Zanki Zero: Last Beginning

***Zanki Zero*** (ザンキゼロ, *Zanki Zero*?, lit. Remaining Lives Zero), subtitled ***Zanki Zero: Last Beginning*** outside of Japan, is an survival dungeon-crawling RPG developed and published by Spike Chunsoft. It was released in Japan on July 5th, 2018. An English localization had been announced by Spike Chunsoft's English subsidiary, and was released on PS4 & Steam on April 9th, 2019.

## Official Summary

God created the world in seven days. It only took one day for humans to destroy the world. Life as we knew it sank to the depths of the sea...until yesterday. We do not yet know the broken world and the reasons left behind there. An earth where ruins drift about. Buildings, houses, light posts. Cars, traffic lights, asphalt... Modern civilization was destroyed, becoming nothing more than debris wading in the sea. New ruins drift one after the other before the protagonist, who lives on one of those decaying islands.

## Gameplay

The game is set on an abandoned post-apocalyptic island named Garage Island which is inhabited by 8 survivors, each a clone with a 13-day life cycle. Each clone is based around the seven deadly sins of Christianity, with the eighth clone based on the original sin. The clones very quickly age and then die, only to be reborn again each time through the use of a device called the Extend Device. No character is the singular protagonist; instead the story focuses on a different character each chapter, and the island's ruins will differ depending on which character is that chapter's protagonist in order to learn more about their past. Depending on the age of the character at any given time, they will have certain strengths and weaknesses: child characters have more stamina, but low strength, for example. Each clone has a "Cross-Key" embedded in their stomach, which stores their memories, appearance, and experiences and allows them to be reborn as the same person they were when they died.

Gameplay and combat are real-time and effected by all actions, both active (battling) and inactive (sleeping), with a seamless transition (no loading screens) between field exploration and battle sequences. The main enemies are animals which have adapted to survive in the post-apocalyptic environment, and "creatures" which have the appearance of humans but are in fact monsters who reflect the "shadow of what humanity once was". Missions and guidance are given via an old TV in a garage on the island which only plays one show - an old anime series called Extend TV hosted by a sheep named Mirai and a boy named Sho Terashima.

The game involves survival, resource gathering and amenity building mechanics, collecting materials and food from downed enemies in order to create buildings, equipment, and other objects to improve the survivors' quality of life. There are many ways in which the characters can die, not only in combat, for example hunger, thirst, not going to the bathroom, or even allergic reactions. Building improved amenities will allow characters to remain healthy for longer. How the character dies gives the character certain bonuses in their next cycle, offering the opportunity to experiment with different death scenarios in order to create a strong character.

### Trophies & Achievements

*Main article: Zanki Zero: Last Beginning/Trophies*
The PlayStation 4 and PS Vita versions of *Zanki Zero: Last Beginning* each have 38 trophies: 16 bronze, 18 silver, 3 gold, and 1 platinum trophy for collecting every other trophy. 21 of the trophies are hidden by default.

## Development History

    The game concept was first conceived by Takayuki Sugawara after the release of the first *Danganronpa* game, *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc* in 2010, for which Sugawara had designed the major in-game mechanics. Sugawara approached Spike Chunsoft producer and fellow *Danganronpa* developer Yoshinori Terasawa with his concept, and Terasawa was very interested in producing the game, but the first *Danganronpa* game quickly turned into a franchise spanning several games, and became the main focus of the development team, including both Sugawara and Terasawa, subsequently delaying the development of Zanki Zero for several years.

The game was first announced on April 25th, 2017 and was exclusively covered in the April 27th, 2017 edition of Famitsu magazine, who also released the first two ingame images in their website showcasing the 3D environmental art and dialogue UI. In the magazine, Sugawara and Terasawa presented the game as "completely different from the *Danganronpa* series, but similarly offering surprises". The game's title is stylized in Japanese Katakana as ザンキゼロ, but would be written in Kanji as 残機ゼロ (lit. *Remaining Lives: Zero*). At the time of printing, it was explained that the game's development was approximately 10% complete, which had progressed to around 60% complete by November 2017.

