Since Poncle’s Vampire Survivors exploded onto the scene in 2022, we’ve seen a slew of copycats try to replicate the varying levels of success. Does Ground Zero Hero do enough to stand out in the roguelite bullet-heaven or (to coin Poncle’s term) “survivaton” genre?
Created over three years by a solo developer, Ground Zero Hero is jointly published under the resurrected classic gaming brand Acclaim inc and Aurakenn Games. It received simultaneous releases on PC and consoles and is set to launch on all consoles in the near future.
Set in the aftermath of an unexplained nuclear apocalypse, the main character emerges from their bunker and is beset upon by mutated wildlife. But can it step out from the shadows cast by Vampire Survivors?
Adapt to the threat
Your goal in Ground Zero Hero is simple: destroy the opposition.
You attack automatically and only have control over your direction and movement. Rather than a time limit, you get a quota of kills (usually 10,000), and every minute or so new waves of enemies come at you, each getting progressively more difficult. Time still plays a role in each level, though, as there is a day-night cycle.
At night, more powerful foes come out. These are based on classic monster-like vampires or werewolves, and you get the option to hide in a bunker till sunrise.
As each enemy is defeated, they drop radioactive remains. When enough of these drops are collected, they “level up”. Players can then choose from a pool of three random mutations, offensive and defensive in nature, to aid you in your run. These mutations vary, from tentacles that attack the closest, a fireball you spit or just a radioactive glow that damages if someone gets too close. You can also stack different ones or just level one up to max.
Your character only goes up to level 20, but it’s entirely up to you and the random chance of how you level your character. This does put a hard cap on your abilities unfortunately and I would had preferred if Ground Zero Hero let you go to ludicrous levels to match its chaos vibes.
Each attack also has a chance to “go bonkers,” which usually results in a massive screen-clearing attack. These were accompanied with a jingle, that when combined with the sudden power surge did hit those dopamine centres associated with power fantasy.
Surviving in the Wastes
While resting overnight resets the day and replenishes some of your health, it also clears the playing field of any remnants you haven’t picked up. Staying and fighting overnight does give you more exp, as tougher enemies drop more experience, so there is a risk/reward to staying up all night. There are also light survival elements, such as a constant hunger meter that refills with candy.
Candy is dropped by enemies, but is mostly available from pinatas that are littered all over the field. I believe this mechanic was implemented to avoid camping in one area and encourage moving around the arena. I’ll be honest, candy was so plentiful that I never really found out what happened when your hunger meter emptied.
Other pickups can be found with exploration as well. There are psychedelic mushrooms, which heal and slow time down temporarily. Safes appear and must be cracked by staying in their vicinity for gold rewards. There are even explosive materials that can be detonated with fire for a quick screen-clear.
All the Damage Numbers
Pinatas also have a chance to drop additional pickups such as dice to re-roll mutations, food for health and magnets to suck up all items left on the field. However, the drop rates seem to be extremely low and couldn’t be relied upon in a pinch. Other creatures that can appear are shotgun-wielding farmers you can follow and a strangely over-animated creature that appears to vacuum up the drops on the ground when they become too plentiful (I believe an attempt to help out your computer’s processing).
If you manage to kill the required target amount, the field clears and the boss “Dapper Dan” appears. This is a multi-tentacled, multi-eyed giant blob of flesh that takes up a quarter of the screen and has a health bar to match its size. Defeating him finishes the level and moves you on to the next. Each level he reappears even more “dapper”, with him starting to wear top hats and monocles. While I appreciate the comedy value in this, it was essentially still reusing the boss and I feel different bosses would have gone a long way.
Permanent Changes
At the end of a level, win or lose, you fill up a mutation bar depending on your performance. Each time this levels up, you unlock a new mutation to be added to the level-up pool. Mutations must also make several kills before their “bonkers” mode can be unlocked. Back at the main menu, you then have the option to spend any gold obtained for permanent upgrades to max health, walk speed, critical attack chance, etc.
Ground Zero Hero is presented with a bright, colourful palette and hand-drawn sprites, with definite influences from The Simpsons and Rick and Morty. I also felt some influences from the golden age of cartoons, like what Cuphead was inspired by. The zany visuals are also backed by a nice, upbeat tone in the music that dynamically shifts as the levels progress.
Tastes like Candy
With only five levels, Ground Zero Hero won’t be sticking around for long.
The final level inflates its difficulty artificially due to the lack of reliable healing. There were no bunkers to stay overnight, nor any mushrooms, so you had to rely on food drops from pinatas, which (in my experience) had an abysmally low drop rate. I had to grind gold to max out my stats and then got lucky, which was an unexpected shift that was quite unwelcome.
Although an endless mode of levels is available upon completion, there’s very little to return for. Once you have unlocked everything, it’s unlocked, and there’s no progression or hidden objectives to hunt for.
Ground Zero Hero is the gaming equivalent of candy. It’s colourful and zany, and will provide a short burst of fun, but has no nutritional value. If you enjoy the genre or maybe need something for your handheld device, it will kill a couple of hours, but unlike its main protagonist, it doesn’t really evolve beyond its starting point.
Developer: Rowan Edmondson
Publisher: Acclaim Inc., Aurakenn Games
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2
Played on: PC
Key Provided by: Keymailer
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