Really loved this, even as short as it is. It took roughly 3 or so hours to finish and I was fully immersed the whole time. This world has such a unique atmosphere and mystique, brought to life in Source. It looks just phenomenal, the animations and design of the world and its inhabitants feel so raw and bizarre but also impressive and inspiring. The combat loop is just complex enough, brawling and blocking, dodging and punishing, even shooting. It's enough to give you a good amount of control in how you play, with a decent skill ceiling that I never got a chance to master by the time the credits rolled. I'm glad I have Zeno Clash II and Clash: Artifacts of Chaos to look forward to.

This is a very strange game. Ace Team is known for making weird but creative games and this is exactly one of those. The world itself is weird, but its inhabitants are even weirder. I was surprised that the story turned out to be not nonsense. There are a handful of great songs in this game, not every one is memorable though. Gameplay wise I had to warm up first to enjoy the combat. I played on the default difficulty, which is labeled hard instead of normal and I agree with the developers, it wasn't a walk in the park to beat this game. Sadly that is not only due to how difficult enemies are to fight, but one major design flaw imo. The button that lets you lock onto enemies is the same button that you use to pick up weapons and healing items... This results in several moments later in the game where the enemies would be constantly switched in and out of focus unintentionally instead of picking up the weapon or items that lies directly in front of you. This issue cost me two or three game overs that could have been easily prevented. All in all the game is fun enough once you get the hang of it. There is room for improvement though and I am curious if they managed to improve the combat mechanics in the sequel. A recommendation if you like creative world building and art design.

Man this game is so weird and I love how weird it is. The world of Zeno Clash is bizzare af and feels like a fever dream after taking acid and shrooms. And it embraces how weird it is, probably one of my favourite things about this game. Zeno clash is basically a first person brawler (and a bit of a shooter) where you fight the ugliest abominations my PC has ever seen (in a good way). The combat is something very similar to Cyberpunk's brawling system, in fact it seems like Cyberpunk ripped off the brawling from this game. Every punch and hit is so satisfying and there are ragdoll physics that make the heavy punches feel so good. There are some shooting segments here too but you can tell it wasn't the focus of the game, as the shooting is not as refined as the brawling. The story is weird as fuck and didn't make any sense to me until I got to the end. Biggest complaint is that the game is really short and also some of the level design is uninspired. There are some bad levels here between the good ones, but there are more good than bad. I recommend this though if you like the brawling in Cyberpunk and want something more refined. Definitely get this if the weird ass setting intrigues you.

What i liked :

- what a bealtiful world, lively and full of creativity, even the guns are designed to be this scraped things.

- my guy ghat sounds like he didn't ask for this, as in, he sounds veeeery similar to adam from deus ex.

- i like how short it is, sure it took me 8 hours but thats because i replayed it about 3 times, its a small indie game.

- the story was entertaining, not the next best and most immersive thing ever, but it was interesting and fun to watch, makes me intrigued to know more about this world

- please support the devs, there are very few people in the industry these days putting such creative titles, Support ACE Studio.

what i didn't like :

combat might sound chunky but its very clunky, some attacks with certain weapons follow the kingdom hearts rule that you can only combo if it hits the enemy.

I give the gameplay a 2.5 star rating, but the atmosphere a 4.5.

The world of Zeno Clash is WEIRD and I find it intriguing, even though the gameplay feels like beating my skull against another, bigger, thicker skull (it hurts).

I don't know if there's anyone out there who I would recommend it to, but if you're some kind of freak then maybe it's worth a look?

These indie games just keep getting better and better and more like full budget titles. Zeno Clash is no exception with an original wonderful art style, fun game play mechanics, and a very intriguing story. ZC puts you in the mind of Ghat a runaway man who is hunting his “Father-Mother” and to release his/her secret.


During your meet, a few interesting characters and you play through flashbacks occasionally. The game is an FPS/melee game with some pretty deep combat mechanics. You use your fists by using the left mouse button and right mouse button (for strong attacks) you can lock on by using E and use space as block. While you’re blocking you can dodge attacks by hitting D or A, and if you time it right you’ll get a slow-mo queue to punch. You can create combos and then when the enemy is stunned you can knee bash them or throw them around. I found the best tactic was to charge your strong attack while your back stepping and then let it go. This is a bit repetitive (just like the whole game), but it’s effective and works when you are up against four plus enemies. All enemies have a health gauge and so do you; thus having to eat orange flowers will give you health.


Sometimes you’ll get weapons to use and these are neat little things that can be used to shoot the enemies creating massive damage. Most guns have no more than a few shots in them (this game has a tribal theme to it) so you’ll have to aim very well since reloading can take longer than you want (sorry this isn’t Call of Duty). While most of the game consists of this pattern: Run, fight a batch of enemies, cutscene, rinse and repeat, but thanks to the short length (about 5-6 hours) you won’t get too bored. One level, however, is a lot different from the rest: You are running through a foggy plain (the fog will kill you since it bites!) and you have a crystal torch and you must keep it lit with candles littered throughout the level and use it to shoot fireballs as shadows that come after you.

