Cannibal Crossing

About

Cannibal Crossing is a single player and multiplayer open world action adventure game. It was developed by Blow and Try Again and was released on May 26, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

In "Cannibal Crossing," players manage a group of frontierspeople surviving in a cannibal-infested wilderness. Scavenge for resources, craft tools, and strategize defenses to protect your colony and ward off hostile cannibals. Balance resource management, exploration, and survival as you navigate through a procedurally generated world in this tense and gripping simulation.

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62%

Audience ScoreBased on 370 reviews

story14 positive mentions

stability28 negative mentions

The core gameplay loop is engaging and fun, with a variety of characters and weapons to choose from.
The game has great potential with its sandbox action survival mechanics and crafting system.
The art style is appealing and adds to the overall atmosphere of the game.

The game is plagued with bugs and performance issues, making it frustrating to play.
There is a lack of meaningful updates and support from the developers, leading to a feeling of abandonment.
The multiplayer experience is limited and not well-implemented, detracting from the overall enjoyment.

story
84 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
79%
4%
The story in the game is generally perceived as weak and lacking depth, with most exposition occurring during the tutorial. While some players appreciate the humor and character backstories, many find the missions repetitive and uninspired, often leading to frustration due to bugs and quest progression issues. Overall, the narrative experience feels stale and is overshadowed by gameplay mechanics focused on base building and survival rather than engaging storytelling.
- “The gameplay is great and engaging; the story is fun and varied.”
- “Great game, lots of content, exploring is fun, gunplay is very fun, the pixel art is good looking, the base building is also fun, every character has a backstory and a prologue mission, characters are upgradable as are all the weapons in the game.”
- “At this stage of early access, you have the possibility to choose between several characters who each have their own story and their specialties.”
- “The story is kind of weak overall, with the most explanation happening during the tutorial as to why there are cannibals running around.”
- “Dr2c is hilarious, the events and characters are very memorable, and provides that 'hey I've got a goofy story about how I got 4 JoJo characters to Canada', whereas Cannibal Crossing provides an extremely stale and boring experience from the get-go. There isn't any witty writing, just half-baked joke establishments.”
- “The game loves to make you believe it's a zombie survival where you save survivors and build a team, but it's just a factory builder where you complete enough survivor quests to trigger one of three survive-the-hoard escape quests.”
gameplay
68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
58%
4%
The gameplay is generally praised for its engaging core loop and solid mechanics, offering a satisfying mix of base building, crafting, and exploration. However, many users note that the game suffers from bugs, a lack of polish, and some mechanics that feel underdeveloped or unimportant. While the game shows great potential and is fun to play, it may not appeal to everyone, especially those looking for a more refined experience.
- “The core gameplay loop is fantastic and there are good mechanics to the game.”
- “Satisfying UI and mini-games, as well as smooth gameplay with crazy depth and variation in playstyle.”
- “The gameplay is great and engaging; the story is fun and varied.”
- “The entire town feels stale and empty and simply exists to loot for the gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is extremely generic base building/crafting/gathering/literature elements, etc. you've seen it before.”
- “Leveling up isn't very impactful to gameplay; they are just basic number-go-up skills or health regen, with a handful that seem necessary to make it through (looking at you dodge roll skills that make your dodge roll an actual dodge roll).”
stability
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is widely criticized for its instability, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and performance issues that significantly hinder gameplay. Many players describe it as "buggy" and "unfinished," with game-breaking glitches and severe lag making it difficult to enjoy. While some find potential in the game, the overall consensus is that it requires substantial improvements before it can be considered stable or worth the entry price.
- “As of the present build, it's just too buggy to justify the entry price.”
- “The game feels very unfinished and buggy.”
- “I've had one or two game-breaking glitches; by day seven it is way too laggy to call comfortably playable due to how much corruption spawns as well as too many enemies spawning.”
graphics
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
61%
17%
The graphics feature a colorful and simplistic art style that effectively conveys a gross and eldritch atmosphere, enhancing the game's overall aesthetic. However, players have reported various bugs, including minor graphical errors and significant performance issues that can detract from the experience. While the visuals are generally appealing, some users feel they could benefit from further polishing and optimization.
