Emissary Zero

About

Emissary Zero is a single player and multiplayer survival simulation game with horror and science fiction themes. It was developed by RoneVine and was released on March 28, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Co-op horror (1-4 players). You are sent to explore a mysterious building at night. Find the Moon and try to return alive.

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88%Audience ScoreBased on 1,348 reviews

story51 positive mentions

stability20 negative mentions

Fun and highly entertaining cooperative gameplay with friends, combining horror, puzzles, and exploration.
Unique and creative monster designs with diverse behaviors that add challenge and atmosphere.
Strong atmosphere achieved through sound design, lighting, and map layout creating a tense yet engaging experience.

Game suffers from confusing objectives, lack of clear guidance, and a sometimes tedious and repetitive fetch quest design.
Technical issues include bugs, glitches, inconsistent AI behavior, and poor optimization impacting gameplay flow.
Multiplayer connectivity problems and clunky controls can interfere with the experience, alongside limited replayability.

story
132 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
54%
7%
The story in this horror co-op game is generally described as enjoyable, creative, and rich with interesting lore and puzzles, though it can be confusing or vague at times. While some players appreciate its unique and creepy atmosphere with meaningful progression, others find the narrative somewhat convoluted, repetitive, or lacking depth, especially as fetch quests increase later on. Overall, the story complements the gameplay well and provides a fun experience, particularly when played with friends.
- “This game is one of the best games I've played in a long time. It has such a good story, with a bit of difficulty in some parts, which I liked. The game is super long and hard, with many puzzles. The monsters are goofy but lovable. I love the smooth animations and side quests, like the TV head, special books, and Easter eggs. Overall, this game is worth the money I spent. 9.8/10.”
- “Dear potential players, this game may have bugs, but what makes it different from other multiplayer puzzle games is its rich story, variety of enemies, player customization, and satisfying puzzles. Whenever I finished a puzzle, I felt a real sense of achievement as it led me to new, balanced challenges. I love it.”
- “Very good pacing, not too difficult puzzles, interesting lore and story, and the connectivity between zones is very well done.”
- “The game can be summed up by this: run around 50 of the same building asset for 10 hours doing fetch quests while you constantly get lost in the maze-like buildings with the same enemy spammed in the same location like 20 times!”
- “We struggled our way through the convoluted story and fetch questing all for the buildup, but no payoff.”
- “Hardly any direction, the monsters are annoying and there is no way to fight them (you can only run, hide or die), storyline was very confusing, did not like the weird anime lady (that aesthetic didn't fit at all).”
humor
78 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor shines brightest when played cooperatively with friends, leading to numerous hilarious moments, funny deaths, and entertaining banter that often outweigh the horror elements. Players frequently experience laughter from both the game's timing, absurd jump scares, and quirky monster encounters, making it an enjoyable, funny horror puzzle experience best shared with others. Overall, humor is a key highlight, transforming tense and scary situations into memorable, laughter-filled gameplay.
- “Picked this up expecting a few hours of decent gameplay - ended up with about 8-9 hours of absolutely hilarious moments with friends.”
- “If you want a funny horror co-op game with your friends, you should definitely get this one!”
- “I played this with a friend of mine and we were constantly laughing and having a lot of fun playing this game.”
gameplay
55 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
64%
7%
The gameplay blends exploration, puzzles, and survival with a mix of chase-and-run horror mechanics, offering an engaging and often humorous experience especially in co-op. While generally praised for its atmosphere, sound design, and fun mechanics, some players note clunky controls, unclear objectives, repetitive sequences, and occasional bugs that can detract from immersion. Overall, gameplay is enjoyable and varied but may feel uneven or frustrating at times due to technical and design shortcomings.
- “Picked this up expecting a few hours of decent gameplay - ran about 8-9 hours of absolutely hilarious fun with friends.”
- “Incredible gameplay, short and sweet fun horror game with good mobility and interesting puzzles.”
- “The core gameplay unfolds through a mixture of exploration, light puzzling, repair tasks, and survival under unpredictable conditions.”
- “Many enemies have either unclear or unfair mechanics, which eventually results in the horror being removed and it becoming annoying instead.”
- “Extremely unclear instructions at several parts, amplified by an atrocious in-game map mechanic, where the journal starts freaking out as multiple objectives converge in at once.”
- “It became increasingly clunky, the difficulty was decided by enemy spam and more clunky mechanics.”
atmosphere
39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
69%
23%
8%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its tense, creepy, and immersive sci-fi horror vibe, effectively combining sound, lighting, and design to create a gripping experience. While the eerie environments and monster designs stand out, some players note that the horror impact diminishes over time due to repetitive enemies and technical flaws. Overall, the strong, unsettling atmosphere is a key highlight that sustains player engagement despite some gameplay shortcomings.
- “The game is atmospheric, the monster design is fantastic, and despite how 'weird' the game is, it makes you want to continue exploring the facility.”
- “The game does a really good job with atmosphere; the sounds, lighting, and slow pacing actually make you feel tense instead of just throwing cheap jumpscares at you.”
- “We fell in love with the creepy atmosphere and the way the monsters looked.”
- “At some point the game mostly loses its atmosphere and horror because you realize there are only about three different enemies that can actually kill you, and their AI isn't very good. You can outrun them with just a single corner, making them more of a nuisance.”
