WARDOGS
WARDOGS
Game
Game2019
Generation Zero®
Developer Systemic Reaction™
Generation Zero is a first-person shooter video game developed and self-published by Avalanche Studios, under the brand Systemic Reaction. The game was announced in June 2018 and released on PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One on March 26, 2019. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
317 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Mastodon, Bluesky) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
66
Fresh
195 positive · 101 negative
95% range 60–71%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 195 | 101 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
19,228 of 26,292 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
65% recommend · 162 yes, 87 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 249 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (30,483 of 42,302 positive).
Players praise the game's atmosphere, sound design, and early survival horror tension. [1][2][3] Many note the game becomes repetitive and grindy, with a weak story and abandoned development. [4][5][6] Some reviewers enjoy the co-op and robot combat despite bugs and performance issues. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [5]
This game is fantastic. lovely game, great atmosphere, fun locations to explore. Cool weapons, the sound design is amazing, and the environment is stunning. Its everything i could ask for in a survival horror-esque game and more. The final update, however, was dropped with insane bugs, full gameplay reworks, and softlocks galore. The devs abandoned this game immediately after dropping this update which has ruined …
- [19]
The story's compelling, but the phrase "seamless co-op" is doing some seriously heavy lifting considering main quest XP does not share to the party and only the host actually receives it. Calling this co-op is laughable when it clearly goes out of your way to punish you for not starting your own campaign.
- [1]
Generation Zero was the first and probably the best robot fighting game in apocalypse setting I ever played. Not without flaws, like driving physics, but the atmosphere of it is just amazing in every aspect, weather, robots, sound design of those robots, you can feel the mood developers went for pretty well. That's the only game which made me feel scared and tense while praying for my life being stuck inside small …
- [3]
Generation Zero feels like three different games across its progression. Early game, you're sneaking around uncharted territory overrun by hostile robots, and you have to pick and choose your fights to survive. Mid-game, you're strong enough to beat weaker bots, but you scrape by in more climactic fights, making your victories memorable. Late-game, you'll be directly provoking fights to salvage tough robots for …
- [2]
100km long, 2cm deep. This game had so much potential, but unfortunately has fallen short in some ways. Still worth it though, It's very cheap and still very fun, It's just that it could have been so so so much better. If I had to mention some great things this game does, I will definitely mention: Sound design - This game has wonderful soundfx. From your footsteps, through ambient noise, through the soundtrack …
Summarised from 34 of the 271 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 9, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
65% of the 249 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Generation Zero®. The complaint that keeps coming up: game becomes repetitive and grindy in later stages. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
According to review aggregator Metacritic, Generation Zero has received "generally unfavorable reviews" for the PlayStation 4 version of the game and "mixed or average reviews" for the Windows and Xbox One versions.
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 317 · most liked firstThe game is immersive, innovative for its time, and a fun playthrough. Also, I bought the game several years ago and enjoyed the playthrough. During the reinstallation today, I was faced with a mandate to create a new account to obtain the blessing from the developer to allow me to play the game I bought years before the restriction was in place. Thank you so much for holding the game hostage in exchange for farming my personal identity information. Thank you for NOT allowing me to play…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is fantastic. lovely game, great atmosphere, fun locations to explore. Cool weapons, the sound design is amazing, and the environment is stunning. Its everything i could ask for in a survival horror-esque game and more. The final update, however, was dropped with insane bugs, full gameplay reworks, and softlocks galore. The devs abandoned this game immediately after dropping this update which has ruined the experience for many and softlocked literally everyone I know. This is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My husband and I play a lot of co-op and the start of this game actually gives a great adrenaline rush, but it goes downhill SO fast. At first, we were so excited when we saw the giant robots wandering around. It really makes you want to explore everything. But the further you go, the more you realize it’s just bugged as hell. At one point, my companion accidentally hit my husband and he just... fell straight through the map. Gone. The companions are all over the place, glitching and suddenly…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This one is a really tough one for me.... I have know this game since it's early days, played throughout the EA version and I always loved the gameplay look at its core. You start out feeling naked and powerless, shooting beans to things that move better, spot you better and kill you better. It feels challenging and a true guerrilla experience. Thing is, with updates, and a mixture of stuff just jammed into the game and left as is, a lot of aspects of the game got progressively worse and left…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The story's compelling, but the phrase "seamless co-op" is doing some seriously heavy lifting considering main quest XP does not share to the party and only the host actually receives it. Calling this co-op is laughable when it clearly goes out of your way to punish you for not starting your own campaign.