Zeno Clash has a wonderful premise to all of its gameplay, but ultimately it’s all the same and can actually be really frustrating towards the end. If there are too many enemies you can get boxed in and beaten to death, and I found the most frustrating part about the game is that if you get hit while you have a weapon in your hand you drop it. This usually happens during a reload and can piss you off a lot. There aren’t too many weapons, but you have a single shot rifle, a dual shot crossbow, a sledgehammer, a bone bat, a grenade launcher, but these are tribal looking weapons so everything is made from what you see around you which is pretty slick.


The game uses the Source engine (the updated one not the old one) and the graphics are just bizarre and way out there. The creatures are something straight out of nightmares and some of the speech is pretty odd too. Nonetheless, it makes the game even better and the visual splendor is probably what saves this game. If you think there’s something to come back to (there isn’t) you can play challenges and there are a bunch of Steam achievements to unlock. I highly recommend Zeno Clash to any FPS or indie game fan.

Words fail to describe Zeno Clash. "First person Double Dragon as a Source engine game" doesn't quite cut it. "Playable episode of Xavier: Renegade Angel" doesn't quite cut it either. Whatever it is, there's nothing else like it, and I kinda freakin' love it.

It feels like the kind of game my future self traveled back in time to make specifically for me to be dumbstruck by. Though that might also have had to do with me being hammered for the last hour of the game... which is also the last third of the game. It's a short game.

Um, maybe you should check this out, and just see if it grabs you. I think more people should be fans of this.

alright.. so what the fuck even is zeno clash? the campaign itself is about 3 hours long in total with a bit less than 20 levels overall, with each level either having a boss, a standard mob humanoid fight, or creature ganks on a set path. but thats not what really draws someone to the game.. its that art design. that sweet, sweet, weird art design. appendages will be drawn out, features will be exaggerated, and every character design becomes unique, yet cemented in its world. the settings range from legitimately boring (many of the forest areas which, there are a few) to psychedelic and otherworldly (the best examples of this are metamoq's tutorial areas and the desert area). but none of this really matters if the gameplay doesnt hold up, and it really doesnt. dodging is clunky and i never truly got the hang of it - having blocking and dodging on the same button makes kiting needlessly difficult. and trust me, kiting is definitely something you'll want to do here, because the other main gameplay feature zeno clash boasts is its gunplay, which definitely feels better, but could honestly be construed as very much overpowered. there were multiple levels where i could easily kite every enemy out with ranged weapons. it didnt work always because the enemies can become surprisingly fast, but its much more reliable than hand-to-hand combat. it felt like whenever i used hand-to-hand successfully i was exploiting the system rather than using is well, like kicking enemies you knock down with a strong punch 5-6 times or getting large enemies to repeat attacks so you can finish them off without any trouble. it just doesnt offer enough depth in its combat nor its enemy types to warrant its extremely short campaign which, because it shows off the world and art design, is the better part of the game. there are challenge modes to my knowledge but i had a decently rotten time with the combat so i dont really know why i should check it out... its a unique game to be sure. definitely get it when it's super cheap because there are a few things that are legitimately super creative. but unfortunately, its simply not very good

Released at the height of the modern military era of FPS games, Ace Team's debut game brought something unique to the table. Not a groundbreaking genre-defining game, but a damn good job for a first title.

With a massive display of creativity, Zeno Clash is a short but satisfying first-person brawler experience, one of many key indie games that proved the movement's worth. A unique trip through a bizarre world.

[Full review at https://bluedemonarchive.blogspot.com/2021/07/zeno-clash.html ]

Combat isn't perfect but the source engine provides good weight and physics. At least has unique ideas to keep it enjoyable and the setpieces extract about all they can from the gameplay.
The real star of the show however is the extremely vibrant and inspired setting. One of the most otherworldly fictional universes outside of Japan and you're left craving more while simultaneously feeling like you've seen a good amount of it over the short runtime.
Story pacing is a bit crap but has an interesting writing style with some cool-looking cryptic characters. There is beauty in how deliberately ugly everyone looks.
A must-play for everyone at least once.
Daedra is an underrated video game lady.

The most deadly weapon in the game, by far is a camera, as if you have any problem with motion sickness when playing games it can actually hurt you.

I really liked the world it's presenting and it was the main thing pushing me forward.

The gameplay however is pretty bad.

Cuando salió este título, me sorprendió la jugabilidad que tenía. Hoy, en pleno 2024, me sigue gustando. La historia es muy simple, muy loca, cuál viaje de ácido en fiesta hippie, pero funciona. El mundo es una locura de lo extraño que es, pero funciona.
Disfruté mucho de ésta entrega, el tiempo necesario de juego ya que no es muy largo. Tiene modo desafío si quieres ampliar un poco más la jugabilidad del juego.
Lo que si le puedo criticar, es que por momentos (Especialmente la parte de tiro o del bote), se hace un poco lento.
Pero un buen juego realizado en un estudio chileno del cuál disfrutar, y por lo que vi, no mucha gente conoce.

Well, that was a unique experience. The melee combat is fairly entertaining and the gun combat is serviceable. The narrative is interesting enough to keep attention, but not spectacular.

The atmosphere is amazing, though. Insane character designs and motivations, bizarre dialogue and music, strange landscapes. I absolutely love the acid trip this game provides.

Zeno Clash took about 3.5 hours playing on normal difficulty -- a bit short, but appropriate for what the game offers. I could easily see it growing stale as a 10-15 hour game, but, luckily, it was paced out well.