Zed Zone

This is one of those reviews where I wish I could put a "needs work." There isn't really much content, or, there is, and its amazing, but everything is arbitrary. This game, even in winter, with difficulty turned up, on my FIRST real run was WAY too easy. Why would I ever want to boil water when I can just make a well? Why would I ever make a fridge when every POI run gives me more canned food than I know what to do with? By the time I found the hand warmers (Second day) I used them once with a battery I already had multiple of, and then never had to use it again because there is clothes EVERYWHERE. Which wouldn't matter, if you couldnt make cloth to repair them from literal grass which grows everywhere, and which a single swing of anything cuts down massive amounts of. This is like Project zomboid if you made it faster paced, with more interesting combat, but with all of the survival elements made even more arbitrary. Now, yes, like PZ this game has difficulty customization options, but the default and even slightly above it should not trivialize its entire genre of "Survival" right? It is way too easy to "survive." and once you have a vehicle, forget about it. Why even make a base? And speaking of, - if you live underground in the mines, noone will ever attack you it seems. And generally AI doesnt plan raids on you in general. I got this game years ago, never really did a real run, didnt "Get it" And now on my first one it feels like they didnt add all that much in 3+ years. Like I say - It is a very fun loop in a way, you just realize all the stuff you are always working towards is trivial or useless by the time you get it. The lizard boss is very easy, especially with VATS. Yea. Make food and clothes and stuff rarer, or harder to interact with. Why is my food not freezing in my backpack? It should be. Canned food should be rarer for sure, because it lasts so long. Also - do you even NEED to sleep? I did because I assumed it was good to, but I was never forced too. It just seems like it doesn't know if it wants to be an arcade game or an extraction game or a survival game, and obviously those things can mix but right now this one is missing the mark a bit. It is very easy to unlock everything. Maybe 1.0 will come out in a month or 3 and all of this stuff will be addressed. Idk. Will check back in at some point. For now, if you really love Project Zomboid, and basebuilder/survival games like I do, then get it on sale maybe, but to be real, a really modded out PZ beats this any day of the week.