Zenith (PC) Review

This is not a final fantasy.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, nope…it’s singing spiders? Yep, Zenith is an action RPG that aims to not only have players go on an expansive quest, but also laugh in the process. While humor is subjective across the board, the main question I had to ask myself was, did it make me laugh, but ultimately was it fun to play? Honestly the answer is a bit of a mixed bag.

Combat or bust

Zenith features Argus, a mage who is lewd, crude, and has a sort of “whatever” attitude. He knows he isn’t the best person for the job in a sense, but he does what he can. At least that was my take away from him. Starting off in a flashback, the game lets players know right away that it’s filled with charm and silly nonsense. From making fun of other RPG games, to singing spiders and more. Later, we go to present time and the story begins, and slowly but surely the pieces come together on what transpired and what led to the current events happening.

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MSRP: $19.99
Price I’d Pay: $9.99
Multiplayer: n/a
How long to beat: 5-7 hours

It’s interesting enough, and if I said that there was a farting cat involved, in any other game, that would seem a bit odd, or maybe even made up. Here it’s something experienced early on, and later even more weirdness and odd stuff happens. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me chuckle out loud at times, even if the game is a bit crude in its stance of laughs.

Gameplay is more like Diablo-lite, with gold, loot, and items being grabbed as players go across the land smashing enemies across the face with various weapons. Fire swords, fists, or even a huge hammer, the typical style of weapons we see in games like this today are what players will come across, along with various gems for distant attacks, and scrolls for special attacks. It works well enough, but there is a huge issue with combat that really brings the overall experience down.

Combat seems more of a miss than a hit, as hitting enemies does nothing to stun them usually, trying to attempt to block their attacks has players getting in one swing at a time, and then blocking again. There isn’t enough time to counter attack and block, and it becomes this huge game of stay away or block every other hit. Either taking the damage to health, or avoiding enemies as much as possible. It grows to be really frustrating, and ultimately makes the act of playing the game a much lesser experience unfortunately.

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Fun but flawed

Zenith is a game I wanted to enjoy more, and there are plenty of times I did have fun, but the combat was the most un-fun and unfair aspect of the game, and that’s what players will be doing the majority of the time. It has an ok soundtrack, some funny dialog, and some cool variation in environments. It just stumbles pretty hard in the combat department and really puts a smear on an otherwise silly, funny time. If funny games that make fun of fantasy settings are something that players can see themselves enjoying, Zenith isn’t a horrible experience, it just requires some determination to see it through for the parts that are enjoyable.

Favorite moment: Elephant explosion, you won’t understand unless you play but it killed me.

Worst moment: Sadly combat, it’s just so unfair and not fun at all at times.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Interesting story
  • RPG tropes
Bad
  • Combat
  • Animations
  • Animations
5.5
Mediocre
Written by
Justin is a long time passionate fan of games, not gaming drama. He loves anything horror related, archaeology inspired adventures, RPG goodness, Dr Pepper, and of course his family. When it comes to crunch time, he is a beast, yet rabies free we promise.