Zerowake GATES

About

Zerowake GATES is a single player tactical role playing game with fantasy, romance, drama, anime and others themes. It was developed by Storytaco and was released on November 25, 2025. It received neutral reviews from players.

Enter a battlefield where madness and desire collide. Pair Espers and Guides for powerful synergy, and join Han Gaon as he uncovers the meteor’s secret and fights to survive a world under alien invasion.

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53%

Audience ScoreBased on 139 reviews

story12 positive mentions

grinding5 negative mentions

Features popular BL characters and collaborations with well-known yaoi manhwas, appealing to fans of the genre.
Character designs and main artwork are praised for being high quality and attractive.
Developers are responsive to player feedback and actively working on improvements and updates.

Extensive use of AI-generated backgrounds and assets leads to low-quality, pixelated visuals detracting from overall experience.
Gameplay is considered boring, repetitive, and unbalanced, with a poorly designed gacha system and frustrating progression mechanics.
The Steam version is heavily censored, especially in sexual content, undermining the game's appeal to its adult audience.

story
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
72%
8%
The story is generally praised for its interesting worldbuilding, character interactions, and emotional depth, especially appealing to fans of BL narratives. However, some reviewers found the plot confusing, poorly paced, or lacking meaningful choices, with occasional issues like awkward translations and repetitive or random adult content detracting from immersion. Overall, while not universally thrilling or flawless, the story holds a solid appeal for its target audience, despite some mechanical and narrative shortcomings.
- “A beautifully written BL turn-based RPG featuring strong character dynamics, emotional storytelling, and a surprisingly strategic combat system.”
- “I rate this game a solid 3.5/5 stars; gathering gems for gacha/material gathering tickets is relatively easy and the story is actually very well written and leaves me wondering what's coming next.”
- “Fix those issues and I'd give it a 10 out of 10, really cute story so far, very cute how real BL manhwa characters/stories are adapted into the game, the men are beautiful, the gameplay is pretty fun!”
- “The story is not good at all. The 'Painter of the Night' stuff is put into the first chapter of the story instead of an event, so there's this random fantasy isekai element in what is supposed to be a guideverse/apocalypse setting.”
- “The story is also confusing at best and completely incoherent at worst.”
- “The story promises you choices, but they are fake.”
gameplay
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
63%
17%
The gameplay is widely criticized as dull, uninspired, and lacking clear mechanics or tutorials, leading to confusion and frustration, especially with the gacha system. While some find it easy to learn and visually appealing, most feel the combat is generic and the overall experience is overshadowed by repetitive and unengaging gameplay. Improvements in clarity, mechanics, and pacing could significantly enhance the gameplay experience.
- “Gameplay is easy to learn and features stunning graphics, from original characters to popular BL characters from well-known manhwa.”
- “The gameplay is intense and rewarding, especially if you enjoy skill-based combat.”
- “The mechanics are fun, although there are always things to improve or optimize—for example, the combat, which feels somewhat limiting.”
- “The gacha system and the overall turn-based gameplay is terrible.”
- “Many mechanics are unclear. Stats: what is eva (evasion, if so, why not write it down or provide an explanation?) bp and overdrive, what overdrive does is not explained anywhere in the game, how the ultimate accumulates, how much energy is needed, how much energy a regular attack and skill provides, the same amount of energy is needed for every character, there is no way to view buffs and debuffs in battle on enemies and allies (maybe I didn't find it), and so on, many mechanics are unclear.”
- “The mechanics simply don't work (or they do, but I can't figure it out because there's no tutorial).”
graphics
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
68%
16%
The graphics receive mixed feedback, praised for high-quality character artwork and a clean, inspiring art style with neon visuals, but criticized for inconsistent resolution, pixelated UI elements, and the use of AI-generated backgrounds which detract from the overall aesthetic. Additionally, censorship and lack of graphic customization options negatively impact the visual experience for some players.
- “Gameplay is easy to learn and not to mention has stunning graphics, from original characters to popular BL characters from popular manhwa.”
- “The neon visuals are clean and easy to read, and the soundtrack keeps the energy high.”
- “As well, the graphics vary in quality: either the assets are in high quality resolution or I can actively count the pixels in the UI and Live2D models.”
