# Survival Z — user reviews > 51 indexed App Store user reviews of Survival Z by Ember Entertainment, Inc., rated 4.75/5 from 7,061 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/survival-z/id1464246022/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/survival-z/id1464246022.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 5,963 · 4★ 720 · 3★ 192 · 2★ 86 · 1★ 99 ## What do users think of Survival Z? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🚀 Simple yet satisfying gameplay - 👍 Intuitive controls and auto-targeting - 🎨 Visually appealing art style - 💡 Layered ability combos - 🔥 Intense and frantic action **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent performance issues and crashes - 🔍 Unclear progression and upgrade system - 🤕 Overly punishing difficulty - 🧠 Lack of meaningful character/ability differentiation - 🌀 Chaotic screen clutter from loot drops **Commonly reported bugs** - Freezing/crashing when accessing unexplored areas - Looping audio and visual effects - Survivor NPCs getting stuck at spawn points - Inconsistent save data syncing across devices **Most requested features** - Endless/wave-based mode - Ability to keep/carry over gear between runs - More varied enemy types and boss encounters - Clearer explanations of game mechanics - Difficulty settings or customization options ## Newest reviews (11 of 51) ### 4/5 — Just ok *2021-10-17, version 1.1.3* I really wanted to like this game. Everything about it is great, except one thing….me! Lol. I’m terrible at it, and it’s very frustrating when you die you start back at square one. Why can we just start from where we left off? I’m probably going to delete the game. I got to the diner once after about 5 tries, died at the diner, and decided I’m not doing that all over again. Plus you lose everything you got. *sigh* I’m sure with practice I would get better, but as of now, I think I’ll find another game. ### 4/5 — Perfectly Balanced Game *2021-05-10, version 1.0.6* This is popular one of 2 games I play for Arcade. This game is very well balanced, I read few reviews about being to hard to get coins. But if they make it easy what’s the point of the game and it’s tactics? You increase your health, speed and weapons each level little by little by playing smart. I was able to beat this game in about a week and half playing a little here and there. Overall it’s a really good game. I wish they get an update for new levels so I can keep playing and maybe give each survivor a special perk when using them. Maybe multi player in the future? I’m playing on an iPhone 11 Pro very minimal on issues. ### 4/5 — Love it, a few suggestions... *2021-05-07, version 1.0.6* Hi! I just started playing this game! I got this game on the arcade and I defeated the FIRST BOSS!!!😃😃😃 but a few suggestions... 1:It is hard to get coins for upgrades. Maybe you could add a few more coins when you defeat a zombie and it increases by one every time you defeat a boss? Anyway, it’s a little bit more coding and anyway, I’ve always wanted to work at the arcade! Update: Hello again! I know when I said I wanted to ask for more suggestions, but I didn’t but I will give you more so I’m writing more: 2: yes, I know you have to gain health by going to the healing tent or get the trait that gives you health after each level, but it would be cooler if you gained 1+ after defeating the week zombies the more powerful they are the more health you get. It will also let me get past level two! **Developer response:** Great suggestions, thanks for playing and enjoying the game! ### 4/5 — It’s Absolutely Great! (But...) *2021-04-26, version 1.0.6* This game is absolutely great super fun and easy to pick up but now i have beat the game in its entirety and i just wish there was more?I don’t know if there are plans to add more maps and levels and such but i also could see this game seriously benefit from a almost wave based endless mode after you beat the game? It’s just an idea maybe it’s a plan already or maybe the developers don’t have an interest?Either way this game is absolutely great and i would definitely recommend it and would be so happy to see this game get even a bit bigger! ### 4/5 — Great (but unfinished) game *2021-04-20, version 1.0.5* Fun game with great touch controls. Some might complain about auto-aim, but I appreciated it while playing on my phone. Tip: Be sure to pick up all items before advancing to the next level, but don’t worry about leveling up gear all the way. The weapons and gold drops are significantly higher with each advancing level, and while you might die early on the first time through, it is worth it. My only complaint is that the game feels unfinished, with the story ending very abruptly. Little reason to keep playing after all levels are completed. Would be down to see a endless-mode or something along those lines to increase playability. But definitely worth the download. ### 4/5 — Almost perfect *2021-03-25, version 1.0.5* This is a classic dungeon dive, quite well done... but the missing star is for the decision to make your hard earned loot disappear if you don’t collect it quickly enough. It feels great to mow down swarms of zombies and see all the gold and weapon upgrades covering the map, but you also get to watch as they start to flash and disappear seconds later, as approaching zombies continue to prevent you getting close to where you killed the last ones. In later levels with ranged, running, teleporting, and exploding zombies it is just too chaotic to not lose 80% of your loot by the end of the level. Really bad design in my opinion and should be balanced differently. Either collect automatically, or leave the loot on the map until the break between waves... and if the intent is to have you earn less loot, just reward less. **Developer response:** This issue has been addressed in the latest version (1.0.5) now available for download. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for playing Survival Z. - Ember Entertainment ### 4/5 — I really want to like this game *2021-03-05, version 1.0.3* Graphics are great, design and idea also. It’s fun to begin with, but.... The difficulty ramps up almost exponentially. Enemy damage is far too high, if you get hit once in your first two levels you might as well quit because you won’t make it far enough. Starting every time with only one powerup choice also makes this frustrating. If I collect 6 different powerups and finish the zone (or die) maybe the player can be allowed to keep one of them? Multishot and piercing bonuses are almost mandatory for getting past zones 3 and beyond. If they don’t show up in your end of level choices you’re not getting far. PLEASE fix the farmer zombie. It is impossible to dodge the cactus spike shots while trying to damage him. There are just far too many projectiles and the controls are not good enough to avoid them. I had full HP (258) on a level with one farmer and died within 5 seconds of him showing up. It moves from “challenging” to “this isn’t fun” when they show up. Make some changes and this will be a great game. ### 4/5 — Fun With Some Problems *2021-03-05, version 1.0.3* The game prompted me to review it after only about 20 minutes, so consider this a preliminary review. I am having a fun time, but also have noticed some rough spots. First, and least important, there are numerous typos I have noticed, and like I said I have only played for about 20 minutes. Second, the "tutorial" level is far too short, only covering the very basic parts of battle, and not any of the systems like upgrading, what happens at death, gear, etc. I died very early on and was sent to a "camp" screen where I could put on gear and upgrade it and various other things, but with no help. It seems easy enough to figure out, but that is a weak spot. Third, the number and type of traps you get seem random. Sometimes you get 3 sandbags, which act as walls but die quickly, and other times you may get one or two nailgun turrets, which have a lot of health and damage. Is there some way to build and prepare the traps you want at camp? This is not explained. I will keep playing and update this review as need be. ### 5/5 — Pretty solid pick up and play game *2021-03-03, version 1.0.3* This is an incredibly fun, easy to pick up and play tower defense shooter that’s berms a blast to play in between work meetings and what not. Look forward to see what future updates will have in store for this game! I’ve only encountered one bug so far: while using a PS4 controller on my iPhone 8 to play, I received a phone call that made my character keep walking in one direction continuously. I just paused the game and waited for the call to stop and the problem ended. Super minor issue overall. ### 5/5 — Lots of fun! *2021-03-02, version 1.0.2* At the moment there are a few bugs as others mentioned with the “?” path loading but if you are playing a level that you still have some survivors to rescue it doesn’t happen. (Feb, 2021) The game play is very fun, it is simple enough for my 8 year old to play on his iPad and entertaining enough for us parents to play also. There is a little bit of a challenge gearing up as the price for upgrades gets really high while the quest gold amounts don’t increase from zone to zone and the scavenger gold doesn’t bump up much. My wish for this game would be to have skills or modifiers on the characters rather than just being skins of the same character. Also I hope next level includes a country club zone we can tear through! ### 4/5 — Can’t wait to give 5 stars *2021-03-01, version 1.0.2* Overall great game and addictive concept, I can’t wait to keep playing more. Devs: There are various bugs when loading “??? areas” when I get close to obtaining all the collectibles in each individual level, causing me to have to abandon the zone in the middle of a run almost every time, no matter which device I play on. (TV 4K, iPhone 12 Pro, iPad Pro 11” (gen1)) Also, on the TV app when this happens, there is no way to get the options menu, you have to force close the app, open the game on another device, load the buggy save, select to abandon the zone, wait for auto save, then you can continue playing on the TV app. I’ve force closed the app & restarted all devices with still no change. