Project Zora

About

Project Zora is a single player puzzle game. It was developed by Dark-1 Games and was released on October 28, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Project Zora was the forth part of the Skopje ARG we were working on. This introductory point-and-click adventure was originally published on our website. Good luck and Welcome to Skopje! Skopje on SteamJoin us on discord

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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78%

Audience ScoreBased on 124 reviews

story13 positive mentions

stability6 negative mentions

Unique and immersive open-world survival roguelite set in a stylized, dystopian Skopje with strong atmosphere and art style.
Encourages exploration, discovery, and puzzle-solving without hand-holding or quest markers, rewarding patient and attentive players.
Co-op multiplayer adds fun and shared progression, enhancing enjoyment with friends; active and responsive dev team continually improving the game.

Performance issues and optimization problems, including frequent frame drops and bugs that affect gameplay stability, especially in multiplayer.
Steep learning curve with confusing or minimal guidance, requiring external community resources to progress, which can frustrate players.
Sparse enemy variety, lack of loot drops from enemies, lengthy and sometimes tedious survival mechanics, and a gameplay loop some find repetitive or slow.

story
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
62%
7%
The story is praised for its depth, uniqueness, and immersive world-building, offering a compelling narrative that requires players to explore and piece together lore without hand-holding or quest markers. However, its unconventional, non-linear, and hidden storytelling style can be confusing or frustrating for some, especially newcomers who may find the lack of guidance and time constraints challenging. Overall, fans appreciate the freedom and intrigue, while others feel the narrative could benefit from clearer direction or a more linear approach.
- “Puzzles and story are too good not to recommend.”
- “It has a compelling story, fun weapons, and a wonderful charm that manages to encapsulate Skopje.”
- “Lore is sprinkled everywhere around the map in the form of signals and recordings, so you will have to go and find it to know the story.”
- “The game won't lead you by the hand, won't write the safe code on the wall opposite the safe, won't even give you a quest marker, and it won't even show you that the quest exists.”
- “You won't have a quest journal outlining the steps you need to complete, the right entrance won't be marked on the map with a quest marker, and the hint that will allow you to open the door might be miles away.”
- “The game isn’t what I expected; I thought there would be a storyline included, but from what I played it’s just a repetitive cycle of collecting, looting, and destroying towers.”
gameplay
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
53%
11%
The gameplay features a slow-burn, exploration-heavy loop with survival and roguelike elements that reward trial and error, but can feel repetitive and grind-heavy, especially early on due to limited enemy variety and clunky mechanics like the bus handling. While controls are generally tight and mechanics smooth, poor optimization, unclear design choices, and a shallow core loop detract from the experience for some players. Fans of emergent survival challenges and unstated guidance may find the gameplay rewarding, though it demands patience and adaptation to fully enjoy.
- “There's a lot of Stalker in this game, from the gameplay loop (horde canned goods, conserve ammo, pray for a decent gun) to the setting (spooky zone made into a mess by mysterious event), but I haven't seen anyone mention it so far.”
- “If you like to explore and not be handfed every little thing, this game is amazing, with plenty of content, good controls, and smooth mechanics/gamefeel.”
- “It's the kind of game where running out of ammo or losing your vehicle allows for emergent gameplay that opens up ingenuity and creativity in survival and progression.”
- “The gameplay loop is shallow: you shoot the same annoying enemies over and over, take unavoidable damage, then spend half your time healing, eating, or sleeping just to stay alive.”
- “The bus, supposedly the core mechanic mind you, handles terribly.”
- “Gameplay wise, the biggest problem I faced was that the grind to get levels wasn't as fun and early you don't get a lot of enemy variety so you're just stuck doing towers or clearing small areas.”
optimization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
66%
17%
The game's optimization is widely criticized for frequent frame drops, stutters, and overall poor performance even on high-end PCs, leading to a less smooth experience. While the core gameplay and design are praised, many users report significant performance issues, glitches, and lack of advanced features like DLSS, with hopes for future improvements from the developers.
- “The optimization can be better, since sometimes I get framedrops and stutters but it's still very playable.”
- “The price is hard to beat, and I expect, naturally, that we'll see some performance upgrades over time.”
- “The team is hard at work addressing performance issues and glitches.”
- “I will agree with everyone else that left their review, the game is very very very poorly optimized.”
- “Pretty poor performance optimization (it's Unity), no DLSS just FSR, lots of pop-in even with the draw distance maxed out, lots of items floating in places, janky buildings with gaps between the wall and door, stuff getting stuck in the ground that you can't pick up.”
- “The game overall feels very good but it lacks a lot of optimization; it constantly drops FPS and does not run smoothly, the rest is very good - game design, game story on point.”
graphics
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
29%
18%
The game features a striking cel-shaded, cartoon, and comic book art style that creates a unique "retro-alternate-reality-sci-fi" atmosphere, widely praised for its visuals and map design. While many appreciate the strong and stylized graphics, several users note technical issues such as hitchy frame rates and minor glitches that can affect enjoyment. Overall, the graphics are a standout element, especially for fans of this artistic direction, despite some performance and build-related flaws.
- “The art style is eye-candy in my opinion.”
- “The visuals and sounds are really stunning.”
- “Nonetheless, the game nails the 'retro-alternate-reality-sci-fi' vibe with the visuals, the weirdly reminiscent atmosphere, and the little details everywhere around the map.”
- “Basically, I think this was meant for eurojank masochists, but the cartoon art style and battle bus drew in looter shooter fans instead.”
- “For me, finally, the slightly hitchy framerates, possibly combined with the visuals, gave me a bit of eyestrain.”
- “I also really like the art style but there are some obvious issues with the current build.”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
43%
The game delivers a captivating and immersive atmosphere, skillfully blending a retro-alternate-reality sci-fi vibe with nostalgic and melancholic elements, enhanced by detailed visuals and music. Players find it easy to get lost in the world, enjoying both solo exploration and multiplayer interactions. Overall, the atmosphere is widely praised as a standout and deeply engaging feature.
- “The game nails the 'retro-alternate-reality-sci-fi' vibe with the visuals, the weirdly reminiscent atmosphere, and the little details everywhere around the map.”
- “The melancholic guitar while exploring Skopje is pure art and it reminds me of the atmosphere of Metro 2033.”
- “Great atmosphere to get lost in.”
stability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
86%
The game currently has several bugs, glitches, and performance issues, including terrain bugs and occasional visual glitches, but these do not significantly impact gameplay. The developers are actively working on fixes, and overall, the game runs well, even on devices like the Steam Deck.
- “Update: after finishing the game I can safely say that the game is seriously buggy.”
- “So yes, performance is the biggest issue here, and the second biggest issue are the glitches and terrain bugs.”
- “There are some performance issues and glitches but the team is hard at work!”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The music in the game is generally praised for its strong, atmospheric design and dynamic changes during gameplay, especially in boss fights. However, some find it melancholic or limited in quantity, noting it mostly plays during low health moments, and wish for more variety or options like custom radio stations.
- “The soundtrack and sound design is an absolute vibe.”
- “The music often changes depending on what you are doing and has some great tracks for boss fights.”
- “Sometimes the melancholic audio design hits me too hard, so I end up playing other music on the side.”
- “I only wish there was more music.”
- “Music only plays when you’re low on health in combat.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the fun and hilarious experience of driving the bus, particularly when running over enemies. However, the damage mechanics add a humorous twist, as running over enemies causes little harm, while hitting curbs results in significant damage.
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the game's prolonged five-year development and current incomplete state emotionally disappointing and somewhat heartbreaking.