### English Localization

The game was officially announced for Western release by Spike Chunsoft's English language subsidiary on March 23rd, 2018 at the Game Developers Conference 2018 held in San Francisco, California, and the game featured in an online presentation for the company's latest announcements that same day where the first English trailer was officially launched. The presentation featured Terasawa as a special guest, who gave a short presentation providing a translated version of the Famitsu article about the game which had been released a few days prior. It was announced that the game would be available for PS4 in the West, (but not on PS Vita like the Japanese release), and available on Steam for PC worldwide. It was also revealed that the localized version of the game would offer both English and Japanese voice options. Subsequent to this announcement, attendees of the conference were able to play a demo build of the game.

On July 7th, 2018, Spike Chunsoft ran a panel at Anime Expo 2018 in Los Angeles, California in which Sugawara and Terasawa expanded upon the previous presentation with further information which had previously only been released in Japanese gaming publications. The panel also debuted an English subtitled version of the character trailer and confirmed the release window for the English localization would be Spring 2019. On December 12th, 2018 Spike Chunsoft's English division held a livestream in which the English voice cast were announced and the release date was preliminarily finalized as March 19th, 2019.

#### Localization Changes

On February 28th, 2019 it was announced that the release date for the English release would be pushed back to pushed back to April 9th, 2019. The announcement came as a result of a strict censorship policy change at Sony which began in December 2018 "regarding the balance of the freedom of expression and safety for children", which forced many developers to censor any game featuring adult themes. Spike Chunsoft's English division published a blog post detailing a number of changes that would be made to the English release "to comply with the Western market" and ensure the game could be released on a Sony platform.

Among the changes included in the announcement, which were largely quality of life changes which were implemented in post-release patches for the Japanese release, were a list of censorship changes that would be implemented in both the PS4 and Steam releases. They included several edits to censor Sachika - who could be interpreted as appearing underage - showing her underwear in a number of scenes, as well as the total removal of the child versions of the bedtime scenes which featured the child-aged characters in their underwear in provocative poses, and an adjustment to a CG featuring child-aged Rinko to cover her chest. Additionally, they noted a minor edit to the box art increasing the coverage of Yuma's bathing suit "to conform to public storefront display standards".

## Releases

### Demo

    On July 30th, 2018 *Zanki Zero Trial Version* (ザンキゼロ　体験版) was released for free on the Japanese PlayStation Store for both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. The demo allowed players to complete up to Chapter 2 of the main game with all features intact with the exception of there being limitations on how much character relationships can be raised by having them share a room on the island. Save date from the demo can be transferred over to the main game on both systems.

### PlayStation Consoles

In Japan, the game released on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita consoles on July 5th, 2018. On PlayStation 4 it has an RRP of 7200¥ and on PlayStation Vita consoles an RRP of 6800¥. The game was released in both standard edition and a limited "Extend Edition" (エクステンド-EDITION-) on both consoles. The Extend Edition version includes the base game, a 50-track digital soundtrack, swimsuit DLC for the in-game character models, and an avatar set. PlayStation store digital pre-orders of both the standard and limited editions include an exclusive Extend-TV PlayStation menu theme and a "survival item set" in-game item DLC code. 22 other physical and online retailers also had their own pre-order incentives including clearfiles, can badges, posters, and in-game item packs

Outside of Japan, the English localization was released on PlayStation 4 consoles on April 9th, 2019 with an RRP of $59.99. The base game included the Swimsuit DLC pack and dual Japanese and English audio options. The Day One Edition, available to pre-order customers, included a physical copy of the *Zanki Zero: Last Beginning Survival Soundtrack* CD.

### Steam for PC

*Zanki Zero* was released worldwide on Steam for PC on April 9th, 2019 with an RRP of $59.99. The base game included the Swimsuit DLC pack, dual Japanese and English audio, subtitle, and UI options, and Steam trading cards available. Preorder customers also received a digital copy of the *Zanki Zero: Last Beginning Survival Soundtrack* CD.

### Downloadable Content

In Japan, a set of swimsuit costume DLC (『ザンキゼロ』水着DLC配信概要) was released on July 5th, 2018 which allows the player to dress each character model in swimsuits throughout the story. The full set of 8 is available on the PlayStation Store for 1,620 Yen, or individual characters can be purchased for 270 Yen (male characters) or 324 Yen (female characters) respectively.

In Japan, the DLC was given for free to customers who purchased the Extend Edition of the game. The DLC was also included for free as part of the base game in the English localization release.