- “Graphics were good, but the atmosphere was a bit lacking, and the gameplay was just weird.”
- “Only thing the game has going for it is atmosphere; the rest is mediocre at best.”
graphics
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
57%
9%
The graphics receive mixed feedback, praised for their atmospheric, expressive, and stylish visuals that enhance the horror experience, especially considering it's a solo UE5 project. However, performance issues on higher settings cause severe framerate drops even on powerful PCs, and some users find the art style inconsistent or the VR visuals blurry. Overall, the graphics contribute well to mood and immersion but require compromises on hardware and settings.
- “Visuals: 10/10, use of colors was very expressive for the moments of horror, greatness, or emotional.”
- “I love this game because of the creepy environment and amazing graphics; it blends so well together and when you're running from monsters it balances quality of life very well.”
- “The visuals are stylish and fit the mood perfectly, and the sound design pulls you right into the world.”
- “No matter how beefy your PC is, if you run the game on anything above medium graphics, it becomes unplayable (~7 FPS max).”
- “The graphics do not warrant such bad framerate.”
- “I mean, UE VR could achieve better results; the graphics look very bad in VR too, it's a blurry ghosting mess.”
stability
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
91%
The game is frequently criticized for being buggy and prone to crashes, with issues in monster AI, multiplayer stability, voice chat, and UI glitches that can hinder gameplay. While some players find these bugs frustrating and immersion-breaking, a few note that the glitches add to the chaotic atmosphere. Overall, stability problems are a significant drawback despite the game’s enjoyable aspects.
- “It is not buggy at all.”
- “Scary, not very buggy, well rounded and a bunch of fun puzzles and monsters.”
- “Buggy and broken mess of a game.”
- “It also freezes when doing anything at all.”
- “Highly recommend playing it, the only issue is it's buggy with other players as it causes items to disappear making the game unbeatable.”
optimization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game suffers from poor optimization, causing high CPU usage and overheating issues, often leading to crashes and unplayable multiplayer experiences. Performance varies significantly, reflecting its indie origins, and many users report a need for substantial polishing to improve stability and smoothness.
- “The game is terribly optimized, if optimized at all.”
- “The only problem it has is that it's actually not optimized, meaning it does something to your PC that if you don't have a water cooler or a strong CPU cooler, the CPU temperature goes up to 80 or 85 degrees or more and it uses the CPU up to 90%.”
- “Game doesn't even run right, crashes after every 5 minutes, terrible optimization and wants to be a good game.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
88%
Grinding in this game is initially engaging and enjoyable, especially with friends, but becomes tedious and repetitive toward the end. The reliance on monotonous puzzles and annoying creatures detracts from the overall experience, making the late-game feel like a frustrating grind.
- “The game has an incredibly strong start but sadly falls victim to a lack of creativity through a strong reliance on monotonous and tedious puzzles.”
- “Played for 2 hours with friends; full of asset flips and tedious gameplay, not worth the price compared to real games.”
- “The creatures became extremely tedious and felt like they were cooperating to make your gaming experience a nightmare.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Users note the game has minimal or no music, which enhances ambient and horror elements but can lessen immersion over time; some suggest improved music design and separate audio controls would enhance the experience.
- “Little to no music allows for background noise to amp up so you can truly hear the warped horrors around you.”
- “Had a spooky start but after the first 20 minutes sort of lost that element; I reckon with a bit more noise/music design it would help with the immersion.”
- “Great soundtrack.”
- “No cutscenes, no music, just find the moon that's it.”
- “Had a spooky start but after the first 20 minutes sort of lost that element. I reckon with a bit more noise/music design it would help with the immersion.”
- “Breaking out the voice playback, music, and creature sounds into separate sliders are desperately needed.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game offers limited replayability, with most players finding little incentive to revisit it beyond achievement hunting or speedrunning. Its predictable scares and challenging enemy mechanics reduce the appeal for multiple playthroughs. However, its value and horror elements are still appreciated despite this drawback.
- “Just like an escape room, short-term replayability is minimal unless you want to try and speedrun the game.”
- “Most underrated horror game for a cheap price, 100% recommend. Only problem is that there's not a lot of replayability.”
- “No real replayability, for us at least, unless you are achievement hunting.”
- “Just like in an escape room, short-term replayability is minimal unless you want to try and speedrun the game.”
- “Cheap jumpscares and no replayability as you already know what's going to happen next when you've played it once.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users highlight the game's emotional impact through expressive visuals and color use that effectively convey horror and intense moments. The experience is described as engaging and comforting, encouraging players to persevere and stay curious about upcoming challenges. Overall, the emotional tone blends tension with warmth, enhancing player connection.
- “Visuals: 10/10, use of colors was very expressive for the moments of horror, greatness, or emotional.”
- “Fever dream with large lady who called me 'sweetie' and made me feel good.”
- “It never made me feel like giving up on a section or quitting; I always wanted to see what the next puzzle was with the next monster.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Character development is lacking and the storyline is confusing, though the character design itself is well done.
- “Confusing storyline, no character development.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game integrates backrooms-themed puzzles and monsters but does not provide clear information on its monetization approach.