Avalanche Studios’ newest release, Generation Zero, is an 80s-inspired multiplayer nightmare filled with robots, loot, and not much else. The game has great atmosphere and tone, as well as first-person shooter mechanics, but it falls short on delivering a driving narrative and overall game polish.

Where has everyone gone?

On your way back home from an out-of-country trip, your ship gets blown up and you wake up on the shore. You stumble into the nearest home to find it empty, except for a destroyed robot. You come across a note that lets you know something terrible has happened and that everyone has left for a safer haven. From this point, your only chance for answers is to find out where everyone has gone.

The atmosphere goes a long way

I really like the setting and tone for Generation Zero. The art design comes across as a Simon Stålenhag painting come to life. You travel through the beautiful Swedish countryside while staying alert for any roving bands of robots. There are day/night cycles and weather changes that help to create a tone of desperation when mixed with the synthwave soundtrack. Most of the game feels like a horror movie due to the nighttime feeling like it lasts twice as long as the day. You dread coming to look for gear and fighting robots by the warm glow of your flashlight.

There’s never a cop around when you need one.

The narrative is driven through environmental storytelling, interacting with objects, and listening to audio logs. You only come across one person on the game’s starting island and they’re no longer alive. You find notes in some of the homes you come across and listen to answering machine recordings of panicked inhabitants, letting loved ones know where they have gone to seek shelter from the terrorizing robots.

Every time you find the bunker that people are supposedly hiding in, you find another recording or note letting you know that everyone has fled to another shelter. The world being so lifeless started off feeling eerie, but after a couple of hours it started to just feel boring. You can hear the sounds of animals as you are running through a forest, but there are no actual signs of life.

are you smarter than a robot?

The shooting and interacting with the world feels good. There are several different types of weapons you come across and you can set traps using loot that you find. The robot dogs, called Runners, first come across as incredibly difficult encounters. Once you learn their weakness and get a rifle, they do little to slow you down as you travel to your next objective. I didn’t have to actually start using traps until I stumbled across the Hunters.

There were several instances that seemed unbalanced, such as when there were around 15 Runners and 5 Hunters all attacking me at the same time. These encounters probably wouldn’t have been as bad if I were playing with a group of people though. Once you start to encounter the Harvesters and Tanks, you’re better off just running if you’re playing by yourself.

Save your ammo and just run away!

there are more dangers than killer robots

The lack of polish can be annoying at times, but overall it doesn’t ruin the game. During my playthrough, I ran across multiple bugs like enemies seeing and shooting me through walls and not being able to access some loot due to its placement in the environment. Some of the buildings aren’t all the way on the ground, so you have to jump to get inside of them, and there were times that I had an interact icon pop up for something that was on the other side of the map. Nothing was game breaking, but if you’re having issues accomplishing something, it’s easy to second guess if it’s your fault or if the game is bugging out.

Overall, I had a good time playing Generation Zero with friends. I really like the overall aesthetic and gameplay loop, and I hope that the game does well enough to warrant a sequel with a larger budget. Avalanche Studios has a live team in place to keep players engaged with the game over time, and I hope they continue to work on polishing the edges.

At $34.99, it shouldn’t be hard to get some friends to grab a copy and spend some time in this unique setting. If you want to see the game in action, you can Check It Out with Paige and me and see if it is something that you would also enjoy.