A top-down view Palworld but with Zombies | Demo Review - Welcome to ParadiZe
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✨Overview
Welcome to ParadiZe is an upcoming action RPG developed by EKO Software, scheduled for release on February 29th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The game offers a unique twist on the zombie genre, presenting players with a world where zombies not only serve as adversaries but can also be harnessed as loyal companions through the use of a special “Zombie Hacking” helmet.
A demo is currently available on Steam free for players to try leading up to the release, and features the first hour or so of the singleplayer/shared screen multiplayer game experience.
The reality of the zombie genre is that it's overly saturated right now — zombie games left and right, spanning various gameplay styles such as action, co-op, survival, PvP, and even base building. However, not many games have tackled the idea of harnessing these zombies to become actual allies and companions, and Welcome to ParadiZe capitalizes on this unique concept.
⭐️Score: 8/10
📖Story and Premise
Set in a world infested with zombies,The ParadiZe organization has discovered a method to control zombies, turning them into obedient servants. ParadiZe is also the name of their flagship neighborhood touted as a haven of peace where zombies are servants and companions instead of mindless devourers. The main narrative follows our silent protagonist’s attempt to find and explore ParadiZe to find a safe have, while uncovering the mysteries of the zombie apocalypse.
🎨Visuals and Art
Welcome to ParadiZe features graphics and an art style that balance seriousness with a touch of humor. It features an top-down isometric view that would remind you of games like Dysmantle or How to Survive. The graphics are decent for its top-down view, although the details are noticeably lacking in quality during close-ups in dialogues, at least in the demo. The visuals include entertaining moments, such as zombies being propelled from the ground or zombies with funky looking animations, contributing to the overall comedic and self-aware tone of the game.
🎮Gameplay
The gameplay of Welcome to ParadiZe revolves around looting, crafting, and exploration in an open-world setting. Drawing inspiration from EKO Software's own previous title, How to Survive, the game features an isometric viewpoint that provides players with a comprehensive view of the environment. One distinctive aspect of the game is the ability to control zombies, termed Zombots, using an automation “hacking” helmet. Players can utilize these reanimated allies for various purposes, such as resource gathering, combat assistance, and even as mounts. Players can also customize these zombies appearance and equip them with weapons and gear such as guns, or rocket boosters for mobility.
⚔️Combat
Combat in Welcome to ParadiZe involves a variety of weapons, both melee and ranged, with players able to equip and switch between up to two of them at a time. The combat mechanics are very straight forward and resembles twin-stick shooter controls, left stick to move, right stick to aim and shoulder buttons to attack — with a basic dodge roll and using healing items to regenerate health. Weapons and ammunitions are either found, looted in the world or crafted by the player. The combat has a solid feel to it, hits are satisfying on both melee and ranged combat, and the controls are very responsive, especially the dodge controls.
⏫Progression
The game features an interesting progression system featuring a skill tree divided into Hacking, Combat, and Survival, enabling players to unlock new abilities for both themselves and their Zombot companions. Additionally, players can construct and upgrade their own base in the wilderness, providing a safehome and a way to gather resources in the wild, and craft more powerful weapons. Players can assign zombots to safeguard these bases and automatically gather resources for them, which really sounds like Palworld with zombies or perhaps what would happen if Palworld and How to Survive had a baby.
The demo was cut short once I built my first few buildings, so I haven't really delved deeper into the base-building mechanics. However, thus far, it is an interesting gameplay loop they have here and this will become even more fun when played cooperatively.
📊Technical Performance
The game run without any performance issues, although the visuals are a bit grainy looking. I cannot seem to turn off FSR so I settled for the Quality setting once I noticed it was on Balanced as default, but the visuals still looked grainy and has a lot of annoying visual artifacts. As for the controls, they already work fine and it even has proper controller support and local/shared screen multiplayer properly built-in.
⚖️Conclusion
Welcome to ParadiZe is a refreshing take that is worth checking out amidst the already saturated zombie genre. I'm personally excited to check this game out when it releases on February 29, especially since I've been looking for decent shared screen coop zombie games these past few years to play with friends. Its unique concept of harnessing zombies as allies, base building mechanics, along with a focus on cooperative gameplay with shared screen functionality, are enough to differentiate it from the hundreds, if not thousands, of zombie games out there.
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