Review
Unturned Review: The Blocky Zombie Survival Game Arrives on Console
Six years after its Steam debut, Unturned reached Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Its blocky look hides a punishing survival game with more depth than it first appears.
Released November 12, 2020Reviewed on Xbox One XAlso on PlayStation 4, PCDeveloper Smartly Dressed GamesPublisher 505 GamesPrice at launch $24.99 USD
Six years after its first release, the zombie survival game Unturned has shambled onto Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It brings no radically new ideas to open-world survival or base building. What it does have is immediate charm in its simple look and far more depth than the look suggests. For console players after a new survival game, it does the job.
From Roblox to Steam to console
Unturned began as a Roblox game called Deadzone, essentially a blocky take on DayZ with base building for anyone who survived long enough. Canadian developer Nelson Sexton started it at 16 and brought it to Steam Greenlight in 2014. It is still free-to-play on Steam; the console port costs $25, which is fair for how much is in it.
The structure is familiar. Players start with only the clothes they are wearing, scavenge infested areas for supplies, craft what they need to stay alive, and, with luck, build a base to keep the horde out. Each of the eight maps can be played solo or online with up to 24 players.
Eight maps worth exploring
The maps are the highlight. They span different parts of the world, Prince Edward Island among them, and each has its own landmarks and terrain. After a while some buildings and layouts repeat between maps, but every one has distinctive locations that are as useful as they are fun to find.
Cute look, harsh game
The colourful, Minecraft-like art makes Unturned look like a children’s game. It is not one. Even with a decent melee weapon, a zombie takes several hits to the head and barely staggers. A solo player caught by a crowd without strong firearms is as good as dead, and first runs tend to end quickly.
Survival runs on food and water. Damage takes a large bite out of health, and health only regenerates while hunger and thirst stay above 80 percent. Item spawns are random but follow the setting: food in restaurants, guns at the police station. Seeds found in some areas can be planted, which suits players who want to dig in and stay put.
Shelters are easy to build once a blade or saw is found to cut timber. For a solo player, staying in one place offers less than exploring; online it matters more. Online players on the official servers tended to be friendly, teaming up against zombies rather than each other, which is the opposite of the instant hostility common in Rust or ARK.
Classes, skills and custom worlds
Each character has a class with its own skills. Killing zombies, or other players, earns experience that can be spent on damage or survivability straight away. Four character slots can be dressed from the main menu. Daily rewards for weapon and outfit skins were announced for console but not yet live at launch.
Custom games expose nearly everything: spawn rates, damage values and many other settings, so a world can be tuned to any taste. Playing on defaults gives the intended balance; the options are there for groups who want something different.
Rough edges on console
The port has problems. Context prompts for picking things up sometimes sit off-target, which hurts when grabbing a weapon in a hurry, and items occasionally sink halfway into a surface and cannot be picked up. The tutorial froze repeatedly and had to be restarted. Small bugs like these run through the whole game, though none spoil it.
The verdict
Unturned on console is a solid, fair-priced survival game that wins people over despite its looks. It adds little that is new to the genre, and it needs more polish on controls and stability. Solo play and random servers are fun, but the game is at its best with a steady group of friends building up a shared server, the way Rust and ARK are best played. For anyone who wants a survival game in that mould without the hostile community, it is easy to recommend.
Questions readers ask
Is Unturned free on console?
No. Unturned stayed free-to-play on Steam, but the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions released in November 2020 cost $24.99 USD.
How many players can play Unturned online?
Online games on console support up to 24 players. All eight maps can also be played solo.
Who made Unturned?
Nelson Sexton, a Canadian developer who began the game at 16 as a Roblox project called Deadzone. It launched on Steam in 2014 under his studio Smartly Dressed Games; 505 Games published the console version.