Zero Sievert – Hardcore shooting in a Post-Apocalyptic Hellscape.

“The people I bring here are unhappy and tortured like myself. Don’t take it from me, it’s all I have, it’s all here, in the Zone!” – The Guide, STALKER (1979), Andrey Tarkovksy

Pros

• Punishing, hardcore-oriented gameplay that is difficult to master. Difficulty can be fully customized.
• Excellent array of weapons, gadgets, modding options and items to suit your gameplay style.
• Compelling exploration with a large amount of unique areas, secrets and hidden quests to find.
• Warring factions, monsters anomalies and other random factors make each run dynamic and unpredictable.
• Good variety of activities between base building, quests, crafting, combat and exploration.

Cons

• Melee enemies are unrealistic: they can pass through your character and kill you without being shot.
• Some enemies can throw infinite grenades, which becomes a huge spam in combat.
• The early game balance is extremely frustrating, due to the small stash and overpowered enemies.
• Certain quests are very obscure and badly hinted at, Google is your friend.

Bugs & Issues

• Taking a screenshot with Steam may freeze the game for several seconds while using NVGs.
• Some enemies can shoot you from offscreen, beyond the maximum possible view range.
• No achievement to complete the game, unless you’re playing Permadeath mode. Weird.
• The final quest isn’t marked in your log and doesn’t display an objective.
• You can sometimes get stuck in solid objects, unstuck functions are present to fix it.

Machine Specs

• i9 13980HX
• 64GB RAM DDR5
• RTX 4090
• NvME SSD
• 3840×2160

Content & Replay Value

It took me 44 hours to complete Zero Sievert on the Hunter difficulty (Hard) without permadeath, taking considerable extra time to explore each location fully and complete most side tasks. The content and story are linear, and except for a faction choice, there’s no replay value.

Is It Worth Buying?

The price of 20€ is excellent for this amount of content and quality. If you’re a fan of STALKER, EFT or generally realism-oriented, high-stakes shooters, this is a great pick.

Verdict: Very Good

The almost-perfect fusion between STALKER’s intriguing post-apocalypse and Escape from Tarkov’s gameplay. It’s brutal at first but becomes compelling and rewarding the more you play it.

Zero Sievert – In-Depth Analysis

Writing & Worldbuilding

Without much preamble, you’re dropped in an anomalous zone surrounding the city of Zakov — a clear reference to the popular Tarkov and to the STALKER franchise — where many fortune-seekers venture daily to collect anomalous artifacts that fetch a high price. In this dystopian setting, The Bunker is the only neutral safe haven, in an otherwise merciless world full of mutants and rivaling factions. You’ll start from nothing, and make your way to the secrets of the Zone.

The post-apocalyptic, desolate mood typical of this subgenre is well-transposed: ruined buildings, corpses, decaying infrastructure and wilderness reclaiming its propriety are common sights in most locations, while the sound design and somber tracks further emphasize the immersion. Despite its relatively simple 2D visuals, Zero Sievert manages to deliver a gripping experience at all times.

A good amount of lore is gathered from dialogues, quests and documents. Completionists and careful explorers will come to know a great deal about the Zakov exclusion zone and its environs, all of which is written decently but nothing to call home about. The writing is of average quality and fills its purpose well enough, however, it might come off as shallow at times. The English translation isn’t always the best.

Exploration & Secrets

After setting out from the Bunker, you’ll be able to explore six progressively-unlocked maps that are huge in extension, and with many sub-locations in each. Your handy PDA can show you the general layout and, if you’re lucky, quest locations, although it won’t be so in many cases. All maps are randomized in many aspects: geography, loot spawns, enemy locations and extraction points, the latter being the only way to get out alive and bring your loot back to base.

Due to limited weight capacity, physical needs always degrading, radiation, and the sheer lethality of the average enemy, you can’t linger around for long — an efficiency-oriented mindset is vital in getting exactly what you need and getting out alive in each run. The careful explorer will be rewarded, as many hidden containers, unique enemies, rare weapons and gear can be found in the most dangerous, remote locations of each map, or at special events that may trigger while you’re already out there. You will lose everything if you die, including your gear if you play in full-hardcore mode, which I don’t recommend because of how the economy works; without an insurance system (as in Tarkov), losing the loot is punishing enough, trust me.

Combat System & Bosses

Combat plays out as a top-down shooter, in a realistic, high-stakes manner. A few shots are all it takes to kill both you and most enemies, at least until late-game where top-grade armors give a little more leeway, but are offset by high-grade ammunition and better weapons. Taking cover, using curatives and grenades at the right times, and picking your fights wisely are paramount factors to consider to not get overwhelmed or run out of… everything. You’ll always be on edge since enemies can pop out of nowhere and ambush you while you’re looting, healing or checking your inventory.

Preparation is as important as your fighting skills, since for specific tasks you’ll need to figure out which weapon, which armor and what types of ammo are the best choice. Monsters? HP rounds with low penetration but high damage. Elite military units? Armor piercing, long-range approach? Close quarters? Don’t bring a sniper. And so forth. Bosses are normal enemies in most cases (but not all!) and will die just as you do, but usually have top-spec gear and masterful skills with their weapon of choice; none of them is easy.

Character Progression, Quests & Management

Whether you live or die in a run, you’ll get some XP for your character, which allows you to level up and acquire powerful passive skills that will greatly enhance your chances of survival. The same goes for weapon categories: the more you use one to kill your enemies, the more you’ll level it up and get exclusive skills for each progression tree. The bulk of progression is, however, gear-based: the quality of your equipment will be the biggest factor in deciding whether or not you can handle the tasks at hand: finding better weapons, armor, and gear and leveling up the reputation with the various factions by completing their quests will give you access to stuff you’ll rarely find otherwise.

Your base will be a powerful asset, enabling you to not only store your loot, but also repair your gear, craft ammo and consumables, and give you passive bonuses, depending on which modules you choose to install and upgrade. Each of them requires a heap of materials, acquired only after successful runs, to be built. You’ll be doing runs exclusively for base building materials many times because there’s no way to survive later on without the facilities it offers. The economy is merciless and relying on NPCs for repairs, ammo and everything else is a death sentence.

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