Zen KubotaRyo MikajimeHaruto HigurashiMamoru IchiyoYuma MashiroSachika HirasakaRinko SusukinoMinami Setouchi
## Reception

In Japan, the game sold over 25,000 physical copies in its first week over the two consoles, and was the 3rd (PS4) and 6th (PS Vita) most popular game overall. Digitally, the game ranked #2 on the Japan PlayStation Store's PS Vita sales chart within the first 3 days of release, rising to #1 on the chart by the following week.

### Critical Reception

In Japan, the four reviewers of *Weekly Famitsu* magazine gave *Zanki Zero* scores of 9/9/8/8 out of 10, for a total of 34/40. The four reviewers of *Dengeki Playstation* magazine gave the game scores of 95/90/80/95 out of 100.

## Videos

### English

 First English Trailer: GDC 2018(March 23rd, 2018)

### Japanese

 First Trailer (Japanese)(Sept 20th, 2017)

 Game Introduction Trailer (Japanese)(June 28th, 2018)

## Trivia

* In various parts of the island the player are distinctive signs featuring a cut out of a boy who is running. The signs are based on a real world safety sign used all over Japan for many decades called 飛び出し坊や (Tobidashibōya, lit. dashing out boy) designed to warn drivers of the danger of children running into the road.

* Haruto's second Strategy Video found in Mashiro Garden Tower features the silhouette of a plush rabbit with a bow on its right ear, likely to be Monomi from the *Danganronpa* series.

## External Links

* **Spike Chunsoft Japan:** Zanki Zero Homepage (Japanese)
* **Spike Chunsoft NA:** Zanki Zero Homepage
* **Steam:** Zanki Zero: Last Beginning

## References

1. ↑ **Gematsu:** Zanki Zero launches July 5 in Japan (April 24th, 2018)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 **Steam:** Zanki Zero: Last Beginning (March 23rd, 2018)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 **Gematsu:** Zanki Zero: Last Beginning coming west for PS4, PC (March 23rd, 2018) Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "Gematsu 2" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "Gematsu 2" defined multiple times with different content
4. ↑ **Gematsu:** Zanki Zero details Haruto, Ryo, Rinko, Yuma, ruins, creatures, and more (May 28th, 2018)
5. ↑ **Game Watch:** どこまでもこだわるスタッフ達の想いを形にしたい。寺澤プロデューサーが紹介する新作RPG「ザンキゼロ」 (March 24th, 2018)
6. ↑ **Famitsu:** 寺澤善徳氏×菅原隆行氏が放つ“ノンストップ残機サバイバルRPG”！ PS4＆PS Vita『ザンキゼロ』発売決定 (April 25th, 2017)
7. ↑ **Famitsu:** 『ダンガンロンパ』シリーズの開発スタッフが制作に携わっている新作RPG『ザンキゼロ』 (April 25th, 2017)
8. ↑ **Gematsu:** Spike Chunsoft announces survival RPG Zanki Zero for PS4, PS Vita (April 25th, 2017)
9. ↑ **Niche Gamer:** Sony Japan President: New Censorship Policies on Sexual Themes are to "Meet Global Standards" (December 2nd, 2018)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 **Niche Gamer:** Zanki Zero: Last Beginning Localized Release Changes (February 28th, 2019)
11. ↑ **PlayStation Store Japan:** ザンキゼロ　体験版 (PS4) (July 30th, 2018)
12. ↑ **PlayStation Store Japan:** ザンキゼロ　体験版 (PS Vita) (July 30th, 2018)
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 **Ryokuta2089:** 『ザンキゼロ』キャスト&発売日決定 (April 24th, 2018)
14. ↑ **PlayStation Store (JP):** 【予約】ザンキゼロ エクステンド-EDITION- (May 25th, 2018)
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 **Zanki Zero Official Site:** Zanki Zero pre-order retailer benefits (May 25th, 2018) Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "Retailer Incentives" defined multiple times with different content
16. ↑ **Dengeki Online:** Weekly software sales ranking TOP 50 (Aggregation period: July 2 - 8, 2018) (July 12th, 2018)
17. ↑ **PlayStation Japan Blog:** PS Store売れ筋ゲームランキング！ (7月2日～7月8日) (July 13th, 2018)
18. ↑ **PlayStation Japan Blog:** PS Store売れ筋ゲームランキング！ (7月9日～7月15日) (July 21st, 2018)
19. ↑ **Playstation Lifestyle:** Zanki Zero: Last Beginning Gets Promising Famitsu Score (June 27th, 2018)