OK first off let me say I completely understand how this little game is getting slated so much, however, I personally loved it. Sure its hard to start off with, but avoiding combat ( to start with), stock piling ammo, exploring what (lets be fair here) a visually decent and ever changing environment, the game becomes less and less challenging to the point of being able to obliterate all but the largest of enemies.
I'm going to get the bad stuff out of the way first. There's been lots said about the cars, bunkers, houses etc all being the same. TRUE, it's been said that once the tutorial island has been completed it becomes ♥♥♥♥♥♥ hard. TRUE. The crafting system is utterly pointless TRUE. The fact that most of the skill tree skills should be included as part of your charachter right at the start TRUE. Most of the other negative points mentioned in reviews are true, but you must try and get past these (to me) fairly un-important things.
We all buy our games based on reviews and for me, also price, screenshots and whether I think it will be like any other games that I have played previously.
I'm a more ahem, vintage player. My days of COD, DOOM and other frenetically fast paced games are behind me. As my reactions slow, my eyesight diminishes any my tolerance for verbally abusive kids deteriorates I find myself looking for games in which I can escape to, explore at my own pace and savour without having to run round like a blue arsed fly. This little game allowed me to do that. And best of all I was ALL BY MYSELF! This for me is the biggest plus for any game of this genre. Multiplayer can kiss my arse. I'm a selfish, grumpy, middle aged married man and any solitude you get is to be cherished, the bonus being that you can vent your spleen by destroying bloody great robots. So if your reading this and think I like games like Farcry, Assassins Creed, Stalker and especially Fallout or any other games that you can take at your own pace, in whatever order you like, I would like to recommend this game. Before anybody jumps on their high horse to say that its not got half the content of the previously mentioned games or is half as polished, save your breath, your correct but at the time of writing this review it's £5.49 on CD Keys and I got 45 hrs of pleasure (and initial frustration) and peace. To me that's a fantastic result.
My advice to anybody that is wobbling about whether or not to buy Generation Zero is to go ahead and pay your five and a half quid and form your own opinion, it's really not a massive loss.
If anybody's still reading, my advice is to take your time, avoid all un-necessary combat early on, explore everywhere, open all the boxes, stockpile your resources and then go for it but most of all, as Depeche Mode once said, enjoy the silence.
If you've taken the time to read my review, thanks. If you thought it was any good, please give me a thumbs up and thanks again. If you thought it was rubbish. Whatever.
Also if anybody can recommend any good, lengthy, graphically lovely single player games please feel free to recommend them to me as for me it's about the single player experience for me. Thanks

In order to play the game, you are forced to accept the publisher's abusive "privacy policy", which involves gathering, sharing and even selling to third parties A LOT of your personal data, including (but not limited to) your home address. You are also forced to create an account with them, so you can provide the company with all that data. Moreover, the EULA that you can access from the game's store page does NOT include everything that is on the "agreements" that are only available in-game (on the "privacy policy" screen) and on the publisher's website. You are also forced to always be online to play even in single-player mode.

* * *

EDIT (13 Dec 2022): here is an excerpt of the "extra agreements" that aren't on the EULA from the game's Steam store page.

https://avalanchestudios.com/privacy-policy

"We reserve the right to transfer your Personal Data if we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business assets, in accordance with applicable law. We shall use reasonable efforts to direct the transferee to use your Personal Data in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy, should such a transfer occur. Following such a sale or transfer, you may contact the entity to which we transferred your Personal Data with any inquiries concerning the processing of the data.

Your personal data:
* home address
* email
* phone
* IP
* name
* username
* Details about payments * payments and information are processed by our trusted third parties on their payments servers and their privacy policy applies."

Would like to thank the developers for this game. I am 67 and been looking for a fps type of game. This game is great. The adventurer setting is ideal pace for me as my fingers are not as nimble anymore. I enjoy the game play, story line and especially the look of the game. With the Covid situation one is restricted to activities closer to home and this game provides me with an activity I look forward to doing.
A couple of things I would like to see changed or added is (1) the inventory system to be more flexible to allow the player to move items around and (2) have the weapon and ammo always described together.
I highly recommend this game. Excellent entertainment/excellent value.

