Zengeon
- June 24, 2019
- IndieLeague Studio
- 10h median play time
Get on Steam"Zengeon is an action-RPG/roguelite fusion allowing 2-4 players to co-op in a colorful world, defending it from demonic hordes and colossal bosses. Choose from six playable characters, each with unique attacks, skills, and items, to repair the seal in the Blessed Land and prevent the Dark Emptiness from entering this realm. Good game mechanics and ingenious graphics enhance the gameplay experience in this style-bursting adventure."
Mac OS
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Windows
PlayStation
Reviews
- The game features beautiful graphics and an engaging anime art style that many players appreciate.
- Gameplay is fast-paced and fun, especially in co-op mode, providing a solid hack and slash experience.
- There are multiple characters with different abilities, allowing for varied playstyles and replayability.
- The game suffers from poor controls and a lack of polish, making it feel clunky and unresponsive at times.
- Many players find the gameplay repetitive and lacking in content, with limited enemy variety and dull progression mechanics.
- The online multiplayer experience is frustrating due to connectivity issues and an unintuitive menu system, leading to a dead player base.
- graphics66 mentions
- 48 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their charming anime-inspired aesthetics, vibrant colors, and solid animations, reminiscent of titles like Honkai Impact 3 and Elsword. While many players appreciate the overall visual appeal and character designs, some note that the graphics could benefit from further polish and customization options. Overall, the visuals contribute positively to the gameplay experience, making it a must-try for fans of anime-style graphics.
“Absolutely love the visuals and the anime-esque vibes.”
“The graphics are well-done, and the manhua style is a refreshing change from the usual Japanese and Western styles.”
“Aesthetically, it's a really colorful game with anime-style characters and a clear influence from their national aesthetic in terms of architecture as well as item and enemy designs, which always have a Chinese folklore aura to them.”
“When it comes to graphics, if any of you are familiar with Honkai Impact 3, this game is kind of like that game in the graphics department, but with lower overall quality.”
“Few things that could be improved on are the graphic settings, allowing people to change them to suit their taste or to smooth out the game's performance, as well as adding some extra background. The first stage looks really nice, but that cloudy background seems rather off for the entire stage, making it seem like you're fighting in a ruined city-like area up in the sky.”
“Graphic is okay, but control and setting is not good.”
- story50 mentions
- 16 % positive mentions
- 76 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's story is widely regarded as minimal and generic, primarily revolving around a basic good vs. evil narrative with poor English translation. Players note that the story consists of a few lines of dialogue and is often overshadowed by gameplay, making it feel bare-bones and lacking depth. While there are some collectible story items, the overall narrative experience is considered negligible, leading to a desire for more substantial content in future iterations.
“Story mode is this game’s main content where you go through a few levels for three worlds and fight a boss for each.”
“There are two game modes: story and guard.”
“All the characters that I have tried for now, ice and wind girls and the umbrella girl (haven't learned their names yet) seem really different, which makes the game replayable more than once.”
“The story is one scene at the beginning, a few lines here and there as you walk, but you barely notice them as you are typically fighting a small horde. The story being called bare bones would be a rather large understatement, especially seeing as the variation between each character is pretty much void as it pertains to the exact same thing each time.”
“It has a very weak attempt at what it calls a story.”
“Don't even expect any story.”
- gameplay46 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by its simple and engaging mechanics, featuring a straightforward loop of clearing rooms and collecting upgrades, which some players find repetitive over time. While the visuals and smoothness of the gameplay are praised, there are concerns about the lack of depth and variety, particularly in the upgrade system and character differentiation. Overall, it offers a fun experience for fans of roguelike and action RPG genres, but improvements could enhance its longevity and replayability.
“Gameplay is difficult, intuitive, and super engaging.”
“The core gameplay is simple: play through increasingly difficult stages, kill all enemies to earn XP and gold, spend the gold to buy item chests that contain two random items—you can only pick one, the other will disappear—or buy experience chests instead.”
