Zombies of Lesbos

Action games have an easy time keeping players engaged, even if the story or the gameplay mechanics are not exactly brilliant. The simple act of killing stuff or avoiding enemy attacks is enough to distract you most of the time, provided it’s not too frustrating or too pointless. Hence, you can get away with a lot of mistakes as a developer if you know how to distract the public away from them.

Zombies of Lesbos is a 2D action game in which you have to kill zombies using songs, thanks to your magical lyre that can paralyze and damage enemies with ease. Unfortunately, the game is rather basic and rough at the moment, in the sense that almost every chapter needs work in order to be polished. However, the overall game might be worth the effort, thanks to a handful of good ideas.

In essence, it all starts when Sappho gets in trouble with Nyx, who’s jealous of his love for Aphrodite. In order to teach him a lesson, Nyx decides to invade the whole island of Lesbos with deadly zombies. Hence, Sappho must do something in order to stop the invasion and save the island, not to mention his lovely Aphrodite as well.

Your lyre has two special abilities that come in handy, namely one that damages every foe on a certain radius, as well as one that stuns the zombies for a few seconds. These abilities cost mana, on the other hand, and there’s not an infinite supply of it. Your main goal is to explore the island and collect all the scrolls, which means that running is an option as well most of the time.

Unfortunately, it’s quite obvious that the game was designed in a short period of time, because everything is very rough and difficult to handle, including the combat. Your character hits too slowly, moves too slowly, and never seems to be able to stop singing once he starts a song. This leaves you open to all kinds of attacks, and that’s pretty frustrating if it happens on a regular basis.

In the end, Zombies of Lesbos could easily be improved in the future, but at the moment it’s just too rough to be fun for more than a few minutes. Thus, if the mechanics are improved and some new ideas are added to the mix, this could evolve into something much better.