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game until you get tired of the grind, also development stoped with a lot of bugs, places to get stuck in and what not, also a lot of cool guns are dlc only. Cant say its worth it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ThE gAmE ThAt WaS ReLeAsEd 7 YeArS aGo HaS bEeN aBaNdOnEd By ThE dEvS There's a difference between a live service game and just a game. Get over yourselves and cope more. It's a fun game. It's $25, i got it for $6 on sale. If you're expecting a triple A title for $25 then your opinion already doesn't matter. Go shoot some clankers and build a base.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Despite having a long list of known issues on the developers site, they are not updating this game anymore. As of now, scoped weapons are practically unusable due to a sever jitter in the crosshair. The jitter is present with iron sights and red dot as well, but it is less noticable due to the lower zoom level. The only way to get an accurate shot is to aim near something and hope that the sway carries your crosshair to the correct location. Players have been reporting this issue for at least…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rating: 4/10 -Disappointing TLDR: An open world resistance fight against clankers with good ideas but with a weak execution. Wasted potential. This game looked very interesting and I played it with my friend a couple years ago but we never finished it. Im starting a new playthrough to finish it solo. I really tried to like this game and I did but in the end, it disappointed me. Positive: World: I like the world. It’s comprised of forests, hills and fields. Walking through a forest while…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't want to say the game is bad. It's average. Most of its pros are balanced out by its cons. Unfortunately, the game is already "finished" and nothing will be changed in it (and I suspect that at launch, in some aspects, it was better than it is now). I'm leaving a negative review solely because I wanted to finish the game completely (learn the plot, get a better grip on the mechanics), but I've already gotten bored. Got bored way too fast. Of course, this is all just my subjective…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i do honestly believe that when a game never delivers on it promises and leaves its product in a unfinished mess that steam should remove it from the store, it happens way to often these days. its a avalance studio so you know what to expect, UI bugs are a given. The development team, Avalanche Studios, initially promised a rich, evolving open-world experience with deeper narrative content, but never delivered on expanding the base game’s story or providing full modding support for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game feels like it was close to being something special, but there's so many bugs and issues that are super frustrating to deal with. Its easy to get stuck in the environment. Hit boxes are all over the place. You'll get random notifications telling you that you just earned zero skill points. Stamina is not balanced at all, you can run for about 100 feet and you'll be drained. Bunkers sound like you're swimming in the middle of a lake with waves splashing for some reason. When you log in,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Generation Zero delivers a really interesting early gameplay in the survival genre. The initial hours are a masterclass in tension; scavenging through a silent, 1980s Sweden feels genuinely perilous. Each new weapon feels like a hard-won upgrade, and encountering new machine enemies felt refreshing. However, the experience quickly dies mid-game. Once you’ve secured high-tier gear, the sense of progression flatlines. You quickly hit a plateau where looting becomes meaningless, and the thrill of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →decent gameplay neutered by a non-existent story and missions that bore you to tears
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wanted to like this game, but couldn't carry on. Just too boring. Mostly orientated around resource gathering. If you want to shoot something, usually not enough ammo, so collect resources to craft ammo and equipment. If I wanted to collect things as a hobby, I'd just do it rather than this nonsense.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →game had so much potential sad to see the devs stopped supporting it.. it's a good survival game but the fact hat a lot of bugs arnt fixed and will never be fixed and it's unfinished i wont be giving it a good review and cant reccomend
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game itself might be good, but you can't play it for more than 10 minutes without feeling like throwing up. The game features an un-turnable "Depth of Field" and artificial image blurring that cannot be turned off. The images in the STEAM Store do not correspond to reality. I absolutely do not understand the developers' idiotic decision to completely ruin the entire game with imbecilic, un-turnable, eye-destroying post-effects. I have to install a fan mod that filters back about 6 optical…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Generation Zero was the first and probably the best robot fighting game in apocalypse setting I ever played. Not without flaws, like driving physics, but the atmosphere of it is just amazing in every aspect, weather, robots, sound design of those robots, you can feel the mood developers went for pretty well. That's the only game which made me feel scared and tense while praying for my life being stuck inside small countryside house with enemies swarming outside trying to get to you. Seeing Arc…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game, cant recommend it tho as it still has some annoying bugs that happen when multiplayer and they will no longer work on this game so it ended in a meh state.