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Tired of half way done games *2021-12-17, version 1.1.3* Stars going down because of the unfinished story. Also, New levels coming “soon” has a different definition to me. Again, half finished games is not what I’ve paid for. Please don’t allow this to happen. Developer must be making enough money to not care about the actual story or negative reviews. So sad. This is a really great game to play. The graphics, mechanics, and weapons are cool and enemies are balanced. I am, however, sick and tired of halfway done games. Do not read the story, it will abruptly end without the obvious needed resolution. I emailed the developer and their response was “we don’t comment on upcoming features.” I guess they are fine getting money for those who play for a while and leave. Apple should be ashamed to allow SO many obviously half done games. I paid for whole games!!!!! ### 1/5 — Great game. Has potential but needs a lot of QA *2021-02-28, version 1.0.2* I want to start out and say that this is rating which I will be happy to update if the developer fixes the issues. This game is actually a lot of fun. I started playing last night and was using the touch controls and the experience was about 4 stars. I would have given 5 stars but some of the screens had visible template issues where placeholder values were still visible. Nothing that would prevent you from playing the game and in fact I spent the better part of an hour playing. This morning however it seemed to changed. I started playing with a bluetooth controller and I had to close the app 3 times because the gamer would keep loading screens that I couldn’t get past. One time the game kept playing a looped audio of a zombie in the background and this persisted through the level and back to the home screen. When playing with a controller I repeatedly have an issue where I select “Continue” from the home screen and land on a screen with no actions where the main character is standing by the camp fire. After getting through the previous issue by quitting the current mission I could get through a single level but after i select the 2nd level i face an all black screen. This game seems to be getting worse without an update. I thought it had potential but now i question if it should have been released. **Developer response:** The fix for an issue with event (?) nodes has been released with the version 1.0.3 update. Players should no longer encounter a black screen when entering event nodes in zones that all survivors have been rescued. If you happen to Continue from the title screen and encounter a black screen, you will need to enter settings (gear icon) and Abandon Zone. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we worked through the issue. Thank you for playing Survival Z. ### 2/5 — Good concept. Could be better *2021-04-05, version 1.0.5* I like this game (the only reason j got apple arcade was for this game) but sometimes zombies get stuck in the spawn preventing you from shooting them this not allowing you to advance… also the game could definitely use an “endless” mode for replay ability.. another thing i would love to see is the ability to move on with your traps to the next level (on the map), i believe allowing this would make the player think a bit further as to which level they want to save up for so that they can beat a more difficult one… some other types of weapons would also be greatly appreciated (the game feels repetitive at this point).. co-op mode would also be fantastic where instead of the survivors (they’re dumb as f) following you, one could have a friend…. Also what’s the point of having me save all the survivors if they add nothing to the gameplay? I mean sure they’re cosmetics and that’s cool in itself but i would’ve loved to see some kind of special ability with each character, like for example the hazmat guy being able to walk in poison poodles or the swat girl being able to run faster… some levels could definitely be longer as well I’m dashing through these levels in a couple of seconds at times and that makes the experience quite “jerky” **Developer response:** Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! There's a lot of good stuff you're asking for here and I'll pass it on to the team. We're currently developing some updates that will add to the experience including an endless mode :) Thanks for playing and keep an eye out for those updates! ### 2/5 — No reward for playing well *2021-03-15, version 1.0.4* You pick paths in this game. Either go towards a zombie hoard or to a healing tent. That’s one big negative for this game is how health is managed. You can only gain health if you choose a path that has a medical tent. There are many times where the path doesn’t have any medical tents so you can’t regenerate health. If you die due to not being able to regenerate health, then you start at the beginning and lose all of your perks. Perks are virtually worthless, choose a higher fire rate, more damage, it hardly makes a difference in terms of effectiveness. Enemies take too much from your health, they can take almost a quarter of