Anime games have never really been my go-to genre. I’ve played a few here and there over the years, but I’ve never been someone who sees the word “anime” and immediately thinks I need to play it. So when Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse landed in front of me, I genuinely wasn’t sure what to expect. Anime girls, zombies, monsters, guns and giant dragons all thrown into one game sounded completely mental, but it definitely had my attention.
Developed by Axyos Games, Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse throws you into a colourful end-of-the-world scenario where everything has completely gone to hell. Zombies and monsters are everywhere, massive dragons have joined in on the chaos, and somehow you’re expected to sort the whole thing out. You’ve got loads of weapons to mess around with, different characters to play as, outfits to unlock and four large areas to explore while taking on ridiculous amounts of enemies.
What surprised me most was just how quickly I started enjoying myself. What I expected to be something I’d play for an hour or two turned into me running around colourful environments, unloading ridiculous amounts of ammunition into anything that moved and having way more fun than I thought I would. It’s loud, colourful, completely over the top and honestly nothing like what I normally play, so the big question was whether Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse could actually turn me into more of an anime game fan.
HOT BABES AND THE APOCALYPSE
The story of Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse isn’t particularly complicated. The world is basically screwed, zombies and monsters have taken over, survivors are scattered across the different areas and huge dragons have apparently decided they own the place now. Your job is to work your way through each location, complete different missions, gather resources and help the people who have somehow managed to survive everything going on around them.
One thing that did surprise me was how little the game actually tells you about what caused the apocalypse. There isn’t some massive opening sequence explaining exactly where the monsters came from or why the world suddenly became infested with them. You’re pretty much dropped straight into the middle of everything and expected to get on with it. What you do know is that the dragons are a serious threat, and eventually you’re going to have to deal with them if you want to make any real progress.
One of the main parts of your journey involves rescuing another survivor. To reach them, you need to complete different objectives around the map and collect sections of a code that eventually gives you access to where they’re being held. Once you finally save them, they become another playable character, meaning you can switch over to them, customise their appearance and continue playing as them.
I actually liked that idea because rescuing someone gives you something more worthwhile than simply ticking another mission off the list. My biggest issue is that I wanted more story surrounding everything that was happening. You’ve got an apocalypse, mysterious monsters, survivors, giant dragons and loads of room for some weird lore, but the game never really digs deeply into any of it. I wanted to know what happened, where everything came from and why the world ended up like this. The story gives you enough reason to keep moving forward, but the gameplay is definitely where most of the fun comes from.
FROM ZOMBIES WITH LOVE
This is where Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse really started winning me over. The game is played from a third-person perspective, and most of your time is spent exploring each map, completing different objectives and absolutely unloading into huge groups of enemies. The controls are easy to pick up, movement feels smooth and the combat doesn’t try to overcomplicate things with loads of different systems you need to memorise before you can actually start enjoying yourself.
There are both main missions and side missions scattered around each location, so you’re rarely just wandering around without anything to do. Some side missions will have you collecting toys, while others might give you a time limit and ask you to kill a certain number of enemies before the clock runs out. Successfully completing them can reward you with containers containing new weapons, so there’s actually a reason to go out of your way and complete them rather than simply heading straight towards the main objective.
The main missions work in a similar way but are tied directly into your progression through the area. Completing certain objectives rewards you with sections of the code you need to eventually reach the survivor you’re trying to rescue. Thankfully, the game also gives you an in-game map that keeps track of your objectives and points you towards where you need to go, which becomes pretty useful considering how large some of the environments can be.
You can choose between Easy, Normal and Hard, so there’s some flexibility depending on how much punishment you want the apocalypse to throw at you. If you mainly want to run around and enjoy blasting things apart, you can stick it on an easier difficulty, but if you want the enemies to put up more of a fight, you can make things tougher. There’s also a Survival Mode, which throws continuous waves of enemies at you and basically sees how long you can last before everything becomes too much, while Free Roam lets you explore the environments without worrying about constantly completing objectives.
Weapons and Upgrades
Now we get to one of my favourite parts: the weapons. There’s actually a pretty decent selection to get your hands on, including SMGs, automatic rifles, dual pistols and plenty of other ranged options. If shooting everything somehow starts getting boring, you can get a bit more personal and use melee weapons instead, with things like baseball bats and chainsaws available if you fancy introducing a zombie to something slightly more painful.