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TLDR: Incredibly flawed game with some good designs marred by repetitive design. I really really tried to enjoy this game as evidenced by my long play time. I got it in a Humble Bundle with all DLC, so I got the most feature complete experience I possibly could have. Unfortunately I played it solo as I don't have any other friends willing to play it at the moment, and that would probably prove to be one of its biggest detractions. But for the Pros. The robotic designs in this game are GOOD as…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →100km long, 2cm deep. This game had so much potential, but unfortunately has fallen short in some ways. Still worth it though, It's very cheap and still very fun, It's just that it could have been so so so much better. If I had to mention some great things this game does, I will definitely mention: Sound design - This game has wonderful soundfx. From your footsteps, through ambient noise, through the soundtrack (especially the soundtrack), ending on gun sounds, It's absolutely amazing and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is really fun. Like ARC Raiders without the PVP. Definitely worth the money.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I enjoyed this game. I will say I played it while the dev team was still adding things and the majority of my experience comes from trading and interacting with loot parties of 4, with random players from across the globe I would join with from the discord. This game starts out very survival horror, and doesn't stay that way long, it eventually molds into an arcade open world looter shooter once you get high enough of a level and actually get good gear. The story line isn't much, both in way…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shooting murderous robot war machines, what's not to like. Great game played it a lot with my son on PC and on PlayStation. There are some bugs, but nothing that stopped me from continuing to play it. I still login to go and hunt me some Reapers. Long Live The Resistance!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has top tier gameplay, especially in co-op. It can be summarized as the following: Find cool gun - find & kill machine - dopamine - find better gun - kill bigger machine - repeat The story is kinda just there, nothing really happens. The only praise I have for the story is that it has interesting concepts. The base building is underused and isn't really good (especially base defending) The world is very beautiful but pretty empty. The above are obvious problems, but if you only play…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Generation Zero feels like three different games across its progression. Early game, you're sneaking around uncharted territory overrun by hostile robots, and you have to pick and choose your fights to survive. Mid-game, you're strong enough to beat weaker bots, but you scrape by in more climactic fights, making your victories memorable. Late-game, you'll be directly provoking fights to salvage tough robots for parts. The first two stages are the best parts of GZ, and while the late-game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Story: 8/10 gameplay mechanics/enemy ai: 9/10 worldbuilding: 10/10 map/environment: 8/10 This is a true mystery FPS. The story of the game is so disconnected from the world because you are truly trying to just survive. The story is secondary to survival, however we also don't know who released the machines and the lack of cutscenes/villains just adds to the "not seeing the monster" feeling. we know there are these murderous robots, but not who deployed them or why. The gameplay itself,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't even remember when or why I bought this game (prob on Humble), but the moment I launched it it became the Main Game I play. For me it is a great game to unwind and rest, and take a break from other shooters I play. The game is very intuitive, the moment you start you feel like a fish in the water. Of course there are some nuances, but overall you feel the love and craftsmanship of devs which made it. Despite the fact that the game lack real story, AI is clanky and the HUGE world…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The first 5 hours of this game is great, but afterwards the games flaws show. At first the story is captivating and then you realize that all you do is go to a bunker, get lame fetch quests, repeat. The machines are pretty fun to fight early game, but after a while the gameplay loop ends up being; shoot, run behind cover, reload, repeat. overall this game is worth the money but don't expect game of the year. Its honestly pretty impressive for an indie studio tho.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This brief review is from a solo perspective, if you have friends to play with that could change the fun factor quite a bit. Generation Zero started promising but after about an hour, its boring and generic gameplay starts to rear it's ugly head. My biggest gripe is that the map is huge and there are plenty of POI but the loot is abysmal. Every farm, house, and building you loot has same exact same items in them. A radio, various sized ammo, health kits, and about 10 other items over and over…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have a powerful addiction to this game truly, between the 50hrs on steam and the literal hundreds of hours on console. I loved playing this game from its infancy to its abandonment. From running for your life and sneaking by in the early game fearing every engagement, To deliberately hunting down every rival, tank, harvester, lynx, and firebird you can find in the late game. But tragically for how much I love this game it certainly has some flaws. 