I came to Yet Another Zombie Survivors via a different Awesome Games Studio title: Fury Unleashed (which is brilliant, by the way). After playing the latter on my Xbox I reached out to the studio with regards to the former, and they were kind enough to send me access so I could take a closer look for myself.
I wanted to write about the game just after the Fire Walk With Me update, because who doesn’t love a referential title! However, stuff got in the way of that plan and here we are in late February. I think it’s still a good time to talk about the state of the game, though, as AGS is currently working on optimising things and it’ll be awhile before there’s a big new content update (I think).
What is Yet Another Zombie Survivors?
This is perhaps the most self-explanatory game title that I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing about. It’s a survivors game (or an auto-shooter, if you prefer) akin to Vampire Survivors, and it’s full of zombies. Moving on…
The most interesting things about Yet Another Zombie Survivors (or YAZS as I shall refer to it henceforth) are its more nuanced elements, the things that are seen a little less frequently in the sub-genre. The standout example of this is the party-based approach to combat, with the player able to recruit an additional two characters to their party during a run, opening up a range of trio-tastic tactical options.
As we have all come to expect from the genre, throughout each run, the screen fills with increasingly dangerous zombies. This goes on until eventually you’re being charged at by giant behemoths similar to The Patriarch from Killing Floor or Nemesis from Resident Evil. To combat that you have access to a selection of powerful character classes, and combining nimble movement and a bit of sensible engine building should see you through to the end.
SWATing those zombies like flies
You start things off with an all-rounder, the SWAT soldier, and straight away you’re in a fight for survival. Zombies will amble towards you and your military man will take them out one at a time and with ease. Those enemies drop XP, which you grab and thus begin the process of levelling up. Nice and simple.
From time to time you get to direct the development of a character by choosing a new skill, but for the most part, you’re simply leveling up the abilities that you have previously chosen. This setup means that you’re constantly getting stronger, but not always making interesting decisions.
I think my one note would be that the skill trees and the paths you take through them aren’t as varied as they might be, and it would be nice to have even more directions to take each survivor in. At the moment the challenge feels more akin to a classic RTS, where you have to layer in your abilities in the right order to maximise their potential.
Back to our friendly neighbourhood SWATerman… Initially he’ll line up his shots, spinning to face and shoot the nearest threat, which is fine at first. However, it’s not long before one or two becomes MANY, at which point you’ve got to side-step attacks constantly, as well as use the space around you to deliver as much damage as possible – all without getting hit, naturally.
Getting by with a little help from your AI friends
There is a remedy to growing crowd of zombies that are trying to feast on your brains. Dotted around the map are some of your fellow survivors. Go up and stand next to one and they’ll join your team, or you can “rescue them” and off they go. When they do join your team, that’s when the fun stuff starts to happen.
When building your squad you can mix and match your survivors to suit your tactics for that run. You might have your SWAT dude equipped with an assault rifle and periodically supported by a helicopter attack that cuts a path through the horde from above. Alongside your group leader, you might recruit a Pyro with flame-throwing abilities, a shotgun-wielding Tank, or the Ghost and their katana if you want to get really close to your enemies.
I think my favourite might be the Engineer and their electric powers. This is probably because I love a light show and this class crackles around the battlefield like Palpatine on steroids.
The point I’m labouring to is: there is a decent selection of playable classes and they’ve got a nice range of complementary abilities. I look forward to seeing more, certainly, and I’d appreciate a bit more depth in their individual skill trees, however, considering the price point and the replayability already baked into the cake, I think YAZS is in great shape for an Early Access game.
What’s left to level up, then?
Beyond the playable part of the game, there is still some interesting stuff going on. Most notably, there is an overarching progression system that allows you to toughen up your cadre of zombie killers. This gradual strengthening goes hand-in-hand with your own enhanced understanding of the different classes and how they can operate together.
There are multiple difficulty settings to work through, so if you get bitten by this particular bug, there’s a lot of room within which to stretch your proverbial legs. YAZS doesn’t just give you everything up front; you need to unlock access to additional classes and levels by working your way through the missions and completing objectives.
It’s precisely this level of depth and replayability that ensures that Yet Another Zombies Survivors isn’t just another Vampire Survivors clone. Of course, there’s reverence to the game that inspired it, but the three-soldier squads and the various combos that you can build with them ensures that YAZS has its own distinctive flavour.
In this congested sub-genre, I think the best games are going to have to do something distinctive or they will need to do what they’re doing very well. Yet Another Zombie Survivors does both and so I think it stands alongside Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor as one of the best and most technically proficient games to emerge in the niche, and I’ve no qualms with recommending it even in its current Early Access state.
