Last Hope Bunker: Zombie Survival Review – Survive the Zombie Apocalypse

Here’s our complete hands-on review of Last Hope Bunker: Zombie Survival

Last Hope Bunker: Zombie Survival is an upcoming indie game that thrusts the players into an apocalyptic world overrun with the zombie virus. Developed by Artdock, the game comes out on April 23rd this year.

However, with indie games, most gamers are always hesitant to take the first step. 

Will it be worth your time or money? Or will it be just another space hog on your digital library?

Lucky for you, we did the research!

In this article, we’ll give you our hands-on review of Last Hope Bunker: Zombie Survival so that you can decide whether it’s worth playing. Let’s hop in!

*Reviewed on PC, Copy was Provided by the Publisher*

Main Storyline and World Design

The game starts with a short cutscene that sets the tone for the universe. And the plot is as straightforward as they come in Zombie games. 

A group of scientists trying to create a vaccine accidentally released a virus mutagen that turned everyone into zombies. Only a handful of people managed to survive in underground bunkers. 

You play as Captain Matt Anderson, who wakes up in an abandoned underground military bunker. Your goal is to track down your missing daughter and complete different objectives along the way. 

Right from the get-go, it was pretty clear to us that story wouldn’t be the strongest selling point for this game. 

Combat and Gameplay

Last Hope Bunker doesn’t really reinvent anything with its combat design. It’s an isometric shooter where you run towards different objectives, killing zombies along the way.

You start equipped with a basic AKM rifle and a decent amount of ammo. The rifle deals decent damage, but with ammo being limited, you need to conserve bullets whenever possible. However, the sheer number of zombies the game throws at you right from the outset leaves little room to save your bullets.

While moving around, you’ll come across abandoned police vehicles – a good early source of AKM ammo. Later, once you unlock a survivor, you gain the option to craft AKM ammo using Metal.

An element of stealth is present, but it’s not very polished. You can crouch in tall grass to move undetected, with an indicator highlighting enemy detection. Getting behind a zombie gives you the prompt to go in for a stealth kill, but the crouch speed is extremely slow. With your filter constantly draining, you don’t get much time for these stealth kills.

You also wield an axe, but its attack animation feels sluggish if we’re being honest. As you progress, more melee weapons become available, yet melee remains only viable when you run out of bullets.

The sprint and dodge in the game are both solid. The dodge especially lets you quickly distance yourself from the enemy when things get too tricky. However, there’s a stamina meter that you need to worry about. 

If you spam the dodge or spring around too much, it will drain faster. The last thing you want is to get surrounded by zombies with no stamina to dodge.

Managing Your Resources

Last Hope Bunker Zombie Survival has an element of Survival Horror to it. Ammo is scarce and you can’t stay out on the map too long without spare filters in your backpack. To make matters worse, you can’t craft Filters in your base. You can only craft higher tiers of Respirators that only increase the capacity.

When you start the game, you get 20 filters but they quickly run out since your Filter capacity is pretty low at that point. And by the time you get to the second level in the game, and have better Respirators, you’ll be all out of Filters.

But that’s part of the game, and it isn’t really a bad thing. This forces you to return to base every now and then. You can also craft ammo or even buy better weapons and armor for your character in the base once you unlock the survivor for it.

As you run around the world, you’ll come across plenty of chests or boxes that you can search and get components from. After a while, you’ll have a decent bit of crafting components in your backpack to get all the ammo you need from your base.

Hordes of Zombies

We’ll be blunt; the early parts of this game can feel a bit slow. When your weapon is pretty basic, and you’re constantly running out of resources, it’s easy to lose interest fast.

However, once you sink a couple of hours into the game, the pace starts to pick up. Soon, the game will start throwing hordes of zombies your way, and you’d have to run and dodge through them all while raining down bullets to take them down.

You’ll also start facing mutated zombies that are stronger and bigger and deal a lot more damage than your basic mobs. That’s when the game starts becoming truly fun and exciting. 

Pretty Nice Graphics

The main redeeming element of Last Hope Bunker is the graphics. They’re not exceptional, but they’re pretty decent for a game of this caliber. The environment feels pretty lush, and there’s a hidden story here. 

From abandoned farmhouses to broken-down bridges, the game does an excellent job of capturing the true essence of a Zombie apocalypse. Its top-down perspective also adds an extra layer of narrative to the world.

Last Hope Bunker: Zombie Survival Review – 6/10 

Overall, Last Hope Bunker: Zombie Survival isn’t a bad indie game. Sure, it has its rough edges, especially in the early part, but when it finally picks up, it doesn’t slow down one bit.

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Yes, the story is bland, but the gameplay elements are pretty solid, apart from a couple of issues here and there. The game comes out on April 9th, 2024 on Steam. For more info on upcoming releases, keep your eyes on ESTNN!