Ground Zero

In Ground Zero, players are taken to a post-apocalyptic South Korea, specifically Busan, two months after a catastrophic meteor strike has devastated the city. Once the dust has settled, elite Korean agent Seo-Yeon and her Canadian partner Evan are dispatched to gather intelligence, and they encounter bizarre creatures mutated by the meteor strike along the way. Players can explore the ruined city, from coastal towns and temples to the urban centre, and they can choose which route to take, which increases the game's replay value. The atmosphere is terrific and the setting is well executed, as is the level design of most of the interconnected areas. Both the retro look of the areas and the character design clearly reference survival horror classics.

The game pays tribute to 1990s classics such as the original Resident Evil games, Dino Crisis, Parasite Eve and Nocturne. This means that characters wearing absurdly wild outfits move through pre-rendered backgrounds that are viewed from fixed camera angles. These angles are sometimes used cleverly to make enemies appear unexpectedly. However, the environment also encourages exploration, making extensive use of environmental storytelling and offering additional rewards.

Players can switch between classic and modern control schemes. In the tank control scheme, the character turns in the direction they are facing, as in the original games. With modern controls, the character turns relative to the direction in which the camera is facing. The combat system offers more than the PS1 classics, including parrying (effective counterattack with a tight window), dodging (stamina cost), well-timed critical shots, and flexible syringe use for healing. It is also important to collect Genome Points in order to upgrade equipment and abilities, which can be achieved by performing clean kills with minimal ammo consumption. Ammo is scarce due to the nature of the genre, so careful management is essential. Players must time Critical Shots correctly; otherwise, they will waste a lot of ammo on enemies. Fortunately, it is possible to practise more challenging tasks in training mode. Players must interact with non-player characters (NPCs), manage resources, contend with a chronically limited inventory and solve puzzles. Regarding puzzles, players can select different levels of difficulty, which is a great accessibility feature.

Ground Zero isn't just a copy of the classics; it offers a fresh perspective that demonstrates the developers' understanding of what made those games so appealing. Consequently, weaknesses such as cumbersome inventory management, certain puzzles, the cheesy storyline, the limited number of enemy types, and a few technical shortcomings (optimisation) have less of an impact. However, an update was released yesterday (27 April) that offers performance improvements, frame rate caps and the ability to delete individual saves, among other features.

The game was developed by Malformation Games, a remote-first indie studio based in Sweden. It was founded by James Marchant. Ground Zero is their first game. It has been published by Kwalee, a games publisher and developer based in Leamington Spa, UK. Kwalee has a catalogue of PC and console titles, including Wildmender, The Precinct, Town to City, Don't Stop Girlypop!, Grime II, Modulus, and upcoming releases such as Hark the Ghoul, Call of the Elder Gods, Lost Hellden, BPM Bitcrushed, Shift at Midnight, Welcome to Elderfield and Lily's World XD. Founded by David Darling CBE, co-founder of Codemasters, the company has studios in the UK, India and other locations around the world.

Ground Zero was released on 16 April 2026 for PC (Steam), PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, priced at just under €20 depending on the platform.

Conclusion

Ground Zero is a worthy tribute to the classic survival horror games of the PS1 era, combining them with modern concepts.

Features

• Classic survival horror with fixed camera angles
• Different control modes and modern combat additions
• Plenty of content for the price