Overview – developed by Rowan Edmondson with publishing by ACCLAIM and Aurakenn Games, Ground Zero Hero is a survival horde roguelike, set in a post apolcalyptic world ravaged by mutants. As the survivor, battle against abominations, collect radiation and gain mutations to strengthen yourself as you survive in this new world. This title is available for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and Steam, with a link to each version of the game at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank ACCLAIM for providing the copy of Ground Zero Hero that was used for this piece, via the Keymailer service. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. As there is no real plot to the release, I will be going directly into discussing the gameplay, covering the core aspects of the experience to prevent spoiling the cool things.
Gameplay – as the survivor, step out of a bunker into the wasteland, which has been forever changed after an apocalyptic event. On the surface, the hero gains mutations that allow him to fight against the creatures roaming the surface. At the start of a run, the hero gets to pick their first power for free, which will be an attack to fight the monsters. After the player makes their choice, the run will kick off as enemies start to appear.
In a run, the player can roam the stage freely, with enemies appearing from all sides and closing in on the hero. To survive, the player needs to fight off the abominations with their powers. As they are defeated, radiation points can drop and the player can collect them, filling up a bar on the side of the screen. When the bar is fully filled up, the player will level up and gain the chance to select a new mutation, with three options each time.
The mutations that can appear consist of two different types of power, with passive and active abilities that are in the pool. The active powers include the tentacle arm whip, the fireball spit and the back spikes the fire behind the player. Then there are the passive abilities, with the third leg that increases speed, frenzy that boosts attack rate and radiation that adds a damaging aura to the hero. Mutations are randomised, making each run unique.
As the player collects abilities, there will be level up bonuses, which will improve the power of the mutation. With each level up of a mutation, there will be increased damage, range and additional effects like leaving flames on the ground. The player can collect a total of 20 mutations, adding a fair amount of flexibility and customisation to each run. Once the player passes the mutation cap, they will be unable to collect any new powers.
The core objective of each of the stages is to survive, all while wiping out a set number of enemies, which appears at the top of the screen. This is done by wiping out the waves of enemies, as well as mini bosses that will randomly appear. These include mutated trees, giant insects and alien queens, which will appear randomly to attack the hero. By defeating the mini boss monsters, players will be able to collect super rads, which provide a boost of radiation points.
Over the course of the stage, time will pass from day to night with an on screen timer, showing the sun rising and setting in an arch. When the sun sets, night will fall and the dangers will significantly increase. Under the cover of darkness, monsters will appear and hunt down the hero, with Vampires, Werewolves and Mummies that will appear. These enemies are significantly more powerful and will slaughter the player if they are surrounded.
To make survival of the night easier, the player will be able to take cover in unoccupied bunkers, allowing the player to sleep and go to the next day. When they sleep, the hero will recover some of the health that has been lost. However, maintaining the hero’s strength is not the only factor that contributes to survival, as they need to eat candy to prevent starvation. If the player is unable to refill their food bar, they will starve and slowly drain their health.
In order to prevent the effects of starvation, the player can find candy that is scattered in piñatas, as well as dropped from special enemies. But that is not the only item that can be found, as there are many a locked safe, which will contain caps that are the currency of the wasteland. Players can also find mushrooms that cause weird effects while healing, as well as dice which will allow a set of mutations to be re-rolled once when levelling up.
Players can also encounter special interactable elements in the stages, like the cow that players can ride for a set amount of time, destroying enemies that appear. The three eyed bear that will run around and attack enemies, helping clear chunks of enemies. The Hammer of Thor that will bring a lightning strike (this also happens at kill streaks), and the sun medallion that will breathe fire. But there are also random events, like the plane that leaves poison clouds on the field.
Runs can end in two ways, either through death or by wiping out enough mutants to reach the target number. When the number reaches zero, all enemies will instantly die, then the boss will appear. If the player defeats the boss, they will clear the stage and get bonus rewards. Either way a run ends, the player will get a ranking screen and increase their mutation level, unlocking new powers as the mutation level increases.
Between runs, players can check their permanent upgrades, which will allow the hero to survive for longer during each run. The upgrades that players can unlock include boosted health, more speed and increased range of item pickups. To unlock additional upgrades, the player will need to pay Caps to increase their power. But these aren’t the only upgrades that players can obtain, as the active mutations can be powered up.
When the player reaches a set number of kills with a power, they unlock the Bonkers mode chance, which enhances the mutation randomly. The power of a Bonkers mutation will be massively ramped up, with the Tentacle becoming jumbified and the fire becoming a laser. These happen randomly, adding to the unpredictability of play. Players can also complete missions for coins, like killing a set number of enemies, or surviving a night without a bunker.
After clearing the stages, the player will also unlock the endless mode, where they can play the game for as long as possible. This mode is for players to get the best score possible while surviving, with the runs only ending when they are killed by an enemy or hazard. This is a good way of practicing different builds that can appear, farming coins and completing missions. The only downside is there doesn’t appear to be a global leaderboard which would boost the replay value.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to discuss the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – Ground Zero Hero has a very easy to use control scheme, with the player only needing to use the left thumbstick, mouse and WASD/arrow keys to play. This makes the game very easy for players of all capabilities to play the game, which is great for accessibility. There is some use of other buttons, but they are only for menu navigation which is very straight forward. All of the different gameplay options are comfortable to use in play.
Difficulty – the difficulty for this game fluctuates, due to the random nature of the experience. This means that depending on the mutations available, some runs will be a little easier than others. But if the player is dealt a bad hand, it can be harder to make it through a stage. This is especially so with the boss battles. It is also possible to ease the difficulty of runs with the upgrades, as increasing health and speed can make survival easier.
Presentation – from a visual standpoint, this game has a very colorful style to it, using cartoony sprites and lively environments. There are some comedic animations, which add to the quirky nature of the experience, as there are some over the top elements. Things can seem a little jerky at times, but are mostly smooth. The sound is pretty good, with some pleasing music and impactful sound effects, which ties the whole experience together.
Final Thoughts – I have enjoyed the survivor genre of games in the past, with Vampire Survivors and Karate Survivor, which were a lot of fun. So because of this, I was intrigued by Ground Zero Hero, and I decided to give it a try. At the start, things were a little awkward, but the more I played of the game, the better it got. After a while, everything just flowed in a way that was exciting, making me want to keep going with just one more run.
The game isn’t perfect, as it can be a little clunky due to getting stuck on the environment, and the camera can be a little awkward. It can also be rather unbalanced, with the chance for runs to end quickly and upgrades can be a grind. But it is a generally fun and enjoyable experience, with a solid amount of accessibility to the game. With all of that being said, I can still recommend it if you like Survivor games, as it is fun even if it has some flaws.
In the end, I give Ground Zero Hero a final score of 3.75/5. This is an enjoyable Survivor game, with a quirky premise that allows it to stand alone, while also having familiar elements of the genre, with quirky humor and ridiculous attacks, but it does have a couple of hiccups. If you want to check this game out for yourself, a link to each version of the game will be below.
Link to Steam version (HERE)
Link to Nintendo Switch 2 version (HERE)
Link to PlayStation 5 version (HERE)
Link to Xbox Series version (HERE)
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