Arrival Zero Earth – Game Review

Another indie roguelike to come out of the wake of such icons as Vampire Survivors and Brotato, Arrival Zero Earth takes heavy inspiration from the classic War of the Worlds. The enemies are machines that look akin to the invading species from the film. With tri-pod like enemies littering the waves you about to fight through. All in order to protect Finland from the machines! Let’s look at Arrival Zero Earth…

Details of Arrival Zero Earth

They're Coming... Arrival: Zero Earth Demo Impressions
Image Source: Wala Wala

Developer: Jounitus

Publisher: Jounitus

Platform: PC (Steam) Windows,

Release Date: 12th January 2024, (Early Access: 11th October 2022)

Price: £4.99

Age Rating: 3

Story of Arrival Zero Earth

Steam közösség :: ARRIVAL: ZERO EARTH
Image Source: Steam Community

Arrival Zero Earth is a roguelike action autoshooters inspired by The War of the Worlds. Set in Finland in the 1900s you will have to gather an army of soldiers to defend your country against the terrorizing machines. You lose if all your coffins are filled (they are filled when a unit dies). You can gain more coffins and also cremate the ones you have to regain another life. Can you survive all 10 waves and push the machines back?

Analysis of Arrival Zero Earth

Units

ARRIVAL: ZERO EARTH
Image Source: Steam

There are multiple units in which you can select from. At the start you will only have access to four or five different classes. With you having to unlock the rest in the unlock store in the main menu. Units range from homing missiles, machine guns, snipers, to RPGs and more. There is an impressive variety within the game. Allowing you to constantly try out new combinations to find out which is best for your play style.

Unlocks

Arrival: Zero Earth (2022)

As well as more units for you to collect, there are multiple things you can buy to upgrade your player. The boosts that litter the store can be anything from increased coffin chance, to increased rare unit spawn chance. They all stack as well so make sure to find and collect as many as possible during runs.

Enemies

Steam Community :: ARRIVAL: ZERO EARTH
Image Source: Steam Community

For the most part enemies seem heavily inspired by the classic War of the Worlds. With the machines in both looking very similar. However instead of just having the tri-pod like creatures in the game the indie also includes several smaller drone shaped machines. And to top it off a dragon that appears between waves 6-9. For no other reason, that I can find, than to have a god-damn dragon.  

Summary of Arrival Zero Earth

jounitus
Image Source: Jounitus

Quick paced auto shooting action that will have you hooked until you proceed to unlock everything the game has to offer. Every unit, every boost, every ability, until you are the machine. The machine built perfectly for defending your home. The beautifully designed graphics are pleasant to look at. Which you do spend a good portion of the game staring at the background as you wipe out wave and wave of terrorizing machines. For a small price of £4.99 the game offers a massive amount of gameplay for the price. The small indie shows nothing but promise, ingenuity and creativity. I would love to see the developers retool this into an FPS down the line akin to Generation Zero, only better!

Overall Rating: 8.5 – Excellent!

Platform Played On: Steam Deck

Recommendation: Yes

You can buy Arrival Zero Earth on Steam!

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