SubZero Review

You play as a warehouse stock-person, Leo (Wu Yi), whose best friend owes money to loan sharks. After a violent encounter with them, you let his sister stay at your apartment for her protection. Unfortunately, unseasonal blizzards appear and a virus outbreak threatens society, causing lockdowns.

It is fantastic how measured the story is early on. The game is not afraid to slow down and be a simulation of ground-zero. Roughly half the game transpires before the first zombie appears. This pace and setting also facilitates some different romance.

Your friend’s sister, Molly (Li Meng), spends time with you in the apartment. Her presence creates a glorious blend of slice-of-life and end-of-the-world. It is made even stronger because the veteran FMV actress, Zhu Zhilin, is phenomenal at being loyal, vulnerable, and rebellious.

In the back half, the other two love interests dominate. Erlinda (Meng Kelan) has broken from a biotech company to protect something important. She has no time for romance, or does she? Reina (Leina) believes she’s bad luck but is super energetic and your best cheerleader. These two are a potent mix due to their contrast and needed more screen time.

There are two big issues with the narrative though, and neither is immediately evident. First, it is way too linear, with some illusion of choice. Second, it is not finished. It doesn’t end badly, like on a cliffhanger, but there are major narrative threads left wide open.

SubZero’s other blemish is its RPG style dice rolling gameplay. Dice rolls basically replace every QTE. Buffs raise or lower roll values, but are generally irrelevant due to linearity. Roll higher than what is required and you advance. Roll lower and you die, and must retry. Scenes can have many rolls in sequence and each takes you out of the action. Some offer very low odds, like the finale, and it makes replaying the game unpleasant. Perhaps a single roll could have been used before each action scene, with failures creating harder QTEs. In any case, the dice rolling aspect is a negative overall.

Thankfully the game does use clear live on-set audio. It is also quite funny, which helps mitigate issues that can arise with the darker theme. There are some jarring AI videos but most are short to fill gaps.

SubZero is not flawless, but still a good pick if you like zombies and romance. The acting, humor, and juxtaposition are good, but the linear and incomplete narrative hurt, even more with the annoying dice rolling. At least the post-apocalyptic setting breaks from the mundane in other FMV dating sims. And hopefully, when it comes to finding love at the end of the world, SubZero is just the tip of the iceberg.