1. Ammo used to be semi difficult to really…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a good game that could've been a great game. Don't get me wrong, there's still some fun to be had running around scrapping bots, but there's not enough depth and variety to keep most people interested beyond a few hours, which is a shame really because there are so many elements that had the potential to be amazing, but they tend to come off half-baked. WHERE THE GAME EXCELS: - Visuals It holds up rather well for a 7-year-old game and, for the most part, it runs quite well. At times…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game can be quite fun, however some parts can be very grindy, mainly when going for the rarer weapons as there is no quick and easy way to level up/spawn rivals, so you end up clearing like half the map only to get a weapon you already had like four of. The preformance can be a bit strange, it will run just fine most of the time, however there are certain areas that bring my fps to like 25ish. The overall sound effects are amazing the only thing I wish for is the SFX to be a bit quieter…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Forget the negative reviews Yes there are a couple of bugs here and there but..... The gameplay is exactly what you see in the advertising videos Its a lot of fun solo or with friends Really pretty too Give it a go when it's on sale and you won't be disappointed.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been playing this game for around a week straight and I gotta say I do like this game, from the graphics, weapons, killer machinery and the base building (I love fallout 4). I personally haven't encounted any bugs, it maybe dependant on your rig but I havent encounter anything. My only complaint is the story, didn't even realized I beat it. (Without DLCS) Overall the world feels expansive and you feel small compared to everything going around you, walking around then you see a battle…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game is simply amazing in everyway, there's no killing humans in anyway! i am grateful that this game was made sure it has its glitches and bugs but all games do lol, the A.I. on the bots in this game is amazing the bot actually tracks you if they see you then you break the line of site and get away, i had this bot track me about a mile in game distance and when i came out of a barn the same bot attacked me! its a must play for all fps enthus
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Early Game? Its super fun Exploration and getting new loot, near Survival Horror elements of experiencing the robots for the first time Mid and ESPECIALLY Late game? grindy and the enemies are just bullet sponges This game has so much potential but it sadly falls flat after 20+ hours of gameplay Its good fun with friends if you get it on sale. otherwise dont bother Its sad but im going to put a thumbsdown for this one
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is for the developers, Hey you mad lads, this game was amazing. I had an amazing time playing this with my friend. Through all the problems and issues. We played it. Enjoyed it. You had a game that touched on something that was never touched on in games. A potential for a hole new genre of a game. Yet for a reason unknown to me, you pulled away. We. the player and the devs had a moment, we were on the cusp of something new for once. You and whoever pulls the strings, decided that this…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game makes robots and AI both visibly intelligent and horribly beast-like at the same time. There are truly spectacular moments where you feel like a mouse in a burrow being hunted by a much larger and scarier predator.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Considering I paid for a couple of DLCs, I enjoy this game. I would recommend it for those who like cooperative shooters and looting (the loot goblin is strong with this one). There are basic assault and defence mechanics involved; however, you don't need to use the base building mechanic if you don't want to. Overall, I enjoy the game, the scavaging, destroying hordes of robots, and base defence + assault is fun and not to mention the visuals are great. There are times when I stop for a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →it's ok but the dlc's seem like they're squeezing as much money out of the game as possible most should have been free if not all of them.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No manual save. Autosave only My game crashed and my save file got corrupted. Great ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ job
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Generation Zero is one of those rare games that perfectly nails atmosphere. The empty Swedish countryside, the sound design, the feeling of being hunted by machines - it creates a kind of tension that very few games manage to achieve. What I love most is that the robots actually feel dangerous. Early on, every fight feels like a desperate guerrilla battle where preparation and positioning matter more than just running in guns blazing. The world can feel lonely, but honestly that’s part of the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A survival game combines the open world of an RPG with the shooting and looting of a battle royale, oh forgot it has tower defend too. I love it, it offer a great stealth survival experience. Now let jump to the details: The pawsitive: + Stunning Graphics & Atmosphere: The game recreates a hauntingly beautiful Swedish landscape. The weather effects, lighting, and sound design—especially the mechanical screeches of the robots—are incredibly immersive. I can confirmed that the graphics in the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Underrated game. Base building, crafting, huge map, killer robots in the 80s in Sweden that's coop and slight character creator. You are human fighting machines, bullets hurt, find cover.