One thing I absolutely loved was the fact that you have unlimited ammunition. Thank you! I don’t need realism here. I’m playing as an anime girl fighting zombies, monsters and massive dragons, so the last thing I want to be doing is hiding behind a bin because I’ve fired my last bullet. Unlimited ammo keeps the action moving and lets you concentrate on actually fighting rather than constantly searching the map for another magazine.
Killing enemies and completing objectives also earns you money, which can then be spent at two different shops. The weapon shop lets you buy new firepower, while the upgrade shop offers things such as increased health, explosive ammunition and freezing rounds. These become much more useful once the game starts throwing larger groups of enemies at you, and there’s something extremely satisfying about using explosive rounds when you’ve got a huge crowd of zombies heading straight towards you.
Exploration
There are four main areas to explore: a city, farm, movie set and tropical island. I liked the variety between them because they don’t simply feel like the same location with a slightly different background. The city gives you that more traditional apocalypse feeling, while the farm opens things up considerably. The movie set changes things again, and then eventually you reach the tropical island, because apparently even paradise isn’t safe when the world has gone to hell.
Each area has different objectives, resources and things to find while you’re exploring, but one thing I definitely wasn’t expecting was maths. Yes, maths. Some sections require you to complete number-based challenges to work out codes needed for progression, so one minute you’re running around with an automatic rifle surrounded by zombies and the next the game suddenly expects you to use your brain. Cheers for that.
You’ll also find large coloured balloons scattered around the maps, and these are always worth checking whenever you spot one. Depending on the colour, they can contain cash, upgrades, health packs and even an Insta-kill power-up. When you’ve got a huge group of enemies running towards you, finding one of those Insta-kills can become your new best friend very quickly.
Character Customisation
There’s also a surprising amount of character customisation available. Throughout the game, you’ll earn money that can eventually be used to unlock different outfits and cosmetic items for your characters. There’s a decent mixture to choose from, including more traditional survivor-style clothing, battle gear, ninja-inspired outfits and futuristic cyberpunk-looking gear.
You can also change hairstyles, accessories and other parts of your character, and once you rescue another survivor, you can start customising them as well. None of this makes you suddenly stronger or changes how the game actually plays, but I enjoyed having the option. If I’m going to spend several hours wiping out thousands of zombies, I might as well look good while doing it.
guns and buns
Visually, Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse uses a bright, colourful, cartoon-like aesthetic mixed with polygonal environments, which is quite an unusual choice considering you’re running around in the middle of an apocalypse. Instead of everything being dark, miserable and covered in fifty different shades of grey, the game stays vibrant and colourful, which actually helps it stand out.
The four main environments have enough differences between them to keep things interesting, and the characters themselves are heavily anime-inspired with exaggerated designs and plenty of customisation available. I also liked the variety in the enemies because you go from dealing with relatively standard zombies to much larger monsters before eventually coming face-to-face with enormous dragons towering over everything.
It’s weird, colourful and sometimes completely ridiculous, but I think that’s a big part of the charm. The game clearly isn’t trying to look realistic, and I honestly think it would have lost some of its personality if it did. The bright aesthetic mixed with all the violence happening on screen gives Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse its own strange identity.
anime ftw!
The soundtrack was probably my favourite part of the audio. It fits the game really well and keeps the energy going when you’ve got large groups of enemies appearing from different directions. It’s upbeat enough to complement the action without becoming annoying, and considering how much time you’ll spend shooting things, having music that doesn’t get on your nerves is definitely a good thing.
When it comes to the rest of the sound design, things are a little more basic. You’ve got the usual zombie moans, gunfire, explosions and combat noises, and honestly, that’s mostly what you’re going to hear while playing. The biggest problem for me was the voice acting, which is completely generated using AI technology. Because of that, I found it quite difficult to properly connect with the characters, as some of the delivery simply didn’t sound natural.
