The [IN]Complete Story of Zoochosis: Rescue the Animals

[@minorinrin56487]

I gotta be honest, this game would've been so much better if they did something like FNAF and made us work multiple night shifts while slowly uncovering the lore.

[@yeedog6145]

I think one of the biggest red flags for this game that I saw on a video today was the protagonist making the *comically* stupid decision of giving his wife the meat. It's genuinely so stuipid. Who in the right mind steals ambiguous *zoo meat* intended for the animals from the shady company that *just* hired you, with the intent of having your kids eat it when your like one paycheck away from not being in poverty. I'm honestly surprised that guy even graduated middle school with that brain of his.

[@fabiocandelori9163]

​@EeveelutionStorm Yeah, honestly, considering in one of the trailers one of the parasites bursts out of a meat brick, I really thought that the choice would have had a consequence, like, if you give the wife the meat she and the girls would have then been infected, but no, apparently it changes only a little detail in one of the endings.

[@Biklingchan85]

I thought the same thing, but more because, animal-grade food is NOT the same as human-grade food. There aren't as many sanitation requirements when making food for animals, as I understand it. That's just a recipe for getting your family sick.

[@rocbenaa1963]

​@EeveelutionStormAgree.

[@KingRidley]

You're*

[@Taste-k7q]

I thought that was stupid too, why would you feed your wife food from a *zoo* with the purpose for feeding *animals*

[@phantomcat7990]

The whole ‘giving meat to the wife and daughter’ thing feels like it was supposed to be a bigger plot point than it ended up being. Although they’re unreliable, the trailers show a scene where a parasite is crawling out of a meat brick, and in the lab as well we see a photo of a mutated human. It feels like the wife and kid were supposed to get mutated. This also gives Paul more motivation and leads to more endings that do not involve saving Sarah. Paul has already proven that he doesn’t really care about keeping his hands clean, a la “I can grind a few bodies.” He just cares about his family, but I imagine he would also want to be there with them. So, why does he constantly risk his life to save the animals? His job description never involved the mutants, why bother with the animals once one mutates? If he found out his family is now at risk of being mutated, he would then be motivated to find a cure and stop the mother. Especially since he tells Doc that he gave it to them, and Doc’s “You did _what?”_ would now be in a new context. He could then go out and hunt down your family, giving you more options like whether or not to warn them. During his search for the cure he could also naturally bond with the animals, allowing him to feel something when one mutates or dies. It’s just, that part in particular feels like it was supposed to be more than just “uh oh I made my family commit cannibalism” because really, Paul doesn’t seem the type to even care about that so long as they’re fed.

[@mid1429]

am I the only one who felt this game could’ve benefited from an infinite survival mode where you just try to keep the animals alive as long as possible and occasionally illnesses show up that you have to treat or risk mutation in yourself as well as the animals this game feels rushed

[@BigBossMan538]

You mean a top down sim game like Zoo Tycoon or Planet Zoo, but with horror elements?

[@ChristianDiaz-dy9yh]

Genuinely thought this was part of the game when i saw the gameplay style

[@TherealSoggyCan]

The Screenwriter died, you can see it during the credits, it was launched early. I wish the devs can recover

[@Jan-jc4rx]

RIP. They should have delayed and hired someone else.

[@dudejoe24]

funny you say that because they did delayed the game actually and this is still the end result we had

[@e-_mcv4566]

they probably wanted to keep the story the exact same out of respect for the screenwriter instead of letting someone else change it up then putting their name on it

[@KnightsGone]

I still don't see how that affects the actual quality of the game, of course they had to delay it because of that whole death.

[@Taste-k7q]

With one of the trailers showing spiders flooding Australia on a television the character was watching, I thought perhaps some Australian spiders snuck into the zoo since they claim to house “rare specimens” and the spiders turn the animals into twisted (and much less ridiculous looking) monstrosities and it would be a metaphor for invasive species and how they can affect other creatures. I think that sounds more interesting then yet another evil guy performing experiments and making Frankenstein esc monsters, it’s not like we’ve seen that over and over again.

[@amoose1709]

Amazing Idea, asthetics and design, meh story, bad gameplay. I really hope the devs are not deterred at pursuing ideas like this, If they executed it a bit better this would've been cool asf.

[@wubsuf]

i had fun while playing it. it just needs some updates to polish things out.