I did revisit this last year (2023) (on the PS5 this time). Some of the issues I detailed in this review persist even now.

Things that improved: You're not entirely alone in the world. It's possible to play through to an actual story (cliffhanger) ending. And the story itself was fleshed out more.

Things that were made worse: The addition of base building/defense/assault. Straight out sucks and has too much impact on the world. The addition of these mechanics also added new bugs to go along with some of the persistent old bugs. There were also no cloud saves (on console).

Generation Zero. Such a great concept. Unfortunately it is far from being fully realized despite having seen its full release recently. I feel this is not entirely unexpected from Avalanche Publishing/Studios though. They have a very up and down record with game development. This game was definitely marketed as an action co-op shooter type game, which it very definitely is not. It does have those moments, but the majority of the game is really spent wandering the countryside and going through people's homes and such looking for gear. While I don't consider this walking/hunting sim style gameplay to be a bad thing, you do really have to get it right if you are going that route. Finally, this game released in what I would consider its late alpha stage. Which I think speaks to companies having hard release dates and pushing stuff out unfinished to meet those deadlines. I am personally very opposed to this practice, and this game takes a huge hit accordingly. Anyway:


The story of a mid 80's mech apocalypse in Sweden is interesting despite my wondering why anyone would even bother to attack Sweden to begin with. That aside, you (and maybe your buddies if you are co-oping) are returning from a vacation via your boat when you are shot at and forced ashore. You find everybody else is missing and there are hostile mechs running around (although mostly actually just milling about). Your goal is to try to find out what has happened to everyone and how this invasion took place. I've found the story to be sparse, but interesting. Very much presented through notes, tapes, and so on found throughout the game. These also function as quest starters.


The gameplay is where Generation Zero takes the biggest hit in my opinion. On one hand, the actual gameplay is a very fluid experience. Guns feel great, range seems to be a factor, controls handle nicely, there are only rare instances of clipping. The AI works nicely. Although sometimes obtuse, mechs will eventually fall into search and destroy patterns while also using their particular abilities to their advantage. They will also give up if they don't find you within a certain amount of time and return to their old patterns. So, all that is great. It's fun as hell when it's running properly.

However, this game suffers from basic pacing issues, odd enemy placement decisions, and is one of the buggiest releases I've seen in a while.

Because of the size of the map, simple quests often take a long time simply to travel from point A to point B. This is mediated a bit as you find more safehouses and unlock more bunkers, but you will spend a lot of time walking and nothing else. Additionally, there isn't really a ton of diversity, either with the actual enemies (of which there are six types) or quest variety. Plus, there is no real sense of urgency. You can just wander around and tackle quests at your leisure, but more importantly, you almost have to because of the vast distances between objective points at times.

If you ever leave your game, you will lose the majority of map points you have unlocked already. The game will remember that you've been there, but you will have to go back to (or near enough for it to register) for it to show up on your map again. This becomes problematic if you are in the midst of a few quests and don't remember exactly where a specific farm or what have you is actually located. Another problem with this is that the game crashes. A LOT. Pretty much every session I've played has ended in a desktop or hard crash. Let's say you are in the middle of a battle with a bunch of mechs. You've destroyed six or eight of them and have maybe one or two left. You've also used the majority of ammo for the main weapon(s) you have been using. Well, the game saves your inventory, but not your progress in battles. So...now you're kind of screwed if you want to revisit that battle. You either have to completely adjust your tactics or wander around farming ammo again. Also, this is an online only game, so if your connection drops ever, you will be booted from the game even if you are playing solo and have co-op set to invite only.

Let's talk about multiplayer/co-op. In the options menu, you have the choice to set it to "anyone can join" or "invite only". However, invite only is broken and doesn't work at all, so no matter how you have your game set, people can join your game at any moment. You do have the option to kick the player(s), but that just sucks for everyone.

There are other bugs. For example, bunkers also function as safehouses. However, if you die (or simply exit and re-enter the game at some point) and end up spawning in one of the bunkers (your spawn location is the last safehouse you visited), you will at some point find all the doors locked and you trapped in the control room lol. You can fast travel out, but really, it's things like this that add to the frustration of playing Generation Zero.

The game also chews up memory, which leads to a lot of stops and stuttering, not to mention the many, many crashes.


