Ground Zero Review - Survival Horror That's Slicker than a Licker

I love that indie developers are keeping classic survival horror games alive. We’ve seen the likes of Heartworm, Signalis, Crow Country, and many more over the last few years preserving fixed cameras, limited ammo resources, an ink ribbon‑like system, and of course, campy voice acting and storylines. The latest game to give it a go is Ground Zero, brought to us by Malformation Games and publisher Kwalee. It certainly looks the part, but does it play the part? Why don’t we find out.

Ground Zero is VERY MUCH a classic survival horror game in the style of OG Resident Evil, you know, the game that gets most of the credit when it was in fact Alone in the Dark that implemented a lot of the mechanics we know and love? Of course, there were games like 1989’s Sweet Home on the NES, and one might even go as far back as Haunted House on the Atari, but it’s fair to say Resident Evil truly popularized and refined the genre, and plenty of games have been chasing that magic ever since.

In the case of Ground Zero, it knows EXACTLY what it wants to be and doesn’t try to hide its inspirations whatsoever. Its pre-rendered backdrops, wonky aiming that’ll make you feel like you're trying to take a piss 3 beers deep (adjusted for inflation), and optional tank controls, coupled with a ridiculously stinky storyline, will give any 90’s kid more wood than a lumberyard. It’s a tribute to the past but also has a few unique ideas of its own.

Much like the intro to Anal Boot Camp, which I may or may not have been watching last night, our story opens on a military briefing: Captain Seo-Yeon, who leads most of our campaign, is joined by gruff lieutenant Evan Fielding. A meteor has struck South Korea, and now the duo is tasked with retrieving black box data that will hopefully supply more information about the event and current conditions. They are to also investigate the site of the incident carefully, clear out any remaining radiation, and of course, rescue survivors. This isn’t your usual zombie virus affair, and I for one appreciated the twist on an all too familiar narrative. It’s suitably cheesy, with campy voice performances that fit the vibe perfectly. I found the characters quite entertaining themselves, particularly Seo-Yeon, who will switch between her native language and English through the various calls she receives during gameplay, a nice touch! At certain key moments in the game, players will also need to select different paths to take. In fact, you’ll be making a fairly critical choice right from the get-go. This adds a bit of extra replay value, of which there is plenty, in wanting to see different locations, solutions, and outcomes.

A campy script is one key ingredient to any retro survival horror experience, but Ground Zero doesn’t stop there. Offering both a more modern control scheme and classic controls, it plays the part too. While I have an appreciation for tank controls and I am glad they have been included, I personally preferred the modern scheme as it allowed me to aim and move with a bit more precision, essential in a game that features fixed camera angles that often shift at a moment's notice causing tremendous disorientation. While I feel like a world where everyone moved like a tank would be amusing in real life, I'm personally okay leaving this mechanic in the past. Genre veterans may enjoy the option, though if you were hoping for a hybrid of sorts where the stick feels modern and the D-Pad doesn’t, this wasn’t a feature at the time of this review. 

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, because it's important to understand just what you’re getting into here if that wasn’t already obvious. Players will traverse various locations collecting items, solving puzzles, blasting down mutated baddies, and dealing with a pretty brutal wedgie. Jokes aside, if you didn’t like old-school survival horror before, your mind won’t be changed here. There are loads of locked doors, dead ends, and a pretty mediocre map that you’ll be pulling up constantly. Thankfully, there is a hotkey to do so, though the integration was far from perfect, and I ultimately found that, because like I mentioned you get turned around often in this game, there could have been a better implementation of this feature. To the map's credit, it does label which doors you have been through and any missed items, and on easy it goes into even more detail, so I can appreciate that the developer at least tried to ease some of the pain that comes with old-timey mapping. 

When you aren’t finding random items and jamming them into questionable slots, you’ll be fighting for your life with a limited ammo supply, at least at the start. I was nervous at first as my bullets ran dry quickly, but after the first hour or so stock becomes more plentiful and can even be purchased from random machines scattered across the different areas. You won’t get the “WHAT ARE YA BUYIN” guy here, but you can use currency, which is sometimes found in the environment or more easily earned through scanning the corpses of foes upon defeating them. This currency is then used to buy health, ammo, and even grenades that keep you livin’ and survivin’ just a moment longer. These shops are often located in or near safe rooms, wherein there are also computers which can be used to save progress, though they need to be booted up with a signal amplifier rather than an ink ribbon.