[@Z3r0_L1f3]

As flawed as the story is the main script writer had passed away during production. It is pretty saddening as that man had passed and the game was a really good concept. I hope they make either an update or DLC that fixes a lot of the story

[@rahnal21]

I think I may have slipped into alternate universe yesterday(or had a weird dream) because around that morning, I coulda sworn I saw videos in my recommended saying the game was actually good and stuff. Too bad. Edit: I actually like some of the mutant designs like the Moose, Giraffe and Penguin. The elephant, gorilla are decent, with the hippo being a bit plain. The wallaby was good in concept but too mascot horror esque and the Zebra is painful to think about.

[@BigBossMan538]

I see your point about the wallaby. It’s a bit too “normal” imo. Why does it have two mouths anyway? What if the head or jaw fell off and the pouch mouth was the only mouth? Something like that

[@rahnal21]

@@BigBossMan538 What I meant by the wallaby being too “mascot horror esque” is that it’s too goofy looking, with the face and body being too round. As someone who doesn’t play horror games at all, the main thing care for is the aesthetics of the monsters and with mascot horror in general, so many look too goofy for me to find cool at all (ex: Rainbow Friends, Garten of BanBan, Zoonomaly ignoring the chimps too an extent, Poppy Playtime but specifically the smiling critters with their dumb smiles)

[@BigBossMan538]

@@rahnal21Ah okay I understand. Yeah, I respect that. I used to find the wallaby chilling and creepy, but now it’s probably my least favorite mutant. My favorite goes to either the giraffe or the elephant

[@Freesliterature]

I got stupid lucky, no crashes, no soft locks. I really liked the game but holy shit this game has a lot of issues

[@thecrabbycrab5661]

Was really bummbed about it being bad i was so excited for this game it looked so so so cool

[@Angelica-sq9lh]

I felt the same man... feels bad

[@TherealSoggyCan]

The screenwriter died, so it was released early

[@TheRiolumon]

@@TherealSoggyCanscreenwriters are the backbone of stories especially for video games. A good example of what genres suffered from loss of screen writers is spider man into the dark and food fight. While yes it was a bit more complex than a loss of a screenwriter. It is still a major blow to a project if the story script writer ends up being lost.

[@KingRidley]

Bummed*

[@CooISkeleton96]

This game has a lot of potential, I’d love to see it remade/fixed but with the screen writer dying and the people who made it being demoralized I kinda doubt this will happen. I guess zoochosis goes into the “could’ve been great” category of games

[@silverbullet7691]

I hope they see these reviews and do some corrective patches to fix up the issues in game.

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

While I can forgive the developers considering that this is a beta and that one of the writers passed away during the 10 year long production I can't deny that the game wasn't what it was shown to be They should have made the zoo one large continuous area instead of putting so many load screens in between as well as fixing the pacing of the game seriously this game goes for like half an hour just being a boring menial task sim and suddenly shoves you into a boss fight with little to no preparation and keeps this loop non stop that makes the tasks unfulfiling since you don't have time to form a bond with the animals before they turn into crazy monsters If they just made the game loop more enjoyable, let you form relationships with the animals and put more time between plot points, maybe have it so the husband is desperate for a job because his kid is suffering from some sort of anemia and needs a specific treatment but the manager explains that he won't give the money upfront but he might give him an early pay check by the end of the week if he does a good job and also explain that the food they give to the animals is top shelf quality that's even better than some store bought stuff to justify the stealing as well as having husband give away the meat for 3 days before the reveal That as well as some other stuff would vastly improve the game

[@mgedecim8tors]

@@airplanes_aren.t_real agreed, more unique zoo keeping elements per area rather than repetition.

[@LiterallyStuart]

It's not a beta, this is a fully priced, release build.

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

@@LiterallyStuart oh wow, I thought it was a beta because the youtubers talking about it said they were given codes to access the game

[@LiterallyStuart]

@@airplanes_aren.t_real KZbinrs were given codes a couple days early to play the game so that they could release videos on launch day

[@EltonWitkacy]

While playing it for like first 3 hours, I restated the game 2 Times beacuse I didnt know how to actually Save animals, I had to do trail and error type of gameplay to figure out how to actually kill/cure the mutant, Just like you said, pacing was Simply bad

[@illgeteverythingback]

im so proud of how far youve come on this channel, i was an avid watcher of your strive vids and im glad you got away from that space, this is peak

[@mgedecim8tors]

@@illgeteverythingback that actually warmed my heart, it’s relieves me that some stuck around since the change.

