Dawn of Survivors

If you are interested in zombies and you don’t want to spend much, we might have the right game for you. Dawn of Survivors is an online game all about fighting, looting and surviving during the apocalypse, all for the low low price of $1.99. Just keep in mind that the game requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to play!

First Impressions

When you boot up the game, it introduces you to the main two focuses of the game: looting and fighting. It’s as simple as it can be, press B to loot and A to fight zombies and other monstrosities. The game is firstly set in a third person view, but later on, it will change to a top-down view depending on the area. Right off the bat, it will feel like you’re playing a mobile game that didn’t make it through the app store: the graphics are rough, animations aren’t that great or varied and you’ll mostly see the same models for the zombies. But hey, it’s a $1.99 game, don’t expect too many details from it.

How To Play

Once you get through this initial area, you will be catapulted into a forest: this will act as your shelter for the rest of the game. You will get more indications from a dog with a walkie-talkie (no, the dog isn’t the one who’s talking), such as how to forage food or how to build your home area. Then, after you get out there, you will be able to see the world map, which has some interesting features.

You will see up to 4 more player’s bases that you will be able to raid once you build a watchtower;  a market, the “Institute of Biological Studies” and other areas used to loot more common objects. There are some other areas surrounded by grey clouds, that the player will be able to unlock after reconstructing the SUV. Periodically, new areas such as train wrecks and travelling merchants will show up on the map and will be gone after about 40 minutes, but will often hold rare objects. Just watch out from the monsters or other players: they’ll brutally murder you and you will lose all your objects. Like Zombi U, you must find your old body to get your old items back.

The overworld map

Surprisingly Surprised…

I was really surprised by the amount of content this game had: a vast crafting system that includes weapons, clothes and other devices, a big skill system and even lore. But the thing I was most surprised about was…no microtransactions? There is a form of currency in the game, the diamonds, but are only used using the water collector or making food. It’s not pay-to-win but, surprisingly, play-to-win, which I didn’t expect at all. Other neat features are the in-game chat, object variety, side-quests for when you are not busy surviving and the ability to build your base from scratch however you want.

The crafting system is simple but vast

…But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows

Even if those things surprised me greatly, there are still a few technical aspects that didn’t make the experience as enjoyable. First of all, the character is not customizable at all. You can only choose their gender and the colour of their skin, and that’s it. You can’t change their hair, facial features or anything else, so all characters feel like clones of one another. The game is also very grindy, as you need to hope to find the right objects to build whatever you need, and it can take days. Also, PVP is mostly useless: players will ALWAYS try to attack you, and you can just leave the area without any repercussion on the game. The soundtrack is repetitive and easily forgettable and the fact that you can’t change your view from third-person from top-down whenever you want bothers me.

Quests are simple but nice

Verdict

Despite its flaws, which are mostly just technical ones, the game comes in a surprise despite the price. If you are looking for some survival games on the Switch, Dawn of Survivors might just be the answer you are looking for. So, for $1.99, what are you waiting for? Go for it!

Recommended

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Reviewed by Senpavo on the Nintendo Switch. Game provided by WiSTONE Entertainment.