- “The graphics vary in quality: either the assets are in high resolution or I can actively count the pixels in the UI and live2d models.”
- “Please consider improving the resolution and overall graphic quality.”
- “Some of the graphics are very pixelated; I get that, but they are just secondary characters, so it affects the experience negatively.”
character development
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
37%
The character development is praised primarily for its visually appealing and diverse character designs, which are well-drawn, memorable, and faithful to their original IPs. While the art and style receive strong appreciation, some users feel the game falls short in encouraging deeper engagement beyond the visuals. Overall, character aesthetics are a highlight, creating initial excitement despite mixed feelings about narrative integration.
- “After seeing this game on Twitter (X) before release, I was initially excited due to the character designs and, like many others going into this game, the variety of character types and how they integrate into the story.”
- “The character designs are very eye-catching and the splash art for each of them is very beautiful. The references to their original IP are also very nice to see.”
- “I thought the character designs were great, and even though it’s a gacha, I was excited to see how everything came together.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The music in the game is praised for enhancing the atmosphere and maintaining high energy, effectively drawing players into the story and enriching the romantic elements. Soundtracks and voice acting are well-received, contributing positively to the overall experience.
- “The soundtrack keeps the energy high and complements the clean neon visuals.”
- “The music sets the atmosphere in a way that draws you into the story.”
- “The soundtrack enriches the romantic atmosphere, enhancing the meaningful bond mechanics and lovely art direction.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is notably time-consuming and demanding, with increased farming requirements and lengthy material collection processes that can take several days. While some players find the extensive grinding frustrating, others appreciate the challenge and sense of accomplishment it brings to the gameplay.
- “At the same time, event farming requirements were increased from 2000 to 3000 points for a single SR card, one that's easily obtainable through gacha and offers little to no value for the event itself.”
- “So, farming relics just for ascending from level 40 to 50 takes about 4 real days, and then it's scary to even count.”
- “It took me a good 6 hours to beat one level with continuous grinding for material, but it felt satisfying when I finally managed to beat them thanks to the story.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers a beautifully written, emotionally engaging story with strong character dynamics, creating a heartfelt experience. While the pacing may be slow at times, the emotional depth remains impactful throughout.
- “A beautifully written BL turn-based RPG featuring strong character dynamics, emotional storytelling, and a surprisingly strategic combat system.”
- “Though the pacing can be slow at times, the overall experience is heartfelt and engaging.”
- “At times, the overall experience is heartfelt and engaging.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is a significant concern, with numerous bugs affecting key features like character buffs and the AI chat system, which has even caused progress resets. Additionally, the game lacks basic functionalities such as an exit button and suffers from suboptimal optimization, making it feel unpolished for a 2025 release.
- “Bugs such as Euihyun not granting his attack buff after Taeju’s active skill, the low number of dispatch tickets available (split between security codes and relics), and the AI chat system being extremely buggy, recently wiping all progress and resetting chats to day 1, should have taken priority.”
- “The game is incredibly buggy, doesn’t even have an exit button, and is also quite stingy.”
- “A few more optimizations are needed; the game didn't run broken or buggy but for a 2025 game it should be more polished.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is effectively created through a captivating soundtrack and lovely art direction, which together enhance the romantic and immersive storytelling experience. Additionally, meaningful bond mechanics contribute to the overall emotional engagement.
- “The music sets the atmosphere in a way that draws you into the story.”
- “The bond mechanics feel meaningful, the art direction is lovely, and the soundtrack enriches the romantic atmosphere.”
- “The bond mechanics feel meaningful, the art direction is lovely, and the soundtrack enriches the romantic atmosphere.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game runs adequately but suffers from some bugs and could benefit from further optimization to reach the polish expected of a 2025 release.
- “Bugs and poor optimization.”
- “A few more optimizations are needed; the game didn't run broken or buggy, but for a 2025 release it should be more polished.”