- “The graphics and design are simple and mostly easy to read, quite colorful, and have a nice design to everything.”
- “It feels like the perfect level of difficulty and has all the elements of games I like, like roguelike mechanics and survival, zombies, sick graphics, etc. Looking forward to playing more, better review to follow.”
- “The art style looks nice and does a good job of looking gross and eldritch as time progresses during a game.”
- “A perfectly executed zombie roguelike, if you can get past the graphic style which makes the game seem more forgiving than it is.”
- “Bugs range from minor graphical errors on corpses and bosses respawning if killed too far from their spawn point up to game-breaking bugs like my screen going completely white after respawning and another where I couldn't complete the game because it had spawned enemies and their projectiles at such a rate that frames dipped into the single digits.”
- “It eats resources like you wouldn't believe despite its simplistic graphics, which you can't do anything about besides turn down the particle effects.”
optimization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
39%
44%
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, including frequent bugs and performance problems that can render it unplayable, even on high-end hardware. Players report constant stuttering, lag, and game-breaking performance drops, particularly during intense gameplay scenarios like horde nights. Many users express frustration over unresolved bugs and a lack of developer communication, urging for urgent fixes to improve overall performance and stability.
- “All in all, the game needs to get optimized or changed up so most computers can run the game at even the bottom end of playable frame rate. The onboarding of new players needs to get smoothed out, and the difficulty scaling may need to be toned down to alleviate some of these issues.”
- “But, there's some definite underlying performance issues.”
- “Massive performance issues during horde nights near my base.”
- “I had to return it, and I can't recommend it until the devs fix the horrible optimization issue.”
- “The gameplay is really fun but please fix the stuttering and the crashing.”
- “I'm not sure what causes it, but on a couple of occasions the game has gotten unplayably laggy until closed and reloaded (figured it out, it actually happens after using the flamethrower. Performance gets worse and worse the more I use it until the game is unplayable).”
humor
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by its quirky pop-culture references and unique character dialogues, providing a comedic backdrop to the intense gameplay of a zombie apocalypse. Players appreciate the numerous easter eggs and the randomness of encounters, which add to the overall fun, despite the underlying challenge of resource management and risk. While some feel the classic humor is less prominent than before, it still shines through in various aspects, making the experience enjoyable and entertaining.
- “A great title that tests your resource management, top-down shooter skills, risk vs reward judgment, and perseverance all while being funny as hell during a zombie apocalypse road trip.”
- “The characters are unique and funny in their own way, the easter eggs are numerous and well done.”
- “Great characters and funny dialogues (when those happen).”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
37%
25%
The reviews present a mixed perspective on replayability; while some users highlight significant replay value and enjoyment in multiple playthroughs, others express disappointment, stating that once the game is completed, there is little incentive to explore different characters or scenarios.
- “Great replayability.”
- “So much replay value.”
- “Excellent replayability.”
- “I completed a full run (rescued all survivors) but won't be trying any other characters as there is no replay value.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews; while some players appreciate its aesthetic fit and find it pleasant, others feel it falls short compared to previous titles, describing it as lackluster and lacking the charm that made earlier soundtracks memorable.
- “The sound and music are nice and fit the aesthetic they seem to be going for.”
- “Music in DR2C was amazing and a big part of its charm.”
- “Here, the music is just... lame.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game has been criticized for its high price tag and infrequent updates, leading many users to perceive it as a cash grab rather than a well-supported product. This sentiment reflects disappointment in the game's value relative to its cost.
- “I love the idea of the game, but the lack of frequent updates and the high price tag for what it actually is makes it feel like a cash grab.”
- “This just feels like a cash grab afterthought, and it's sad.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a desire for the game to evoke stronger emotional engagement, indicating that previous experiences may have fallen short. The hope for updates suggests a longing for improvements that could enhance the emotional connection to the game.