The best zombie games know that, sometimes, it’s just fun to squad up with some buddies and gun down some zombies, and it’s that core premise of the genre that a new zombie co-op game leans into heavily. Available completely free of charge on Steam, it’s noteworthy that this free game has launched to Mostly Positive reviews via Steam’s review rating system (with a good volume of user reviews to boot, too).
Of course, as a free-to-play game on Steam, it’s worth mentioning that this new title has to make money somehow, but at least as of this writing, its monetization does not appear to be overly aggressive. Developer Raptor Byte has said it wants to be as consumer-friendly as possible, with the plan being to release paid DLC for the game. One is already available that adds cosmetics, new gun sights, and the iconic Spas 12 shotgun, so some content will be locked behind a paywall.
Codename Cure 2 Launches to Mostly Positive Reviews on Steam
Check Out Codename Cure 2 on Steam
Released on July 24 and having amassed over 600 user reviews in that time, Codename Cure 2 is a free-to-play co-op zombie first-person shooter game (trying saying that as a zombie). Up to 5 players squad up and are simply tasked with surviving an endless horde of undead, complete with procedurally generated maps so every run is a little different. Between these deployments, players return to Cure HQ to customize their soldier, unlock new weapons, equip cosmetics, and prepare for new ops. It’s a clear-cut zombie game formula, but it works if it’s fun, and most players say it is fun.
Find the odd one out before the timer hits zero.
With over 600 reviews, Codename Cure 2 currently sits at a 79% Mostly Positive review rating on Steam, which is a solid launch for a free indie game on Steam. Many reviews highlight its co-op elements, its procedural mission design, and the amount of progression packed into the otherwise smaller game experience, but there’s room to grow: visuals can be rough, lighting can be inconsistent, and there’s a need for more maps, enemies, and general content for the long-term. One review called it better than Killing Floor 3. Perhaps one of the biggest issues right now is how quickly players have noticed that every mission, however procedural it may be, ends with a short timer, a horde of zombies, and an extraction, giving mission endings a samesy feel.
When one of the critiques for a new video game is that players want more, that’s a pretty good and fair critique, but it’s uncertain how much of that will be paid premium DLC for monetization vs. core updates to Codename Cure 2. Per a dev update, fans can expect the following to be “mostly” free with some paid DLC mixed in: more weapons and sidearms for each class, a new game mode, 1-2 new maps, a new region for Bomb Extraction, new weapon skins, a ping/quick chat system, more customization options, and other quality of life tweaks.
Having a solid launch is, of course, one major hurdle for any video game, but that’s especially true for the number of game releases on Steam every day. There are so many released on the storefront every single day that games like Codename Cure 2 can fall to the wayside. As such, fans hopefully stick around for the coming updates.