“The Horde is coming, but you’re ready to fight it! Assemble your squad, choose their upgrades, and build powerful synergies against thousands of undead. Survive. Then evolve. Then break every limit in this deceptively simple but addictive bullet heaven game.” – Steam Description

Yet Another Zombie Survivors (YAZS) is… yet another entry in a long list of Survivorslikes that have hit the market since the release of Vampire Survivors. I first learned of the game back in March 2023 when the demo, which released only a month prior, saved me from the disappointment that was the Diablo IV beta. Now with the 1.0 release, I’m more than happy with everything this game turned out be.

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The first thing that stands out is that you don’t play as a singular character but a squad of 3. For your first few runs, this squad is pretty set in stone as you only have 3 unlocked from the start. The SWAT, the Tank, and the Engineer. You pick which one you want to start with as your team lead and set off into the level. As you start to fight your way through the relentless onslaught of undead, you will first find an S.O.S. signal as the first event of the run. Once you make your way to this and respond, you will be able to select the next member of your squad and add them to the team. Each member increases total experience gain, your max HP and adds another stat bonus based on the individual character. This will happen again further into the run to give you your third squad member.

As the run goes on, you will also find item crates that give you a choice between a few passive items that will change the behavior of some mechanics in the game such as, gaining a buff when killing an elite enemy, item crates also granting a full level up, or a super secret potato that… well, you’ll have to see for yourself.

There are 9 total characters to unlock over the course of your playthrough and each brings something unique to the table. With every level up, you can improve their gear, upgrade their weapons and even synergize abilities with other squad mates.

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Wait, there’s a STORY?!

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Between missions, you will find yourself back at your Camp. Aesthetically, it’s what you would expect from a post-apocalyptic, zombie survival camp. Everything is barely cobbled together shipping containers or corrugated metal sheets. This serves as the hub for information on the game, spending metaprogression currency (cash in this game), or selecting the next mission.

There’s one thing that really stands out in YAZS and that’s the story. Yes, you read that correctly. This game actually has a story to it. This comes in a few different forms. The Canteen is a spot you can visit between missions to have a short dialogue between the different characters that you have unlocked. Their little interactions give a bit of insight to their motivations and their capabilities in combat.

The second is the Radio. Within the Briefing Room, there is a radio that gives little blurbs about things that are happening within the maps you can visit. These can be about things that might be changing as you unlock maps or things that happened on a mission you recently completed.

The third, and main source, of story are the Missions themselves. They might seem arbitrary at first but there are missions that push an overarching storyline as well as a story for each character. The missions for the individual characters do require you to take them as your squad leader but that is a benefit as it pushes you to try out and unlock things you might otherwise ignore because you already have a few favorites.

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So Much Metaprogression

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Metaprogression can be found in the Training Yard in your camp and comes in the form of skill trees for both your squad as a whole and for each character individually.

The general, squad based, tree is what you would expect from a Survivorslike game. Extra XP gain, more meta currency, more weapon damage, etc. The character specific trees are where things get interesting.

Each character has a main weapon that gets replaced as you unlock them within your trees and level up within the mission. The SWAT character starts with a pistol, then progresses to an SMG, but the third weapon always gives you one of three choices. Specifically for him it’s an assault rifle, a sniper rifle or a grenade launcher. Each weapon has unique stats and traits for it and does change the way they behave within the squad. A sniper rifle is good single target damage while the grenade launcher gives massive AOE damage. There is an option to return points or fully reset a tree for free but I didn’t feel the need to optimize the trees beyond what I thought felt good to play.

Each character also has a number of abilities that they get as they level. The skill trees add evolutions to them but also synergies for having specific members in your squad. The SWAT’s machinegun turret can instead become a shotgun turret if you’ve unlocked the synergy and have the Tank on your team. There are 3 to 4 synergies for each character that really make you think about how you build out your team.

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Tag. You’re It.

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Another major layer of build customization comes in the form of damage Tags. There are 7 tags in total. Kinetic (ballistic), Slashing, Explosive, Electrical, Chemical, Fire, and Ice. Every time you level up you select to gain or improve a weapon or ability and each one of these has an associated tag. Most, though not all, weapons are kinetic. Selecting more abilities of the same tag type improve their overall damage scaling and once you hit 10 tags of a specific type, you get another special modifier for dealing that type of damage.

Items also add to these tags. Some will directly add a bonus number to a specific tag type while others will give you more damage toward certain stats for having X number of tags over a certain threshold.

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• Graphics– Graphically, the game is nothing special. The environments are interesting, the enemies are easy to distinguish, and the effects are fun. The character models are very obviously meant to be kept at the overhead, isometric view and do look a little goofy during the moments of story when you get a closer look.
• Gameplay– Gameplay is where this game truly shines. What could have been a very generic survivorslike, turned out to be one of the more mechanically in-depth games in the genre I’ve played. Every time I think I’ve figured out “the build”, I unlock something else or try a mission with a character that immediately gets my gears turning and I’m trying another build in my next run. Not only are there different difficulties and game types but there is a global leaderboard for each so you have something else to shoot for after beating the story and unlocking everything.
• Sound– The sound design is also nothing noteworthy. The soundtrack is heavy and fits the theme, the sounds of the enemies and attacks are satisfying, and I haven’t heard any startling jumps in audio. While the soundtrack never started to get old, I probably wouldn’t recognize it out of context.
• Controls– Controls are pretty on point. WASD to move. Mouse to navigate menus. There is no dodge though the game does allow for active attacking and manual aiming. While that’s not how I personally prefer to play, it’s always nice when these games give the option. Most importantly, I’ve never had to scream about moving a way I didn’t intend or accidentally picking the wrong upgrade.
• Story– I still cannot believe there is a story for a game like this. It’s not standard for the genre but it feels right for the zombie survival theme. Reading little blurbs about the characters and their quirky, or sometimes dark, interactions were something I started to look forward to between missions.