Yet Another Zombie Survivors is addictive carnage | Early access impressions

Yet Another Zombie Survivors has a silly name. It’s a name that’s obviously intended to poke fun at the fact it’s blatantly and deliberately aping Zombie Survivors and Vampire Survivors, just as the developers’ previous game Yet Another Zombie Defense did the same with tower defense games. I get it, of course, but it still makes me grind my teeth when I read it. That said, if the clumsy title doesn’t put you off downloading it, you’re in for a bit of a treat if reverse-bullet hell auto-shooters are your thing, because it’s a pretty decent example of the genre.

This is an early access release and so right now it’s knowingly unfinished, but what’s here is very addictive and a lot of fun. It follows the exact template laid down by other auto-shooters, where you move a single character around an isometric environment, focusing on dodging the increasing hordes of enemies while the AI does the blasting. The biggest difference in Yet Another Zombie Survivors is that it puts a lot of little bells and whistles on it.

You have, initially, three classes to choose from. Whether the names are placeholder isn’t clear, but you have ranged assault socialist SWAT, close-quarters fella, Tank, and the lightning-wielding Engineer. You can pick any as your leader, but periodically will be able to rescue two others who’ll just latch to your hip like a needy partner and effectively double your firepower while also increasing your health pool and unlocking new abilities.

These abilities are all on cooldowns and will trigger when it’s over without your input. SWAT has a grenade and helicopter that will swoop in and strafe the zombies; Engineer can drop a shock turret or trigger bursts of electrical damage; Tank can drop mines and summon saw blade drones that spin around your group and dice whatever gets in their way.

I’ve also unlocked Huntress and Ghost. The former is slow and precise and can rain arrows on the horde, while the latter is a melee-focused ninja who’s great at keeping the dead at a safe distance. Well, safer. Which survivors you come across is randomised (there’s also a Medic, and three others who’ll be related during early access), as are your perks. You’ll find chests dotted around that contain a choice of buffs, such as increased health, movement speed, or “Happiness”. I don’t know what Happiness does, but the loading screen tips told me it’s very important.

You’ll also level up at a rate of knots just by slaying out and collecting dropped diamonds, and each level gained gives you a choice of boosts to weapons and abilities, eventually upgrading your guns along the path of, say, pistol-SMG-assault rifle. You unlock more upgrades by hitting murder thresholds, a system which is bugged on my Tank and won’t let me hit it no matter what I do.

Finally, you earn money sporadically, which gives you Upgrade Points you can spend between runs on permanent boosts like more health, increased XP gains, damage resistance, etc. It’s basic stuff, but it’s effective nonetheless, and makes you feel you’re always improving even if you fail a run. And you’ll fail a lot of runs.

What begins with a couple of zombies shambling by who you’ll pop in the head just because they’re there and you might as well, soon becomes a frantic run-and-gun game of zombie tag as the horde surrounds and flows towards you like a big sea of jelly with teeth in. Movement speed boosts become your best friend when you’re met with super-zombies who can charge you, unleash swarms of zombie flies, spit poison, explode, or just run at you with a giant axe. Taking these down rewards you with huge amounts of XP, but they’re seriously tough, especially when you have three or four to deal with at once.

So there’s a level of planning and tactics to it that I wasn’t expecting, such as which upgrades to take first, which trio of slayers to pick, which buffs you choose from every chest you find. While it’s mostly random, there’s still an element of forethought required. It’s not exactly taxing, but it does add an extra dimension to the otherwise mostly mindless fun.

The fact it isn’t pixel art is also fairly refreshing at this stage. Auto-shooters are often incredibly low-effort (which is not the insult it sounds like), with simple art and straightforward mechanics, so thtle fact that Yet Another Zombie Survivors does a little more with the formula should be commended. It’s early days for the title right now, and early access will only see it grow and expand, adding new zones (there’s only one at present) and game modes, new survivors, weapons and, therefore, tactics. Get past the awkward title, and there’s a lot to like here, even at this stage.