and predatory gacha mechanics, failing to meet player expectations.
- Frustration (weight 0.23): Frustration stemmed heavily from technical issues such as game crashing, not opening, bugs, and installation errors, along with poorly implemented and widespread censorship that often made content misleading or inaccessible. Players also experienced progression roadblocks due to high upgrade costs, difficult combat, stingy resources, and gacha issues. The inability to link accounts or play desired uncensored versions on preferred platforms further contributed to this sentiment.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.11): Satisfaction was driven by strong core game elements including engaging stories, appealing characters, high-quality art, graphics, and animations. Players also appreciated smooth and immersive gameplay, strategic combat, good voice acting, and enjoyable world-building. Positive gacha rates and the free-to-play model, combined with genre combinations and 18+ scenes (where available uncensored), contributed to a positive overall experience.
- Hope (weight 0.06): Players expressed hope for future improvements, including bug fixes, general game refinement, and the potential removal or changes to censorship policies, especially regarding Erolabs login and more animation. This indicates a desire for the game to reach its full potential and address current shortcomings.
- Confusion (weight 0.04): Confusion largely revolved around the reasoning behind the game's censorship, particularly its inconsistency compared to other Steam games with similar content tags. Players also struggled to understand plot-relevant scenes due to censorship and found the UI unclear, highlighting a discrepancy between advertised content and the actual in-game experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.03): Excitement was generated by appealing character designs, the anticipation of future collaborations and new content releases, and the general enjoyment of early gameplay following the game's launch. Players were looking forward to the game and had often preregistered, indicating a high initial interest.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger was a strong reaction to what players perceived as ridiculous levels of censorship and the removal of explicit content, feeling deprived of the desired experience. Additionally, predatory monetization practices and overall low game quality contributed to this intense negative emotion.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.02): Enjoyment was derived from the core gameplay experience, including engaging combat, compelling storylines, and high-quality voice acting and sound effects. The appeal of cool characters, dramatic narratives, BL energy, great art, and fun concepts further contributed to players' positive experiences, especially when playing on PC or with collab characters.
- Warning (weight 0.02): Players issued warnings primarily about the prevalent censorship on the Steam version, aiming to inform others about potential content limitations and overall game experience. This indicates a desire to prevent other players from encountering the same issues or unmet expectations.
- Appreciation (weight 0.02): Appreciation was directed towards the game's artistic elements, specifically the high quality of its art, cutscenes, and voice acting. Players recognized and valued the craftsmanship evident in these aspects of the game.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance was caused by limited language options and the absence of AI translation, hindering accessibility for a wider audience. Censorship also contributed to this feeling, acting as a persistent minor irritation rather than a major upset.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Players felt anticipation for specific upcoming game elements, such as new characters, cards, and future content releases. This highlights an ongoing interest in the game's development and upcoming additions.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom resulted from slow, tedious, and uninspired gameplay mechanics. Players found the core loops and activities lacking engagement, leading to a dull overall experience.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust was specifically triggered by the game's story theme. This indicates a strong negative reaction to the narrative content or underlying concepts presented in the game.
- Concern (weight 0.01): Concern arose from uncertainty regarding the availability of an uncensored version on Steam. Players worried about missing out on the full intended experience due to platform restrictions.
- Regret (weight 0.01): Regret was expressed concerning strict 19+ game censorship policies specifically in Korea. This indicates player dissatisfaction with regional content restrictions that impact their gaming experience.
- Feeling cheated (weight 0.01): Players felt cheated due to incompatible accounts after making a purchase. This issue, likely related to platform or server discrepancies, led to a sense of betrayal and loss of investment.
- Optimism (weight 0.01): Optimism was tied to the game's newness, suggesting players had a positive outlook because the game was still early in its lifecycle. This implies a belief in future improvements and potential.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Surprise was specifically caused by censorship, indicating that players encountered unexpected content restrictions. This suggests the censorship was either unforeseen or more extensive than anticipated.
- Exhaustion (weight 0.01): Exhaustion was a result of the tedious and repetitive process of rerolling for desired SSR characters in the gacha system. This highlights the grind and frustration associated with obtaining high-rarity items.}