Welcome to ParadiZe is built around one core concept: “what if you could control zombies as a sort of free labor?” It’s a novel concept, and as I said, it defines the game’s mechanics, story, and setting. Honestly, I’m not sure why the idea of “use zombies as labor in a base-building game” hasn’t been done before. You have something similar in PalWorld, but I would love to see a Necromancy-themed open-world survival craft where zombies are the main weapon and resource-gathering options for dark-magic-wielding players.
As cool as that thought is, it isn’t what Welcome to ParadiZe goes for. Instead, they set up your generic, modern-world zombie apocalypse scenario with a comedic twist. The idea, as presented in the game’s opening cutscene, is that amidst the zombie apocalypse, a society built around using mind-control technology on zombies (turning them into “zombots”) has arisen and claims to be a utopia, or ParadiZe, in the middle of the apocalypse. Your character investigates this resort slash settlement, only to find that things have inevitably gone wrong.
While I still really like my Necromancer setting idea, I’m pretty fond of Welcome to ParadiZe’s chosen setting as well. The slapstick comedy is pretty good, and while I’m not really a fan of the characters or a lot of the writer, it feels the appropriate amount of silly to be enjoyable. The game may not have been getting many laughs from me, but it was still immersive, and I was invested enough in the story to give the game a playthrough.
The game’s mechanics and setting are built around the idea of controlling zombies and making them do your bidding. Pretty quickly into the game, you’ll gain a zombie companion, and as soon as you build a base, you’ll be putting zombies to work. As cool as the idea was, though, its implementation felt pretty bare bones.
Maybe I missed the part where you got a second zombie companion, but as far as I could tell in my playthrough, you were only allowed to bring one with you. That being said, there was a fair amount of customization in the zombie’s gear and behavior, allowing you to build your playstyle around how your zombie fights. The zombie can equip any weapons you can, has several armor and utility choices (spikes to hurt nearby enemies, projectile-proof vests, bells to distract foes, etc.), and automatically equips whatever setup you had for it when you have to raise a new companion from the grave to replace your old, much more dead one.
![Welcome To Paradize Base](https://tryhardguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/welcome-to-paradize-base.jpg)
Around your base, zombies collect basic materials, such as wood, stone, etc., for crafting. You don’t actually capture zombies to do this, which I was pretty disappointed by. Instead, you just build a pylon that magically summons a selected number from an allowed amount of zombie workers. In other words, the more you have, the more energy it uses. Rather than zombies being a sort of energy-draining spawnable resource, I would have liked to have had to actually go out and capture zombies for use on my base and then have them work there for no cost until they expire.
For a concept that works so well for a base-building game, Welcome to ParadiZe really doesn’t capitalize on it with enough base-building mechanics.
Don’t get me wrong, you can build a base, gather resources, and fend off attacks from zombies. Honestly, one of the best things you can have in a base-building game is the need to fend off persistent attacks that can happen at any moment (at least, that’s how I feel), so the game certainly checks that part off for me. However, there isn’t enough reason to prioritize base building, and it doesn’t go very far when you do.
The goal in Welcome to ParadiZe is (SPOILERS) to build a rocket and escape to the moon. To do this, you’ll explore the map, fighting through sections of zombies to gather parts and assemble at your base. There isn’t much of a survival mechanic, and plenty of fast travel nodes means you don’t have to stay in any one spot for too long.
All of the crafting and resource-gathering aspects of the game go into that final goal, with the very vast majority of what you gather (or rather, what your zombies passively gather for you while you’re away) going to crafting ammo, weapon, and armor upgrades, or fuel to keep your passive income going. Plus, the building mechanic isn’t incredibly intricate like some other games, with your home consisting of a premade building that you place down, which is more of a fast-travel node.
I would have enjoyed the game to play more like Rust, Conan Exiles, V Rising, etc, with a real reason to invest in base building and defense. Instead, I would say it plays more like an ARPG, like Diablo, that just offloads gear collection to an almost unnecessary crafting mechanic.
![Welcome To Paradize Skilltree](https://tryhardguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/welcome-to-paradize-skilltree.jpg)
I experienced a few bugs with Welcome to ParadiZe, and while one hampered gameplay a bit, only one was enough to really interfere with the experience. The minimap, for me, was totally broken, just a blank screen where the map would occasionally flicker in and out of. This meant I had to navigate using the main map. This was only tedious at worst and didn’t slow me down too much.
The game has plenty of cutscenes to view, which are fun and explain the lore of Paradize and its inhabitants. However, I advise being careful when viewing these, as zombies can still attack you when you view them, and you won’t know until you’re dead.
![Welcome To Paradize Davis Land](https://tryhardguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/welcome-to-paradize-davis-land.jpg)
The last and more impactful bug came when I entered Daleville, or Daveland, or something like that. It’s a settlement in the desert run by a hillbilly-type character. When I passed the game, there was a prompt for interaction, and when I used it, I was stuck in an animation until I exited to the menu. I would highly recommend not interacting with the crank thing just beyond the gate when you get to this point.
The Final Word
Welcome to ParadiZe has a great core concept that is just shy of fully capitalizing on. I think it could have been a serious winner if the game had leaned more heavily into its base-building and crafting identity. As it stands, it is more of an okay ARPG title that, while definitely full of some interesting mechanics, isn’t the most exciting one on the market.
7
Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Welcome to ParadiZe is available on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation.