4.5/5 ★ – Krabawiwi's review of Zanki Zero: Last Beginning.

It's peak... Honestly one of my fav games I played in 2024. It's been on my backlog for a long time because the premise looked cool and the cast interested me (Mostly Mamoru being hot). I was very pleasantly surprised at the story and the characters of this game, and the love the writers put into each character (That's love) is really clear when you look at smaller details like Zen making a scarecrow that looks like Haruto and how all 8 party members have different reactions to it, which is something you occasionally see happen throughout the game. I ended up loving every character, especially Zen and Yuma, and the game does a really great job at making them all feel like a big family. I felt really connected to the story, and all the shocking moments hit hard. The gameplay is the one thing holding this game back, since the combat is mostly "Hold square, walk into the enemy to hit them and then walk away and wait until the cooldown ends" rinse and repeat. The shigabane is an interesting system, but it essentially makes every source of damage 2-3 shot you regardless of your equipment unless you have that specific shigabane, in which case the damage becomes a joke. When you die, which will happen a lot in this game, characters drop their items where you stand, meaning you can either pick them all up and continue, or pick them up later after you revive your member(s). I enjoyed the survival aspects like building/upgrading parts of your base and equipment which really helps the feeling of progression in this game as characters mostly rely on equipment and a few skills to get stronger, but the game doesn't make it clear where you can find certain materials so you'll have to resort to online guides. 100%ing this game is also a nightmare that I will never do because that would be extremely tedious, but that's not very important. Overall, it's a game you would rather play for the story and characters. The gameplay is something you'll have to be prepared to deal with, but I thought it was all worth it. This game appears on surveys by Spike Chunsoft to gauge interest for a sequel, and I really hope someday that this game gets a sequel, it really deserves it. An underrated gem.