There were moments during cutscenes where, instead of getting invested in what somebody was saying, I found myself more interested in getting back to the gameplay. For me, the soundtrack definitely carries the audio side of the experience and is far more memorable than the voices or general effects.
anime girls do it better
I genuinely didn’t expect to enjoy Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse as much as I did. I went into it expecting to play for a little while, get enough time with it to form an opinion and probably move on, but a few hours later I’d managed to unlock every available trophy while spending most of that time shooting my way through thousands of enemies.
The actual idea is pretty simple when you break it down. You pick a character, grab a weapon, complete objectives, kill loads of enemies and repeat, but there’s something strangely satisfying about the whole thing. Maybe it’s the unlimited ammo, maybe it’s the ridiculous number of enemies being thrown at you, or maybe I’ve just discovered that anime girls with automatic rifles fighting giant dragons is apparently something I needed in my life.
There are definitely things I would change. The biggest one is the length, because I would have loved more areas, more missions and more reasons to keep going once I’d finished everything. The story also feels like a missed opportunity. There’s an entire apocalypse happening here, but you barely learn anything about what caused it, where the monsters came from or why huge dragons are suddenly involved. There’s a lot of room to build on what’s already here.
Multiplayer would also suit this game incredibly well. Running around these maps with a friend while both of you are armed to the teeth and hundreds of zombies are coming after you sounds like exactly the sort of chaos this game needs. Hopefully that’s something we might see one day because I think co-op could make the experience even more entertaining.
Even with those issues, Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse genuinely surprised me. It’s not the type of game I’d normally rush out to play, but sometimes stepping outside your usual comfort zone ends up giving you something you didn’t know you’d enjoy. I came into this expecting something I’d probably play once and instead got colourful environments, loads of weapons, zombies, monsters, dragons, ridiculous outfits, unlimited ammunition and far more fun than I expected.
Is it perfect? Definitely not. Could it use more content and a stronger story? Absolutely. But did I have fun playing it? Without a doubt. Sometimes you don’t need a massive emotional adventure or an incredibly complicated storyline. Sometimes you just need an anime girl, a massive gun and several thousand zombies standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.
A key for Anime vs. Evil Apocalypse was provided for review purposes.
Positives
✅ Easy to Pick Up – The controls are straightforward, the combat is simple to understand and it doesn’t take long before you’re running around comfortably blasting enemies.
✅ Plenty of Weapons – SMGs, rifles, dual pistols, chainsaws and more give you a decent amount of choice in how you want to deal with the hordes.
✅ Unlimited Ammo – Keeping ammunition unlimited means the action never really slows down and you can focus on shooting rather than constantly searching for bullets.
✅ Good Map Variety – The city, farm, movie set and tropical island all help stop the game from feeling like you’re constantly running through the same environment.
✅ Loads of Customisation – There are plenty of outfits, hairstyles and accessories to unlock, giving you lots of ways to change how your characters look.
✅ Fun Side Content – Side missions, Survival Mode, Free Roam and the different upgrades give you more to do outside of simply following the main objective.
✅ Strong Soundtrack – The music fits the fast-paced action well and was easily one of the strongest parts of the audio.
✅ Surprisingly Fun – It ended up being much more enjoyable than expected, especially if you just want something simple and chaotic to jump into.
Negatives
❌ Story Feels Underdeveloped – The apocalypse, monsters and dragons give the game an interesting setup, but there isn’t enough explanation or background surrounding what actually happened.
❌ Quite Short – There’s enough here for a fun few hours, but it could definitely have benefited from more areas, missions and overall content.
❌ AI Voice Acting – The AI-generated voices can make some of the characters feel disconnected and make it harder to get invested in the cutscenes.
❌ Limited Accessibility – There’s no button remapping or alternative control layouts, which could be a problem for some players.
❌ Basic Sound Effects – Outside of the soundtrack, the zombie noises, gunfire and general combat audio don’t really stand out.
❌ No Multiplayer – The gameplay feels like it would suit co-op incredibly well, so the lack of multiplayer feels like a missed opportunity.
Co-owner of Indie Critical. I’m passionate about highlighting independent voices in film, games, and culture. I focus on honest, thoughtful reviews and love helping great indie projects get the recognition they deserve. When I’m not writing or editing, I’m probably diving into the latest hidden gem or discovering the next big thing in the indie scene.
Written by
Lewis Langton