The graphics are nice and at times stunning. The actual world itself is really pretty stunning overall. Mech designs are nice. The 80's design was really cool. However, the same can't be said for the three-ish different IKEA house models and a handful of other building designs to go along with them. This is such a cookie cutter world from this perspective, and it really has a negative impact on gameplay since you spend a lot of time basically investigating the same building over and over, for all intents and purposes. Since enemy numbers are relatively low and are very spread out, you really need to not have a cookie cutter approach to this relevant aspect of world design. It turns what could be a unique experience into a very bland one.


The audio in this game is top notch. The voice acting (which is done through tapes, answering machines, and so on). The in game sounds, from the actual wind and storms to the sounds of mechs wandering around, and everything in between. This desolate world still managed to sound vibrant and alive at all times. The music was also a nice accompaniment. Most of the arrangements are either 80's synth or somber string arrangements. Fit quite nicely.


I have actually really enjoyed a lot of what this game has to offer. However, in its current state (nevermind the fact that this type of release has annoyingly become the industry standard), I definitely can't recommend this. I do recommend that if you want a slower paced screenshot game with flurries of action, that you follow it and wait for this to become a proper game. Right now, it's just a mess and would be a waste of your $34.99.

Releasing paid DLC instead of fixing pre-existing bugs and issues.

I love it. I don't care if it isn't perfect (and it's not, yet). It is not a shoot-em-up. Forget it, it isn't. It's an experience. I'm an ex-Royal Marine, and I can lose myself in it completely. The right rules generally apply, and strange things like a machine sticking its sword through the wall into me, I can forgive, while wryly thinking that given a wooden ship-lap house, a machine probably could. They'll fix that, and other stuff.

It is slow and immersive (at least how I play it), you use the rain, you sometime wait for night, the rules of cover-from-view/cover-from-sight actually apply. I never use roads for instance, unless I am ambushing something, and I cross at a run into cover the other side.

If you want action-action-action, buy Doom.

This is brilliant.

I've read some of the other reviews, and grinned. I understand that they want big rewards, but what rewards would there be? You are living in a deserted world, being hunted and trying to find out why. I turned the hints off - I didn't want to be told. I didn't use the hud, except as a compass - I looked, and found all the same things. Slower, but I found them. I found them because they were where they would be. As for me, I like space between excitements. I like creeping up on things and destroying them. Occasionally, I like to be besieged in a Church by ten Runners, four Hunters and two Tanks and walking away alive at the end.

I just love it.

Would I recommend? Yes, but also no depending on what you're expecting from the game.

Why yes?
- Boston Dynamics exits in the 80's and has gone too far, and you're a rude crude teen with attitude and guns
- Guns feel and sound great
- Robot designs are pretty sweet and their sound design is honestly scary at times
- Huge map that feels like it was lived in (for the most part)
- Co-op makes the game amazing, but it can still be fun solo

Why no, depending on what you're expecting?
- Stealth can be a mixed bag. I mean yeah, you can excuse being detected immediately by just saying "You were sprinting everywhere and they're robots, of COURSE they're gonna detect you" But it can be a drag at times
- Nearly all of the houses have either the same or similar layouts. That can make sense given that this game was kind of a side project for Avalanche and it can speed up dev time and bug testing if you have modular assets that can be quickly made to create multiple, slightly different houses. Still can be a bummer at times though
- The weapon pack DLC's, at the time of writing this, can seem kinda pointless. I mean yeah, you'll get mid-tier versions of the weapons from those packs at the point of purchase so you can start a new game with pretty good gear, but the only weapons that seem worth it at the moment are the AS-VAL and RPG from the Soviet pack

