Generation Zero

I was already in the process of writing a post how I quit Generation Zero before beating it but then ended up returning to the game to finish its main story (if you can call it that) and see the credits roll. It's definitely not a great game even if it has untapped potential. There have been quite a few post-release updates but I feel they have mostly focused on adding more endgame content, which while nice, is not what the game would really need: having its systems reworked and core problems fixed.

A janky guerrilla war against robots 

Generation Zero is an open world first person shooter set in an alternative, late 1980s' Sweden where robots have invaded the country and killed about everyone but you (and your possible co-op partners). I remember how the game was original released in 2019 as an Avalanche Studios (the makers of Just Cause, Mad Max, and Rage 2) title but it has since moved under Systemic Reaction which is Avalanche's new self-publishing brand. Generation Zero has the typical Avalanche Studios open world feel to it (and it uses their Apex engine) but unfortunately I found it too arduous to truly enjoy.

I do wonder what's the origin story of the game's development. Was it like a passion project by some Avalanche veteran developer(s) which didn't get the whole studio behind it. It has such a similar feel to Avalanche's games; just not enough polish to have the same level of smoothness in gameplay.

In a genuine setting

If there's something done truly well in Generation Zero, it is the incredibly authentic environments. I could immediately tell I was in coastal Swedish countryside from the flora and buildings. Further on there are more biomes to see and all of them continue with the true-to-life theme.

Robots in a rural environment brings to mind Simon Stålenhag's art but apparently the developers have denied having been inspired or motivated by it. In addition to Stålenhag, there's also Jakub Różalski who has done similar retro-futuristic depictions. Stålenhag's work is closer to the scenes you have in the game though. When you see robots patrolling fields in Generation Zero, it's hard to believe there wasn't at least a little bit of influence.

The alternative history shows (in addition to the robots) in how the game's Sweden got hit by a "never again" mentality. I kind of missed what exactly they didn't want to happen again -- staying neutral in World War II or what -- but it resulted in Sweden's civilian population being prepared for an armed conflict. (It didn't help much against the robots.) You can find guns, ammunition, and other resources everywhere.

Story is told entirely via text and audio logs (since everyone is dead). It's nothing special: mostly just people being perplexed by the current events. Towards the end there was something about some sort of experiment but I wasn't paying much attention anymore -- just rushing to the credits to get some closure to be able to uninstall the game and never touch it again.

With many problems

One of Generation Zero's gameplay issues becomes apparent almost the moment you gain control: getting around is painfully slow with how your character runs out of stamina after a 20 meter sprint (and stamina bar then being slow to refill). Taking all the movement aiding perks is a must and it's still not enough. I wished you could holster your weapon and maybe get an increased speed like in Fallout 4.

You can only fast travel to safe houses or to player-placed field radios (which I think are temporary). The only vehicle available is bicycle which turned out to be as janky as I feared after I first discovered it was a thing. Too steep of an incline (and it doesn't need to be that steep if you have no momentum) and your weak-ass character just stops pedaling. In real life, you'd just get off and push the bike up but in this game that's not a thing. You just have ditch your useless ride.

I could tolerate traveling taking time and effort if you didn't need to constantly return to a safe house to empty your inventory. Even your stash has a limit on how much it can hold and eventually you have to start getting really selective what kind of salvage you pick up. They could have polished the stash management interface too: it feels unnecessarily cumbersome. It is not nearly as bad as the menu to change your outfit though: trying to find if some color variation of a clothing piece in your collection has a stat bonus (a minuscule +1% usually) is painful.

Another interface issue is how you have only 8 quick slots to bind your items to. I never used some item types because of that; it would've been too troublesome to switch my slots constantly. Systemic Reaction really should've added separate buttons for grenades and first aid kits, maybe even for binoculars. Having to first switch to something like first aid kit to be able use it is clunky. Have the developers not played any competent shooter games to see how things are done properly?

A good addition to Generation Zero -- and to any game with containers, for that matter -- would be the Fallout style auto-open from just looking at something. It should be an industry standard, if you ask me. In an open world, loot-filled game like this it would save you from many unnecessary key presses.