your health with one hit, and when the screen gets chaotic with particle effects from enemies, it’s hard to see which ones are dying and which ones haven’t. There is equipment to help you but they are very sparse and rarely given to you in a meaningful way, and their effectiveness is very low until you upgrade them which requires a lot of gold coins. The way it’s made, the devs counted on you dying repeatedly throughout the levels. It just a cheap ploy to make the game seem harder when the mechanics are needing improvement. ### 2/5 — Game Ruined by Auto Fire and No Multiplayer *2021-03-13, version 1.0.4* If you have a game controller you can’t fire manually. I understand that for touch screen gameplay auto-fire is nice but with a game controller it just makes the game feel too over simplified, like the computer is playing for me. It would be nice to have an option to disable auto-fire. I can tell the developers put a lot of time into this by how polish this game is but I simply can’t enjoy it as is. I also would ask for some haptic feedback for people who are using a controller. Apple gives the developers the API to easily do this. Adding haptic feedback for controller would take less than a day to implement. It would be nice to have some multiplayer too, like having my friends play with me. ### 3/5 — Simple Fun Yet With a Flawed Item Pickup System *2023-09-13* This is one of those shooter survival games that’s repetitive but satisfying nonetheless. It’s replay-ability relies upon the Vial Run portion of the game where it basically becomes an endless run. Unfortunately, your “endless” runs will absolutely end by the time the game’s frame rate drops to 0 as the hundreds of vials that drop from enemies fills the entire screen — that is if you’re still able to hold your device that is now capable of steaming a sauna. Seeing as how the last updates were likely over 2 years ago at the time of my writing this review, it’s unlikely this obvious issue will ever be resolved nor the additional maps promised at the end of the campaign ever released. It’s okay, you can play a game like this a while before it’s best to just write your review, enjoy your sauna, and move on. ### 3/5 — Good but *2021-07-25, version 1.1.3* This is a good game, fun to play mechanics are ok but it’s way too fast paced for its own good, maps are too small, character is too slow, shooting is too slow and zombies are too much and too fast. That’s really the only issue here, if you slowed the zombies by like 10% or something or made maps less cramped or just bigger or made the character slightly faster it would be much better. As of right now, dying it fast and the character is slow. Not a good combo when zombies are nearly as fast as you, have ones that shoot and are hard to see along with just having tons of them. Also like I said before dying in this game is WAY too fast especially considering you lose everything and then have to start at a harder level and can’t grind so you’re just banging your head against a wall for awhile. Too many small issues to be called a good game as of right now ### 3/5 — Fun. Hard to Advance. Cant Install on all Devices. *2021-06-23, version 1.1.3* This is a fun game but the levelling is a bit confusing and it's quite difficult to survive. It would be nice to have some difficulty modes to choose from. One hit can take 1/4 to 1/2 your health and you can't heal until you do more missions so you have to play almost perfectly to survive to the healing stations. Also, I installed on my Apple TV and iMac but am unable to install on my iphone or ipad. It starts to download but always eventually stops. When I try to finish it just starts the process all over. I have plenty of space, the OS is updated... it's just a glitch. ### 3/5 — Loved it at first but hard to advance *2021-03-01, version 1.0.2* The difficulty of the enemies is way to fast for how hard it is to upgrade. The supplies caravan gets more and more difficult to get to...but the fully upgraded weapons from the previous level do minimal damage. It’s super difficult and the only way to upgrade the defenses is to do the lower levels over and over again because the new levels are too difficult to complete. The maps are great but super difficult to navigate and it’s easy to accidentally get yourself cornered and when your weapons and other upgrades aren’t upgraded enough, you just die super easily. I’m sure there’s some other tactic to it I haven’t figured out or maybe it’s just above my skill level but idk. The other characters don’t have anything special. Like why don’t you have the cops fire guns or have various weapons or other special upgrades? Why can’t you have the option to take one of them with you? Also there’s been a glitch where the “Unscouted” areas freeze up the game and I have to forfeit to fix it. **Developer response:** The fix for an issue with event (?) nodes has been released with the version 1.0.3 update. Players should no longer encounter a black screen when entering event nodes in zones that all survivors have been rescued. If you happen to Continue from the title screen and encounter a black screen, you will need to enter settings (gear icon) and Abandon Zone. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we worked through the issue. Thank you for playing Survival Z. ### 3/5 — Fun enough, but persistent bug is trash *2021-02-28, version 1.0.2* I’m enjoying the game as a whole and have best the first two journeys, however now when I play I’m coming across an issue that makes progressing impossible. Moving to an unscouted site worked fine earlier today when I first downloaded the game but suddenly now every time I progress to one, which is sometimes 100% unavoidable no matter what path progression you choose, the screen just goes blank and locks up. I’ve tried hitting settings and going to title screen then loading or continuing but it just pretends to load and shows the title screen with the settings button in the top left. I can go to title screen again from there but that does nothing for me. I’ve restarted my device to no avail, the only way to get past this bug is to abandon the zone and that just means I’ll never be able to do anything except grind for gold until I can’t upgrade anything anymore. Please fix this bug. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great game *2023-01-25, version 1.1.3* Honestly what a surprise. Really the perfect little zombie shoot ‘em up. I played through the entire single player progression in one sitting! There is a fair amount that is done very well here. The single finger movement and auto target is perfect. It even recognizes subtle gestures toward an enemy to switch focus—which is indicated by the yellow dotted circle underneath. A way more satisfying experience than say a Diablo immortal where you point abilities by long pressing them. It just never felt right to me (not to mention the insane monetization scheme). The ability bonus layering is also great. It’s super satisfying to setup a combo of something like a arrowhead (that makes arrows fly out of the dead zombie on hit) and a ricochet. Arrows flying everywhere, zombies exploding, it’s great! A nice variety of monsters with unique abilities and enough frantic action to keep you engaged. I especially like the behemoth with car doors for armor. Great visual design as well to the maps. The hardware store in the supermarket level was especially well done. Good job guys, thanks for making a great game! ### 5/5 — Fun game! *2021-08-12, version 1.1.3* I started playing it about the time it released. Some of the levels do take some time, so it’s not a quick 30 second play. It is intensive enough that you need to focus on it too. It’s not a mindless game. It is fun and isn’t too hard to start, but it does pick up difficulty pretty quick. It’s an addicting game too, so be prepared to get sucked in. Im a fan. I like it. I haven’t played it as much in the last couple months, but not because I don’t like it, but because I haven’t had time. Fun game! ### 5/5 — Higher difficulty levels! *2021-07-29, version 1.1.3* I like this game alot. Not gonna lie. But I wish the difficulty ramped up a little bit more/faster in the main story mode. It’s like the zombies can’t keep up with my upgrades and new equipment so I end up blasting them all away the first time I play through a new level if I equip the gear I found in the previous level and upgrade it all the way. Anyways other than that I like the game you should play it but I hope that there is more difficult stages in the updates to come ### 5/5 — A surprise hit *2021-06-21, version 1.1.3* Gave this a try after a bit of waiting. I wasn’t sure about the graphics based on the previews but wow, I appreciate the level of details in each area. I was playing the game and just suddenly realized how beautifully varied and highly detailed the backgrounds and foreground of the stages are, the artists really worked hard and had a great sense of creativity and style, and it shows. I’m not even talking about the gameplay, which is simple but great just how it is; focusing on both loot, and dodging hard hitting zombies and other monsters on just one life. It’s a survival but atleast you keep your gear and gold every respawn. Love this game. ### 5/5 — Fixed, great game *2021-03-28, version 1.0.5* Update: they fixed it and it really is a very good game! Upgrades to the equipment gives a semi rpg feel to the arcade game. Quite fun overall. I really want to like this game, it is really good.. it is. However, across 2 devices I’ve now had 6 different save games fail. They hit a point where when you attempt load the next level (or load the game after a force quit) it just sits at 50% loading forever. The only way I’ve been able to get around this is to create a new game which obviously is extremely annoying after playing for a couple hours. If that bug gets fixed would definitely be a 5 star game. **Developer response:** This issue has been addressed in the latest version (1.0.5) now available for download. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for playing Survival Z. - Ember Entertainment ### 5/5 — Awesome game but 16hr+ save not loading *UPDATED* *2021-03-27, version 1.0.5* Had a blast with this game, not too crazy of a grind and just enough challenge for leisure player who doesn’t have ton of time. Love the esthetic of the game and the design. Looking forward for the updates that’s to come. With that said, after 16+ hr of play, my game stuck at 50% when loading. I’ve upgraded all the gears and now unable to play my save. Also every time I finish stage 5 multiple times the achievement keeps popping up. Willing to share my save with tech to see what bug(s) caused this issue. *Update* Appreciate the the team address the 50% loading issue promptly. I was able to access my save again. Now I expect something to look forward to on future update while i continue to slay the endless walkers. **Developer response:** This issue has been addressed in the latest version (1.0.5) now available for download. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for playing Survival Z. - Ember Entertainment ### 5/5 — Top notch game *2021-03-25, version 1.0.5* This game has: Zombies, strategy, upgrades, adventure, the works! Not a whole lot of storyline, wish there was an explore mode. Beyond that very solid game. If you’re looking to kill some time, kill some zombies, you’ve found the right game. The customisation options are awesome, upgrading defence where you notice a difference feels satisfying, same for tactical gear & weapons. Overall highly highly recommend checking out if you’re at all into puzzles, zombies, survivals strategy games. Biggest requests as I saw the developers are active (also a huge plus, thank you ahead of time for the response ♥️): Have a stat menu under the settings screen or have a drop down button / pop up menu during the planning phase. Would be awesome to see how the stats (crit, ricochet, increased damage) correlate to overall DPS. Maybe adding a life steal ability (if not already available, I’ve only made it 3rd phase)? Would be nice to have slightly bigger maps for more intricate planning, maybe a “zen mode” or side games to earn different perks for the characters. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Genuinely love the game, please do not sell out or ruin it by feeling the pressure to do more. It’s amazing, go with the flow and don’t let the haters get you down. All the best 🥳 ### 5/5 — [updated] fun game, bugs, limited levels *2021-03-11, version 1.0.4* Fun shoot-em-up with bugs in the first update addressed - and introduced some new ones. Specifically, NPC can get stuck at respawn points in Event [?] levels with the player unable to reach them and the level won’t end. The game itself is hard, but fair. Once you can grind to the last level, it is easier to upgrade equipment. [original review] Since the recent (late February 2021) update, the unmapped quests will not load and lock up the game. No input will be accepted. Restarting the game and selecting the unmapped quests will produce the same results. ### 5/5 — Latest update nerfs difficulty *2021-03-11, version 1.0.4* Latest update fixed some small bugs (looping sound effect was most annoying, thanks!). But now we have looping dirt clouds if you kill the spike spawner guy right when the spikes are about to emerge. This happens to me virtually every time I’m on a level with that guy. Biggest problem though is the new money bags. They cover up all the action. Impossible to se what’s going on behind them. They’re pretty I guess and fix the minor issue that some coins were worth more than other coins, but really that was a small thing compared with the playability issue introduced. And a matter of opinion I guess is that I don’t feel like the bright purple fits with the feeling or color scheme of the game. Games feels somewhat cheapened now, like I’m playing a candy crush clone when there’s dozens of bright purple money bags on screen. Still a 5-star game and here’s hoping for updates and new levels! **Developer response:** The fix for an issue with event (?) nodes has been released with the version 1.0.3 update. Players should no longer encounter a black screen when entering event nodes in zones that all survivors have been rescued. If you happen to Continue from the title screen and encounter a black screen, you will need to enter settings (gear icon) and Abandon Zone. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we worked through the issue. Thank you for playing Survival Z. ### 5/5 — Great game, but the non-ending is awful *2021-03-10, version 1.0.3* This game takes an intuitive, simple premise and executes it perfectly. If you are in the mood for a series of quick, intense battles, with the outcome largely based on maneuvering and positioning, then this will be a lot of fun. The problem is, the game is unfinished. It doesn’t even have a “to be continued” marker of its own incomplete status. You unlock new areas, following a trail of notes left behind by a mysterious survivor. Ooo, each new note promises and guarantees that there is a larger plot, and the story is going somewhere. But after several levels, the game just... stops. And sends you back to the first level. It’s kind of unbelievable. And it is *really* insulting to players. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*