What's there to be mixed about?
- As stated before, the stealth can be hit or miss. Sprint everywhere? Gonna get detected fast and chased down for a mile or so. Crawl everywhere? Most likely never gonna be detected but it's gonna take ages to get anywhere. Just gotta be super careful with how you move
- Many players state that they're running out of ammo super fast. That can be remedied three ways. One is to not fight literally every bot you come across, but that means less experience and potential loot however. The second is a skill perk that increases the amount of ammo you loot from any source, up to double the base amount. The third is to find schematics to make your own. I personally have the opposite issue where my storage is being primarily taken up by ammo and I'm always scrapping it to make space, but I can see where other players are coming from
- The player base building is kinda cool at first, but leaves a lot to be desired. Still though, custom base I guess
- Player level cap is 31, leaving you to specialize in your skills pretty hard or be a kinda crumby Jack-of-all-trades. Makes sense in co-op, but kinda sucks in solo
- "Rivals", the mini-bosses of the game, only seem worth fighting once you hit level 25, when they finally have a chance to drop the best weapons in the game. Not saying never fight them until that point, but doesn't seem 100% worth it till you're 25
- Clothing is all pretty cool and reminds me of my childhood, and can give you minor buffs. But the minor buffs may not seem worth it. Like oh cool this jacket gives me 3% bullet resistance and these shoes give me 2% noise reduction. Does it make a difference? I can't tell. But the placebo effect may be kicking in for me I'm not sure.

All in all, this is still a really fun game. Just do yourself a favor and don't jump in expecting Far Cry or GR: Breakpoint style stealth. You don't have to fight absolutely everything, but that's not to say you can't. The best way I can describe this game is S.T.A.L.K.E.R but swap mutants and anomalies out for big AF robots. If possible, pick it up while it's on sale with some friends and roleplay Red Dawn meets Terminator.

Could you fix the game instead of pumping out more overpriced dlc

Generation Zero is an unfinished piece of art. It feels incomplete and empty, while, at the same time, being one of the most beautiful and immersive games I have ever played. This makes it challenging to do the game justice. You can feel the effort and heart the developers put into it, however, there are still countless small and big issues that need to be fixed.

Of course, there are many positive aspects. The game is visually stunning. The buildings are realistic, the clouds look amazing and the sunlight/moonlight breaking through the trees is an absolute highlight. It really feels like you are running around on a Swedish island with its picturesque nature. The magnificent sounds highly contribute to that. The splashing of water in the boathouses, the varying noises your footsteps make or the wind whispering through the treetops. Within the houses, you hear the slight hissing of the wind, while the view to the outside is slightly distorted by the windows. Of course, nostalgia plays a huge role in the game and it starts the loading item being an old running tape. There are many lovely details like that.

The game has so much potential when it comes to the atmosphere. I feel like these small things make a big difference and I can think of many possible additions. A blackout with all lights getting dark or a slamming door because of the wind would have been nice scripted sequences. Being able to sit down at the campfires or drinking a hot beverage during a thunderstorm within one of the buildings might also contribute to the atmosphere. Classical music playing inside of the buildings would have been nice and fireflies within the forests would have been an easy adjustment. There are also not many unique and memorable locations and only a few animals that barely make a sound. Wouldn’t it make sense to find at least a few dead animals along your way?

One of my biggest issues with the game is the story and the content. I loved to just roam around and discover new areas, but that is not enough. The missions are dull and often buggy and the story is not very innovative or exiting. I already knew where the story was heading after a few hours and the ending was disappointing and sudden. It never felt like the story was part of the game, but just a tool to keep us players busy. Just imagine a few missions like those in, for example, Fallout and it would have been a much better game. Reading the notes lying around never felt satisfying. You never share the excitement of the protagonists in these notes. I know this is a high expectation for an open world game, but I was hoping for a little bit more narrative like Remedy Entertainment provides in their games. I need likeable, reappearing characters with motivations and I need to feel the gravity of the situation. There is no interaction with anyone and this is a huge issue. In Firewatch, for example, it made a huge different to have another voice on the other side of walkie-talkie I was hoping for an exciting turn, when I found many flying stones at a certain area, but in the end it was just one of the many bugs in the game.

The game feels like a side hobby and a pet project at the same time. Like something, the developers wanted to do for a long time. As you can see, I have played the game for more than 100 hours and I have enjoyed it very much. It was one of my daily highlights to come home from work and to run around a little bit in the post-apocalyptic forests of Sweden. My recommendation is to play it slow and with patience and to breathe in the atmosphere. However, I never had enough arguments for my friends to join me. It breaks my heart, but for the same reasons I cannot recommend this game at its current state.

This game is so beautiful, i wish Sweden was a real place.