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was super hyped for this game, but I was actually so disappointed when I actually played it. The gameplay was meh, but my last straw was when my save was soft-locked. I died in the middle of an escort mission, and instead of the truck coming back with me to the start, it was left in the middle of nowhere. Couldn't exit the starting area without it, and couldn't call the truck back or anything. 20 hours of story down the drain.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →3/10 - 10/10 Before the zero contact and “Completion” post The game is not complete the developers killed it off because it wasn’t as profitable as their mediocre hunting game, I cannot support a developer who’s main focus is pushing DLC after DLC for thier games. This game is a blatant ripoff of the concepts of tales from the loop but as a generic survival game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a lot of fun to play co-op with a buddy. Large world to explore, fun gun fights, tons of missions, lots of weapons of varying quality to find and use, just a lot to do, my first playthrough with a buddy where we completed the main story lasted around 65 hours. However, there is a lot of jankyness that likely will never get fixed that you need to be prepared for should you want to co-op it. -My friends cannot join my game unless I change the invite permissions to anybody can…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →IDK what to say this game is so FREAKING PEAK if you need a action packed exploration game with great combat insanely good story AAAAAAAAND multiplayer this is the game for you!!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an asset flip of Call of the Wild and it somehow has worse infrastructure. The devs are supposedly different people as well, but considering how hostile they are towards the audience, I'd say they have to be the exact same people. They don't like players have options to control the game they bought, and they really don't like the idea of people modding their game. Buy it on an extremely steep discount and get the DLC off the back of a truck, and that's only if you want to play it with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even solo this game is great. A robot apocalypse instead of a zombie one is a fun twist, the fights are always tactical - each enemy (other than Ticks) having tough armor except for weak spots unique to each type makes it a great puzzle every time I have to fight. Giving them unique sound cues for when they're around is also very useful because it lets me know when I can snoop around and loot and when I have to tighten up and get ready to take out some 'bots. I was worried at first about the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DLC bloat, the best parts of the game seem to be locked behind more payments. The "script" was written in English and poorly translated to Swedish making the dialogue completely jarring to anyone who speaks Swedish, there is almost never a moment that you are not hearing some npc yapping through the radio. The fighting was kind of fun even though I didn't complete the game. This is not and was never a good buy.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its s FUN this game is a 10/10 rate i think it is a game that should get some love from players on steam its a great game give it a shot!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game was my GF's favorite game to play and wanted to play it with me so i boot it up and the game started out fun all things considered but after like 20 hours the game got incredibly repetitive and clunkier as time went on like the devs stop the QA checks after a while. lemme do a list of the good and the bad The GOOD: Interesting combat system where prioritizing the weak points is fun because i get to practice my aim. The crafting and survival elements are pretty cool and do their job…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Velcro has been asking me to play this game, so lets give it a try! Streaming Generation Zero now! #SmallStreamer #Twitch #GenerationZero www.twitch.tv/thepeachypup
neutral · AI labelView post →Absolutely loved this game, had so much potential in so many different aspects, but sadly it was never really fleshed out as to what it really could have been and got left in the dust with only a few DLC packs for weapons (that should have been implemented into the game instead of being locked behind a paywall) and cosmetics. If you're looking for a few hours of fun and mayhem with friends go for it otherwise it won't offer too much, but definitely buy on a sale :p
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Generation Zero does atmosphere like no other game I've ever played. The story's mid, the controls are a bit weird, but once you see through that, you'll find yourself with a game that few games can come close in atmosphere with. It's also a DARN gorgeous game. Recommend picking it up on sale!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →don't let the flashy trailer fool you, this "game" so to speak follows the same scam pattern as other avalanche studios group games before it: - introduce a game with a great idea and an immense potential - only delivering a rough skeleton of what they made it sound like - continue to litter it with DLC - just adding barely enough content to not anger the masses too much - never fixing any of the absurd bugs that infested the game from the beginning - dropping the game once they run out of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →costs more than it says it does. need to buy a lot of dlc to get the full game, i think its a little ridiculous to add a weapon pack with 3 weapons to a singleplayer / co-op story survival game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It may not be perfect and have some real Jank sometimes but it just has that special sauce that makes it unforgettable and a constant source of comparison for me.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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