“A fun action RPG with great visuals and solid gameplay.”
“The gameplay gets very repetitive really quick, with not much to do except continue the same map grind again but as a different character.”
“Given the repetitive nature of the gameplay, the only thing that makes runs different is using the other characters.”
“The RNG-reliant upgrade system does give some sort of customization allowing you to choose one out of two random upgrades, but beyond that there's not much. It would be nice to see a skill tree later on allowing you to customize some skills beyond the upgrade items you get, simply to provide a more interesting rerun of the game.”
- music26 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received for its thematic alignment with the stages, enhancing the overall experience. However, many users noted issues with the looping, as tracks often end abruptly, leading to awkward silences before restarting. While the music complements the game's aesthetic, there is a consensus that the soundtrack could benefit from more variety and smoother transitions.
“The music track was based on the stage you're on, which made the game a lot better.”
“Beautiful graphics and music, no annoying tutorial hassle, and you start off with several moves right out of the gate.”
“Amazing graphics and music, extremely difficult.”
“The music is okay, but it doesn't loop, so it feels like the music just ends, followed by a brief silence before it repeats from the start.”
“Music for the few stages that I managed to play is really nice; however, there's an issue with the sound clipping at the end of the track or a weird silence that makes it obvious that it has ended and will start again.”
“It's not perfect though, as the music is lacking and the English translation is poor; but this does not take much away from the enjoyment.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Zengeon offers significant replayability typical of roguelikes, featuring multiple characters, free cosmetics, and an endless mode that keeps the gameplay fresh. While some players note that the limited upgrades may restrict replay value, the distinct playstyles of different characters encourage multiple playthroughs. Overall, the game provides a diverse experience that can remain engaging even after extended play.
“As with most other roguelikes, Zengeon has nearly endless replayability.”
“This is a beautiful game with near infinite replayability, free cosmetics and customization, multiple characters to play as and/or unlock, and an endless mode offering a diverse and interesting experience even if you've grown tired of the normal game mode.”
“The upgrades are limited, the replay value is limited.”
“All the characters that I have tried so far, the ice and wind girls and the umbrella girl (I haven't learned their names yet), seem really different, which makes the game replayable more than once. I have not yet passed the initial bosses, so I'm not sure if there's more story content afterwards.”
- character development6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is highlighted by its appealing character designs and diverse playstyles, which resonate well with fans of fantasy themes set in modern or urban environments. The integration of MOBA-style controls adds a unique touch to the gameplay experience. Overall, players appreciate the aesthetic and functional aspects of character design.
“Decent rogue-like, the MOBA style controls were a nice touch, good character designs and playstyle.”
“Character designs are fine; I always dig fantasy-themed games with modern or urban settings.”
“I still dig the character design, though.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received criticism for clunky controls, particularly for mouse and keyboard users, with a recommendation to use a controller instead. Additionally, players have noted a lack of customizable graphic settings and suggested improvements to enhance performance and visual consistency, particularly in the game's backgrounds.
“Controls feel clunky and in some places not even functional; I would advise using a controller as it doesn't seem optimized for mouse and keyboard.”
“Few things that could be improved on are the graphic settings, allowing people to change them to suit their taste or to smooth out the game's performance. The first stage looks really nice, but that cloudy background seems rather off for the entire stage, making it seem like you're fighting in a ruined city-like area up in the sky.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express that the game evokes strong emotions, particularly feelings of regret and frustration, as they face the challenge of starting over from level one with limited healing resources. This emotional intensity contributes to a deeply engaging, albeit sometimes painful, gaming experience.
“The game makes me want to cry tears of regret. With only 3 healing pots per limit, dying means starting over from level 1.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the necessity of spending many hours to unlock characters through random drops, which can lead to frustration and fatigue.
“But with the locked characters behind many hours of grinding for random drops, it gets tiring quickly.”