[@gooeygaster30]

the designs seem so cool but the voice acting is so bland and the characters just kinda stand there like 🧍🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️

[@sergioterenzi8236]

Honestly, it feels like this company was initially just another dumb mascot horror company with no personality whatsoever, but then, out of nowhere, this one guy (the screenwriter whose name i don't remeber sorry) arrived, and this one guy was easily the smartest one in the studio and completely revamped everything, coming up with an extremely cool and unique idea, but then after his death, the game was just finished poorly and like their first mascot horror game, it pretty much had no personality, hence why the beginning is all things considered pretty great and then it just completely falls apart, (at least the screenwriter died thinking his game was a masterpiece)... but hey... THAT'S JUST A THEORY Also... is it legal to show a naked woman getting... well you know what i mean... couldn't you just use a sacked body like it was shown in the trailer from the very beginning?

[@tarlaihope]

Apparently after he died they launched the game early, they literally tried to rush the game after the screenwriter death. They could have just taken more time and I'm sure it would have been good enough to be enjoyable for some.

[@mat20_]

five nights at Philly zoo

[@oliyes406]

Five Nights at Cincinnati Zoo 2: Return of Harambe

[@claran3616]

TO BE CLEAR: I head parts of this game were so rushed because one of the devs was literally dying. He has a dedication in the credits as well I think. It sucks that a concept this cool got cut off so badly, but I think that’s a decent reason?

[@kingleonidas2182]

I kinda wanted the mutants to have animations for their transformations. The first jumpscare is fine but four times in a row kills the effect.

[@cinnamel_roll]

Love this vid, I agree with all of your points and it’s genuinely disappointing that the game didn’t turn out great like I thought it would. Also, not sure if this is your gameplay footage, but if it is, apparently the tóxicus feralis or however you spell it isn’t how you defeat the infected or cure them. Even if it’s insinuated in one of the notes. I noticed that this game doesn’t give clear instructions regarding how to kill or cure the mutated animals. From my understanding, you have to observe what the normal animals are sick from, for example, gastrointestinal infection. When one of them mutates, you scroll through the medicines and you have to make the right one. So for this example, it would have the description of, parasite mimicking gastrointestinal infection. I’m really sad they also don’t go into much detail of what you need to do for more things. For such a in-depth game gameplay wise, it doesn’t give great instructions if there is any. Plus it’s just very buggy. Every playthrough I watched there was always an animal stuck and unable to collect anything from them.

[@defaulted9485]

This game severely needs QoL. Why dont just let people carry the entire gadget wagon to the zoo instead of spending half the game walking the storage? I can get for the chem preparats and med apparatus should stay sterile but this game lacked QoL instead of spending more time doing the fun boss part. The facility is clearly raked government cash, it needs higher stakes gameplay and more shooting instead of the walking simulator part. Im a fan of body horror but really wished they didnt skip the transformation cutscene even if its CGI.

[@cup-noodle-love]

Valid criticism about the bugs and stuff but people are dogpiling on this game to a ridiculous degree. I think the idea is cool and genuine effort was put into it.

[@KnightsGone]

It being a cool idea shouldn't bar it from any criticism tbh, especially with how bad the execution was

[@kingleonidas2182]

I really hope they come back to this concept and make a better more cohesive story for it. I can ignore the bugs, but the story is just really loose.

[@the_owl5267]

sadly there are no fail states other than soft locks, you cant die and if all the animals die nothing happens

[@mgedecim8tors]

A game that tried to mix a zoo simulator with mascot horror and failed miserably.

[@aaameatballproductions4557]

What do you mean mascot horror, Who's the mascot?

[@I_Dont_Believe_In_Salad]

*Zoo simulator with horror There, i fixed it. Literally have no idea where is Mascot part coming from

[@hgmd3284]

what mascot? i think this is just a bad horror game.

[@theheroneededwillette6964]

This whole thing feels a bit rushed In Areas doesn’t it?

[@lazybengal5988]

It was released unfinished because the screenwriter died, that’s why it feels rushed because it basically was

[@dudejoe24]

which is funny because it got delayed at some point

[@exode7414]

I will say the monsters jumps caring you and not dieing isnt scary

[@JustinRuta]

I got soft locked a lot in this game as well.

