Ground Zero
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Ground Zero Trailers
Ground Zero - Launch Trailer | PS5 Games
Ground Zero Console Announce Trailer
Ground Zero - Narrative Trailer | PS5 Games
Critic Reviews for Ground Zero
Ground Zero stands out as one of the most polished and complete indie survival horror experiences in recent years. While clearly heavily inspired by Resident Evil, it feels like a lost game in the series rather than a copycat and the mix of combat and puzzles keep things fresh throughout. Throw in the generous extra modes and the unlockables mixing up subsequent playthroughs and you have a game that offers dozens of hours of quality survival horror for a bargain price.
Ground Zero plays its cards very early on, showing you exactly what it wants to do from the get-go. It channels its inspiration from old-school survival horror games that made the PS1 so special, even leaning into pre-rendered backgrounds and offering tank controls. Visuals get blurry in certain areas, and frame rate takes a hit in weird places. Then there's the old-school need to actually conserve your ammunition for boss fights, which can put you in a position where you can't defeat the boss without enough weaponry. Overall, Ground Zero makes for a good time and has a good gameplay loop as long as you know what to expect from it.
Ground Zero is a bit of a weird one. On some levels, it works incredibly well, mostly in the nostalgic feel and wearing its inspirations on its sleeves.
Ground Zero is one of the best resi-likes out there. In many ways, it’s superior to the games that it inspired, with deeper gameplay and jam-packed with content. Not everything works perfectly, like when the game occasionally glitches and enemies get stuck in a looping animation after they die. It’s nothing a patch couldn’t fix, but it’s still strange to see something like that in an otherwise polished game. Thankfully, it isn’t a rogue-like.
Ground Zero is a game that builds on clear ideas and a strong sense of its genre. Without a doubt, it knows what survival horror is all about and always delivers what fans expect: a constant feeling of vulnerability, limited resources, and slow, careful gameplay.
Ground Zero doesn’t try to modernize survival horror by stripping away its old systems. Instead, it leans into them and expands on them with modern replayability design and layered progression systems.
Ground Zero is a fantastic example of how to take the things that inspire you, make something great, while maintaining the core DNA, and add your own twist.
Ground Zero delivers a deeply nostalgic yet modern survival horror experience that captures the tension, mystery, and personal discovery that defined the genre’s roots. With branching paths, layered level design, and challenging combat systems, it rewards patience and curiosity while occasionally frustrating with clunky menus and oversized environments. It stands out as a game built for replayability and exploration, even if some design choices slow the pacing.
