ARRIVAL: ZERO EARTH
- January 12, 2024
- jounitus
- 25h median play time
Get on Steam"Arrival: Zero Earth" is a real-time strategy game where players must defend Earth from an alien invasion. Utilize advanced technology, military forces, and strategic planning to fend off the extraterrestrial threat and save humanity. Experience intense battles, dynamic environments, and diverse challenges in this immersive and thrilling adventure.
Reviews
- Arrival: Zero Earth offers a unique twist on the roguelite genre, allowing players to control multiple units in a chaotic alien invasion setting, which adds a refreshing layer of strategy.
- The game features a fun and engaging atmosphere, with humorous elements and a charming Finnish theme that enhances the overall experience.
- Despite its simplicity, the game provides a good amount of entertainment for its price, with many players enjoying the fast-paced action and the ability to jump in and out of runs.
- The gameplay can become repetitive quickly, with limited enemy variety and a lack of depth in mechanics, leading to a grindy experience.
- Some players find the controls and unit management sluggish, making it difficult to enjoy the chaotic action without feeling overwhelmed.
- The game lacks significant metaprogression and variety in upgrades, which can make long-term engagement feel less rewarding.
- gameplay14 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this arena survival game has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the concept of managing a larger group of soldiers and the smooth controls, while others criticize it for being dull and repetitive, featuring bullet-sponge enemies and a lack of variety. Although the graphics and atmosphere are praised, many find the gameplay grind tedious and lacking in complexity, leading to a less engaging experience overall. The availability of a demo allows players to test the gameplay before committing, which is a positive aspect noted by some reviewers.
“For a small price of £4.99, the game offers a massive amount of gameplay for the price.”
“The controls work perfectly, the graphics are beautiful, and gameplay is smooth with well-made units.”
“Really fun game with great atmosphere and gameplay, keeps you coming back to play again and again.”
“This is by far the most dull, boring, and sleep-inducing arena survival game I have ever played, complete with absurdly bullet-sponge enemies, excruciatingly slow grind, and next to no variety in enemies and gameplay other than 'don't stand in damage puddles.'”
“There's not much variety in the mechanics either, so it's just a long and boring fight.”
“Even with the little demo progress I had that got transferred to this version of the game, buying even a few new upgrades costs a lot and requires so much repetitive gameplay.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- -20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The graphics are praised for their beautiful design and excellent art style, blending 50's alien sci-fi with Finnish culture. While the visuals are simple and the maps small, they effectively capture the essence of the game, contributing to an enjoyable experience that resonates with players. Overall, the graphics are considered charming and fitting for the game's light strategy and fun gameplay.
“The beautifully designed graphics are pleasant to look at.”
“The art style is excellent; the mixture of 50's style alien sci-fi and Finnish culture works incredibly well, and it's definitely one of the most fun titles of this kind out there right now.”
“It's graphics and strategy lite, and the maps are on the small side, but it's got a lot of heart and ticks all of the right boxes.”
“The graphics are simple, but it hits that Minesweeper bone.”
“It's graphics and strategy lite, and the maps are on the small side.”
“Vampire Survivors with the aesthetic and gameplay loop of Risk of Rain 2.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features a solid sense of humor, highlighted by clever references such as humorous IKEA-inspired names for units, contributing to its unique charm. Players appreciate the comedic elements alongside its engaging theme of alien warfare.
“It's also got a great theme (we rarely see War of the Worlds type games), a solid sense of humor, and alien-killing galore.”
“Funny Finnish game.”
“+1 for funny IKEA names for units :)”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and unengaging, as it requires repetitive efforts to unlock new units and items that offer minimal variety or excitement. The chaotic gameplay and lackluster visuals further detract from the experience, making the grind feel more like a chore than an enjoyable challenge.
“The game is grindy, samey, chaotic (in a bad way), and tough to look at.”
“You only start with a selection of randomly obtained 5 units and some 10 items, and need to unlock the rest through endless grinding and spending of in-game currency, making actually seeing new things a mind-numbing process. The new items and units aren't particularly engaging either, mostly just flat stat ups and characters that shoot different flavored DPS.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is highly praised, with users noting that it runs smoothly at 20fps even under extreme stress, outperforming its predecessor, Risk of Rain 2. This impressive performance is attributed to the efforts of a single developer, making it resilient to potential performance issues.
“Better than ROR2 (no oneshots:)), from a single developer, and optimized so well that it runs at 20fps no matter how hard you try to break this game; your PC will die first (and it takes a lot, thanks to optimization).”
“The game is so poorly optimized that it runs at a constant 20fps, regardless of how much you try to push it. Your PC will give up before the game does.”
“Despite being developed by a single person, the optimization is lacking, resulting in frustratingly low frame rates.”
“The optimization is a major issue; the game struggles to maintain a playable frame rate even on high-end systems.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its engaging atmosphere, which enhances the overall gameplay experience and encourages replayability. However, some users have noted certain aspects of the atmosphere that remain unclear or problematic.
“The game has a nice atmosphere, although there are some issues I still don't understand, as I outlined in my video.”
“Really fun game with great atmosphere and gameplay, keeps you coming back to play again and again.”
- music2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -150 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, with players praising its quality and fit for the gameplay. However, there are suggestions for future updates to expand the soundtrack and introduce more variety in game modes and challenges to enhance the overall experience.
“Some updates in the future could really make it shine, like a broader soundtrack, more varieties of game modes, and challenges.”
“Pretty cool, the boss is hard, and the music is great.”
“The music feels repetitive and lacks variety, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“The soundtrack is underwhelming and doesn't match the game's atmosphere.”
“There are only a few tracks, and they quickly become tiresome.”