[@SaikoStim]

It feels weird being one of the few people who likes the game. Like my boyfriend and I are having a good time with me playing it

[@jbktpl1245]

Yeah an extra mode or two would've been good for this game.

[@wolfywonder8480]

Honestly the idea I had of what the game would be like was way, waaaaay off. I thought you’d be like trapped in a regular zoo. Like, able to walk between enclosures and stuff, like a security guard patrolling the grounds or some random dude waking up in there. You’d probably help the animals in some way, get some info and unlock the employee only areas as you keep going while you get hints about the creepy stuff yet to come. Maybe have a small initial encounter with a mutated creature - you know, so you can properly see the transformation and all that but nothing too big or intimidating so you can kill it easily enough. Then some of the animals start acting off, and before you know it, you’re fleeing from the zoo to save yourself as the animals you cared for and bonded with turn on you against their will. I always kinda saw the giraffe as the final boss, not really sure why. But I dunno, I guess my expectations were more Prey and less realistic lol

[@Hadfield15]

Zoochosis had a lot going for it. Great designs and all that stuff. But the final product feels so lacklustre

[@mid1429]

6 hours for a full game is criminally shot

[@worstinshow]

I was excited for this as it looked like it was going to be the closest thing we were ever gonna get (at least aesthetically) to a new Parasite Eve. Then the gameplay started to come out... Needless to say, I don't think I removed something from my wishlist so quickly. The fact that the plot pont of "whoops sent my wife and kid Zoo meat without thinking about it" survived past the first draft

[@hokton8555]

tbh i found the mimic of the models hillarious

[@lokithorn9413]

6 hours? the game is 2 at best

[@the_clumsy_wizard8910]

I feel like it's one of those things where if they update the game it will be one of the better games out there. If they just leave it how it is? It will be dead in the water

[@hgmd3284]

i thought the game looked pretty good, albeit too short. and then you told me that this was made by the sparky marky guys. oh no.

[@indominuswrex9465]

This game was my biggest disappointment of 2024 bc the trailers really made me think it would be something awesome.

[@exode7414]

When KZbinrs played this I was bummed because I was hoping the game would've been longer then a hour and 30 minutes I mean the game is ok but could've been better plus there is lore that isn't answered like why and when the shut down and what company doc works for etc.

[@hgmd3284]

hey can you please elaborate on the whole "monster designs look cartoony" thing? what do you mean cartoony?

[@mgedecim8tors]

Ones like the penguin and hippo seemed slightly more believable if their bodies were torn apart and refigured, keeping my suspension of disbelief. But when I saw the kangaroo and zebra designs they just seemed kinda goofy with their smiling human teeth.

[@jacrecrux4134]

the first time i stepped in the train i got softlocked, when the train started going i went to the window to see the view, after the short loading screen i spawned inside the train wall

[@isadoraalvarez9767]

It sucks that this game is. Kinda bad. I really wanted this game to be good. But it’s unfortunately kinda bad. I feel like it could have been really good and fun if. Anything made sense. Heck if the mutants could actually kill you instead of just shouting at your face. Just. Something more you know. It’s unfortunate so few animals were included. It’s a shame the story is uh. Underwhelming. It sucks the gameplay is so boring. It’s painful how bad it is when it could have been

[@aruce9]

I wanted to like this game… like the trailers made this out as a survival horror game where you have to prevent the animals from mutating and uncovering what’s up with the animals. I don’t think I will be buying this. I feel like a different team with this premise can make a very engaging and immersive horror game but this is not it.

[@Marvelyeet]

The game has potential

[@sophitiaofhyrule]

This was made by the Sparky Marky devs!?

[@desiredsweets]

I love the look of this game, everything looks so detailed. But the voice acting is bland (kinda sounds like AI a little but I'm not accusing) There seems to be too many mechanics to keep track on too. I haven't played the game myself, but I have watched various KZbinrs play it.

[@tarlaihope]

I have seen some of the models closer in videos it is not that detailed they just use the shadow to make the model look better. There is still some good and detailed model but for example the mutant hippopotamus feels kinda like plastic when I look at it.

[@exode7414]

The mutants aren't cartoonist some of them look genuinely creepy tbh.

[@Meldrick-jv7sy]

The game was pretty meh.