GAME: Survivor.io by Habby

GENRE: Action, auto-shooter

PLATFORMS: Android, iOS

One of my first articles reviewed a fun and hard-toput-down game called Punball by studio Habby. It seems like Habby has perfected that formula, because they’ve come up with another fun auto-shooter game called Survivor.io, which might be even harder to put down.

Survivor.io lets you control a tiny survivor in a zombie apocalypse, where this one guy has to single-handedly fight endless hordes of zombies. You don’t have to aim and shoot; just move around avoiding zombies and watch as your character automatically obliterates the hordes. The controls are super-simple — you can hold the phone in one hand and play with just your thumb, even while standing in a bus.

Starting with a weak weapon, the goal of each round is to level up and get stronger (read massively overpowered). Each time you level up, you get to choose a random ability, like missile-firing drones or zombie-shredding boomerangs, which make you even more powerful. It is this series of strategic choices that makes every round unique and fun.

Within a round, tougher enemies keep arriving in wave after wave, ending in a boss fight. Beating the boss needs a bit more dexterity. A new area unlocks after that, offering a few new enemies. There’s no story, just zombie-killing without asking questions. The character’s health and attack are also upgradable in between rounds, but that progress is too slow to make a significant difference. The game mostly just relies on the chosen abilities during the round.

Like all Habby games, what made Survivor.io fun is that it made me feel powerful. Starting weak and then mowing down thousands of zombies in one go felt nice and satisfying. However, what didn’t feel nice was the aftertaste. Each round took at least 15-20 minutes, with no breaks in between. It was 20 minutes of being unable to take my eyes off because thousands of zombies were crowding the screen, waiting to kill me. It took all my attention, kept me longing for a break from the unending sense of danger. And on finally finishing it, instead feeling triumphant, I just felt tired.

But here’s the catch; the game made me crave for more. That sense of becoming powerful is addictive and the next day, I started the game again just to pass five minutes, but ended up spending far too much time without realising it. VERDICT: Survivor.io is an action auto-shooter game about killing zombies that you can play with just one hand. It’s great fun to kill zombies with a variety of abilities, and the game makes you feel powerful. Boss fights add some fun, but it gets a bit monotonous, as there’s not much difference across different areas. Despite being exciting, the game does get addictive, sucking in a lot of your time without allowing breaks, and leaving you tired at the end of it. Because of this, I have to rate the game 5.5 out of 10.