While you're there, why not manage your inventory in safes? You knew it was coming, didn’t you? (That’s what she said.) These allow you to store items you might not need for a while, though you WILL need to tap into your inner 5th grader to figure out some basic math equations in order to crack them. Solving these conundrums is good fun, also netting you a prize unless, of course, you blow them up with explosives instead, which is an option. And speaking of inventory management, it's a big part of gameplay as you will often need to combine items, jam healing serums into a needle that you’ll inject into yourself and heal or even make the tough choice to drop something because you just gotta have that key item.

Let’s talk about that combat now because, let’s face it, this genre isn’t exactly known for its smooth mechanics, tight aiming, or slick dodging and parrying. Ground Zero very much keeps this clunky tradition alive with some questionable gunplay that feels serviceable in the same way going to one of those drive-thru oil change places keeps your car running. Aiming is a slight cut above the usual for this genre thanks to a red beam of light that helps guide the trajectory of each bullet, but pulling off shots in tight quarters as your camera has a rave party is less than ideal. An auto-aim feature tries to remedy some of the game’s issues, but it's janky in its own right as it is awkwardly attached to its own button, and also wrongfully targets the opposite enemy that I want to shoot, leading to further frustration and damage taken with knifing your way out of a bad situation not always being ideal either. The scan mechanic is admittedly pretty cool though, which nets you more Genome points depending on the condition of the body you’ve ravaged, and there's decent weapon variety too, like shotguns and machine guns. 

One of the more interesting mechanics is a devastating power shot which can be a bit tricky to pull off. By holding down the action button and timing a shot correctly, you’ll deal out massive damage and save on bullets in the process. It’s a neat idea but sometimes hard to succeed at depending on the situation. Execution attacks can also be performed on wriggling corpses that feel straight out of Mortal Kombat. Players should also expect a few boss battles across this surprisingly lengthy campaign that have you using environmental objects to try to slow down your foes. Just wait till you meet the Nemesis wannabe that one-shots you; he’s a major pain in the ass. A skilled player can apparently get through the game in 8 hours if an in-game achievement is any indication, but your average bloke like me went well into double-digit playtime.

I’d say much of this was the bosses tripping me up, but enemies can be a bit too aggressive in spots overall, endlessly pursuing you even when opting to run away in hopes of conserving supplies. 

As for those puzzles, they are pretty standard fare for the genre. There are polygonal boxes to push and levers to pull, along with tricky dicky numerical offerings and even a bit of mixology. Nothing that will test your patience too much, but most of them are good fun to solve. As you might expect, some of the memos you collect will lean into certain puzzle solutions, so you’ll have to sift through notes or even bust out your phone camera to crack them all.

Visually, Ground Zero looks straight out of the era that inspired it, with hilariously blocky character models, awesome pre-rendered backdrops, and even some 3D set pieces that blend in relatively seamlessly with the rest of the game. It’s a great-looking package styled after the PS1 era with cool creature designs and varied locations, accompanied by some seriously impressive sound design, whether it's the moody tunes of the background or the moans and grunts of the monstrosities lurking nearby. The fixed cameras, while problematic during combat, are kind of worth it in just how atmospheric they are. Overall, I really loved the visual and audio offerings.

I mentioned that the game is quite lengthy, but there are plenty of reasons to dive back in for another go as well, some of which I won’t spoil here. There are the alternate paths I mentioned, unlockable outfits, different endings, and even some cool additional game modes. This Swedish studio has gone above and beyond, packing in trinkets and goodies that will delight players who are still craving more once the credits have rolled. The game ran well too overall on my PC, with just one minor crash and a few small framerate hiccups in very specific locations. I did end up getting stuck on the environment at one point, but thankfully my last save wasn’t too far, and occasionally Ground Zero does auto-save to protect players a bit further. On Steam Deck, the game was playable with a variable framerate between the 60s and 40s, but looked pretty washed out on Valve’s handheld, making it my least preferred method of playing. The unsteady framerate can make an already shaky combat engine all the more unforgiving.

While it comes with much of the retro jank that defines the genre, Ground Zero is a lovingly crafted tribute to the past. It has a really fun story with entertaining characters and voice performances, some decent combat ideas and concepts, warts and all, solid puzzle design, and plenty of replayability. Odds are if you are watching this you had a good idea what to expect, but the truth is this game even surprised me in how much care went into its core game design. Malformation Games have a strong understanding of what fans want out of these games, and I suspect you won’t be disappointed in what is one of the first major surprises of 2026. And yet, they have, much like herbs, mixed together some fresh ideas that make for a not-so-scary, but very fun experience you shouldn’t miss out on. If you loved games like Dino Crisis and Overblood, ok, I am kidding on that last one… Check it out!

SILVER/GREAT