A positively surprising user interface option is being able to disable hold-to-interact. It probably should be the default option but at least it's a thing. So many games continue to insist on holding down button being the go-to choice.

Generation Zero's gunplay is adequate, although you definitely want all the perks that increase the speed of weapon related activities like reloading and aiming. There are some nice details too like being able to go prone. Too few games I play have that. It is even useful in this game as robots clearly have harder time finding you if you initiate a fight from prone.

The game also has different ammo types, fire mode selection, and even keeps track there being a round in the chamber. Thus performing a tactical reload avoids racking of the slide. I'm not sure how common that is in games I've played but this is the first time I've noticed it.

Meant for co-operative play

Combat has its problems too. Enemies are way too bullet-spongy and after the first region I had to turn difficulty down to easy -- and they still continued being resilient. The game advertises the robots having components you can damage and destroy but it sure didn't seem to work for me. Canine robots with their very visible fuel tank and a single reaper boss I fought were the only ones whose parts I could witness getting actually destroyed. It is really disappointing because being to able to properly take out weapons and even limbs would have been amazing.

Encounters become samey since there's not much to do differently. Against more difficult enemy packs one prefers to hide in buildings (that are indestructible). In open terrain heated action often leads to chain use of first aid kits and hoping you can take down the robots in between. Dying takes you all the way to back to a safe house but luckily adrenaline shots to revive yourself on the spot are not too rare to find. Lower difficulty helps with that as well.

Perk trees are a feature that I would personally re-design with utmost urgency. There are absolutely uninspired meaningless perks like +5% gas resistance and many that won't aid a solo player in any way. And you have to spend at least one point on such perks if you want a perk that is behind them. I at first prioritized perks that give bonus experience since it's better to take such when they still matter. Some time later I learned that there is a level cap. That discovery led me to abandon the game: there's no respec option. Upon my eventual return, I restarted and went for a much better build that didn't have any useless experience increasing or co-op perks.

Another thing I hated is how Generation Zero bullies completionists, making finding things inanely time-consuming and unrewarding. Locations usually have an X amount of weapons and collectibles to find. The search area is often the size of a small village and the worst of it is how the weapons are not special in any way -- completely not worth the effort it takes to find them. They are of a determined tier of rarity so you could in theory beeline to the endgame areas (which would take a good while) to get yourself a top quality gun "right away" but that's about the only use. Locations often times have other guns lying around as well and you find random ones aplenty. It's such a half-assed thing for no reason.

Collectibles are equally difficult to find (and reward a surprising amount of experience). Many of them are also unlisted in or outside of locations, like in a common roadside truck. After I accidentally happened upon one I knew I wouldn't 100% Generation Zero.

Straight-up good (but rare) design in the game is its rival feature. As you take out robots in a region, some of them will become rivals that keep getting levels from the havoc you cause. Rivals have a chance to drop rarer loot and if you avoid killing them, one will eventually be replaced be a reaper that seemed to be the ultimate enemy to take on.

A reaper has so many devastating attacks that you don't want to encounter it on an open field. The sole one I fought spawned on an airfield where I could hide inside a hangar. I emptied all my carried ammo into it -- in vain -- and then went to look up what I was doing wrong. Evidently you have to destroy its shield emitters which are quite visible if you know what you're looking for. After destroying them I was able to finally destroy the reaper. It still took a while and the hangar's surrounding was littered with destroyed canine robots the boss had been summoning throughout the fight.

The prolonged fight was very much worth it in the end because the boss dropped two experimental guns that are bit like Fallout 4's legendary weapons, having a special effect. I got a .50 BMG rifle with piercing and penetration upgrade and a double-shot recoilless grenade rifle. Both turned out to be very nice weapons for the rest of the game.

I think that unless you're planning to do co-op, you're better off playing the already twice-mentioned Fallout 4. The Creation Engine doesn't provide quite as modern shooting experience but everything else in the game is just better. Also, the last time I replayed Fallout 4, I had War of the Commonwealth mod (or something similar) installed which gives you massive random battles. Running around the Glowing Sea as a high-level character with enemy packs everywhere was incredibly fun.