Ed-0: Zombie Uprising from D3PUBLISHER and Lancarse is a roguelike action game in which traditional Japanese characters clash must take on hordes of deadly zombies. Check our Ed-0: Zombie Uprising review!
Please enter your date of birth to access this video.
Ed-0: Zombie Uprising from D3PUBLISHER and LANCARSE is a roguelike action game in which traditional Japanese characters clash must take on hordes of deadly zombies. The game takes place in 1854 Japan, at the end of the Edo period. At that period in time, Western countries were going through what was known as the Zombie Industrial Revolution. Japan remained relatively unaffected until the deadly Black Ships arrived in the country, bringing with them hordes of zombies that spread like wildfire.
To overcome this invasion, you’ll be taking control of one of the different characters – known as Zom-beings – that pay homage to the classic Japanese characters you’d expect to see in an action game. The options are the powerful samurai Mumyo, the agile and nimble ninja Mato, or the mighty and bulky sumo Raiden. What makes Zom-beings so special? Along with being immune to turning into zombies, they can also reincarnate after being defeated! You’ll have to learn from your mistakes and readjust your strategy because the items and enemies you’ll find during each run will be randomized.
Once you choose a character, you’ll be able to control it with the left analog stick as you control the camera with the right analog stick. Pressing in on the left analog stick will allow your character to run. The R1 button will be used for light attacks, while the R2 button will unleash a slower but more powerful heavy attack. Pressing the R1 button in quick succession will allow you to unleash a combo. If you press and hold down the R2 button, you’ll be able to charge up your heavy attack to deal more damage. You can also perform attacks while jumping, which is done by pressing the X button.
If you press in on the right analog stick, you’ll be able to lock onto an enemy. Pressing the Circle button will allow your character to dodge an incoming attack. You can throw an item you’re holding by pressing up or the R2 button while pressing the L2 button at the same time. Throwing an item will allow you to inflict damage on an enemy from a safer distance. Some items might have a special effect when thrown. Pressing the L1 button will allow you to defend yourself against enemy attacks. If you do this at the right time, you’ll parry the attack, leaving your enemies open to a counterattack. You won’t be able to block all types of attacks, so be ready!
As you defeat enemies of all shapes and sizes, you’ll slowly start to fill up your ZEN gauge. Your ZEN gauge will also fill up as you receive attacks. Once the ZEN gauge is full, you can press in on the left and right analog sticks to activate ZEN mode. Once ZEN mode has been activated, everything and everyone around you will go into slow motion, and you’ll become invincible for a short period of time! All of your attacks will also be boosted, making it the perfect way of destroying a horde of enemies while lowering the chances of being defeated.
Since this one is a roguelike, as you progress further and further into each dungeon, your character’s Fullness level will start to decrease. Your character’s actions will also decrease Fullness. If your Fullness reaches 0, then your character will periodically take damage. Because of this, you should always try to collect food as you try to keep zombies at bay. As a heads-up, you should know that cooking food will increase the amount of Fullness you’ll recover from eating it, so it’s always a good idea to throw food into the fire.
If you want to stand a chance and be able to extend your run, you should make it a priority to collect the different pills that you will find as you explore each dungeon. These are split into Strength Pills, Vitality Pills, and Nourishment Pills. Strength Pills will boost your character’s attack power, thus allowing it to deal more damage. Vitality Pills will, as expected, boost your vitality, making it possible to take more hits, thus allowing you to make some mistakes along the way. Nourishment Pills will add a boost to recovery.
Along with food and pills, you’ll also find Charms. Charms can bestow a variety of effects on your character. You can equip up to 10 Charms in total, and even if it seems like some of their effects overlap, you need to understand that they’ll actually stack, so the more Charms you equip, the more powerful your character will be. Do keep in mind that there are some Charms that will have negative effects. To reverse these, you can throw them at enemies to make them weaker.
Your characters can use Secret Arts, which can be obtained from the Manuals of Secret Art found in dungeons. You can learn up to four Secret Arts, which means you can find the right combination of them to suit your playing style. And yes, you can indeed learn the same Secret Art over and over again in order to boost it. Along with this, you should also keep an eye out for a Shrine of Secret Arts, which is a bit rare. You can use this Shrine of Secret Arts to trade three unwanted Manuals of Secret Arts to boost your favorite Secret Art. You can equip Secret Arts with the four available slots. To activate them, you’ll have to press the L1 button along with the Square, Triangle, Circle, or X button, depending on which Secret Art you’ve equipped to which slot.
Given the gameplay loop of Ed-0: Zombie Uprising, you know that death is part of the equation. When you die, you’ll lose all your Manuals of Secret Art, Charms, and other items. What will you be able to bring back with you to the base? You can bring back Money and Virtue. You can donate Money to the Dojo at the base, which will permanently increase a character’s abilities. Virtue can be poured at the Sacred Tree to permanently increase the number of slots for the Blessings of the Sacred Tree.
What are the Blessings of the Sacred Tree? They are special abilities that will boost your odds of survival. You could increase the effectiveness of the Sacred Tree Nut, allow you to revive a single time after death while recovering a set % of your vitality, increase how much food you can carry with you, boost the effectiveness of food, increase how much Money you earn when defeating enemies, add additional jumps for your characters, increase the rate at which the ZEN gauge fills up, or increase the rate for landing critical hits.
For Ed-0: Zombie Uprising, you’ll be moving from floor to floor in each dungeon by choosing to cross through a Torii Gate. You need to consider the color for each Torii Gate since this will determine what will happen next. A pink Torii Gate will be a recovery gate that heals your wounds. A yellow Torii Gate will be a food gate that recovers your Fullness. A red Torii Gate will be a Charm gate, giving you a new Charm for your run. A green Torii Gate will be a Secret Art gate, granting a Manual of Secret Art. A blue Torii Gate will be an item gate, which is self-explanatory. A white Torii gate will be a homecoming gate, which you can use to cut your run so that you can escape with what you’ve managed to obtain so far.
Ed-0: Zombie Uprising has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy to aim for, and it’s not going to be an easy trophy run! The list includes 23 Bronze trophies, a single Silver trophy, and 7 Gold trophies. What will you need to do for that Platinum? You’ll have to die 5 times in a dungeon, grill a rice ball, eat food 5 times, defeat 100 enemies, play as Mumyo 10 times, Mato 10 times, and Raiden 10 times, achieving 100 critical hits, defeating 25 enemies with a long-range attack, guard against enemy attacks 10 times, activating Zen Mode, and more.
Ed-0: Zombie Uprising is a budget roguelike action game that has made the jump from Early Access to PlayStation 5. As you take on the zombie hordes that have invaded Japan – infecting thousands in the process – you’ll have to make the most of the Zom-beings that are immune to turning into zombies while also being able to reincarnate. While you’ll lose all of your items and a chunk of your Money upon death, you’ll be able to make some progress at a slow but steady pace as you unlock permanent boosts and Blessings that can make subsequent runs a bit easier. Ed-0: Zombie Uprising is out on PlayStation 5 with a $29.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Ed-0: Zombie Uprising is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by D3PUBLISHER.
