Zanki Zero: Last Beginning

Zanki Zero: Last Beginning oozes both charm and horror in equal measure. It’s a highly enjoyable game that deserves a lot more attention than it’s getting. Perfect for fans of horror, mystery, and dungeon crawling RPGs.

Zanki Zero: Last Beginning packs a lot of different elements into one experience, which at times can leave it feeling a little disjointed. Some of those elements stand out more than others, with some feeling like afterthoughts, but the dungeon crawling gameplay is strong enough to stand on its own two feet. It’s the game’s zany but gripping narrative that’s the real star of the show, though. If science fiction interwoven with tales of family, loss, relationships and survival sounds like your thing, then Zanki Zero is worth a look.

Zanki Zero: Last Beginning comes from the creators of the Danganronpa series, and if this game isn’t further proof that Spike Chunsoft loves to torture and torment its poor characters then we don’t know what is. While Zanki Zero doesn’t force a group of school students to kill each other, it still has an equally grim and disturbing story which is all wrapped up with a familiarly zany sense of humour.

In the end, Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is a credible and entertaining adventure, but its potential to stand alongside its developers’ best works is hampered by its systems and story’s inability to come together and elevate the experience beyond the sum of its parts.

The team behind apocalyptic mystery thriller Danganronpa deliver a new title in the same vein but with dungeon-crawling gameplay.

Trouble in paradise.

Spike Chunsoft's newest title sees it teaming up with Lost Dimension developer Lancarse for dungeon-crawler Zanki Zero: Last Beginning. Its hypothetical advances in cloning technology certainly come with caveats, not least the end of the world.