Review Mkdj21 1/5 · Feb 5, 2026
The great game that never was
Ohh boy. I'm sad.
I had So Much hope for this game. I'm down for most horror games, regardless of game genre. I pay special attention to the ones that have a distinct, special and unique (Something) to them. For example, i generally don't like RPGs, but i LOVED Fear and Hunger, and Look Outside. I don't play many Isometric …
Ohh boy. I'm sad.
I had So Much hope for this game. I'm down for most horror games, regardless of game genre. I pay special attention to the ones that have a distinct, special and unique (Something) to them. For example, i generally don't like RPGs, but i LOVED Fear and Hunger, and Look Outside. I don't play many Isometric games, but Darkwood was perfect. I don't play many TCGs, but Inscryption was a gem. Dungeon crawlers? I hate, but Lunacid? One of the best games i've played.
So, Zoochosis had all it needed to grab all my interest with the first trailer. A cool proposal for gameplay loop (Zoologic with infected animals instead of another generic shooter), the creatures designs, the ambiance, such a Cool and unique premise, and i couldn't wait to play it.
Then.. It came out. I've heard all my friends that i held in good regard for their taste telling me it was shit. But i had to see it for myself, so i've played it.
It have a lot of rough edges, some that were fixed with QoL updates. Confusing controls at stations, confusing procedures, controls that are not that responsive, wonky animations (to the point of affecting imersion), questionable design choices about how to reach each ending, but i was willing to get trough all of that if the game was fun to play.
And it wasn't. The gameplay loop is very boring, predictable, it is inorganic, mechanical, and a chore. It isn't rewarding, engaging, it feels unnecessary and even out of place sometimes.
The game plays as a horror-themed "Job Simulator" where you grab things to put here, deliver things there, do some maintenance work, feed the animals, collect their shit, inspect the enclosures, inspect them, and all the setting? The interesting monsters? The mysteries? All that is buried deep down behind a very, very boring job-simulation game that takes up most of the gameplay time. And it isn't balanced at all between the laborous work and the scares.
Hear me out, there is Nothing Wrong with job-simulators. I've played quite a few Awesome job-simulation horror games games. For example, Threshold (Managing a train speed), Descending (Doing jobs at a terminal), Coagulation Station(Doing jobs at a "Mining" station), Happy Humble Burger Farm(cooking sim), Tostchu(Cooking tosts) that had both a very fun "Job" experience with engaging activities, be it for their difficulty, their mechanics, along with the awesome horror setting and mysteries of each one of these great games.
Zoochosis ended up failed in everything i thought it would do. I had no joy at all playing it. It is very obvious that it is a game. That you are a character, in a setting, that needs to do this, needs to do that, everything feels souless and void, and i couldn't even bring myself to finishing it. Played 2 hours (maybe half of an entire run?), and saw that that was all the game had to offer.
I'm very sorry for the devs, since i know that even bad games were made with care, but i'm even more sorry for the wasted potential of that game, that had everything to be great, but was lead into the wrong direction.