After three years, hundreds of thousands of copies sold, and enough slaughtered zombies to fill several apocalypses, Yet Another Zombie Survivors is finally ready to drop the Early Access label.
Awesome Games Studio’s hugely popular bullet heaven officially launches version 1.0 today, bringing one of the genre’s bigger Early Access success stories to its next chapter. Since arriving on Steam in July 2023, Yet Another Zombie Survivors has sold more than 500,000 copies and attracted over 12,000 Steam reviews, earning itself a Very Positive user rating along the way.
If you’ve been waiting for the full release before joining the fight, version 1.0 isn’t simply removing the Early Access banner either. This is the game’s biggest update yet, with a new Survivor, another map, Boss Rush mode, a proper story, character missions, new items, and an entirely new hub to explore between runs.
Three Years of Surviving the Horde
Yet Another Zombie Survivors takes the familiar bullet heaven formula and makes one particularly important change…You don’t have to face thousands of zombies alone.
Every run begins with a single Survivor, but answering SOS calls lets you recruit two more, eventually creating a three-person squad whose weapons and abilities can work together to create increasingly ridiculous builds. That’s been expanded considerably throughout Early Access with new Survivors, maps, weapons, abilities, synergies, challenges, and progression systems. Version 1.0 takes things another step further with the Ranger, becoming the ninth playable Survivor.
Armed with a crossbow and accompanied by her animal companions, the Ranger can boost the Critical and Luck stats of the entire squad, heal allies, and introduce Fear, a brand-new status effect, to the undead. Apparently, even zombies can be scared of something.
The Apocalypse Finally Has a Story
One of the biggest changes arriving with 1.0 is something Yet Another Zombie Survivors has never really had before, and that’s a proper main storyline.
Players can work through 15 consecutive story missions exploring the world and what caused its zombie apocalypse. Each of the nine Survivors also receives five individual missions revealing more about their past and motivations. Holding everything together is the new Camp, a hub you’ll return to between runs. Here you can listen to radio transmissions, overhear conversations between Survivors, access missions, and get to know the people you’ve spent the past few years throwing into enormous hordes of undead.
There’s even a new Friendship system. Completing character missions improves your relationship with each Survivor and provides bonuses to Cash and Specialization Points.
New Map, New Mode, Even More Zombies
Version 1.0 also introduces the Bio Lab, a fifth map that takes players closer to where the apocalypse began. Unlike previous arenas, the Bio Lab has a circular layout surrounded by toxic fumes, while decontamination events create dangerous zones that force you to keep moving.
Then there’s Boss Rush. You’ll have 10 minutes to turn your squad into something capable of dealing with whatever comes next before the Final Boss arrives. It’s essentially a race to create the most broken build possible before the game sends one of its nastiest enemies your way.
The update adds 21 new items and a huge 88 additional achievements too, bringing the total to 229. Survivors are also gaining a fifth skill-tree rank with new synergy nodes, passive improvements, and bonuses capable of benefiting the entire team.
For players who have already conquered everything else, optional Torments provide additional challenges designed purely for bragging rights.
1.0 Isn’t the End
Reaching version 1.0 doesn’t mean Awesome Games Studio is finished. More than 2,300 players recently responded to the studio’s survey about what they’d like to see next, with additional synergies and meta-progression topping the results. The developer has already confirmed it plans to continue updating the game beyond launch.
For now, though, today is about finishing, or starting, a journey that began back in 2023. Yet Another Zombie Survivors launches version 1.0 on PC via Steam and GOG, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S, with Nintendo Switch following later.
More than 500,000 copies later, this is no longer just yet another zombie game.