When comparing Zero-K vs Unturned, the Slant community recommends Unturned for most people. In the question“What are the best free PC games?” Unturned is ranked 25th while Zero-K is ranked 39th. The most important reason people chose Unturned is:
The game includes combat, a crafting system, a housing system, lots of items, and varied landscapes to explore. Taken together, there’s plenty to keep you busy.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Multiplayer online battles
You can create your own multiplayer battles, even password protected ones for playing with friends only.
Pro Expansive tech tree
Land, sea, and air. Choose your favorite play-style and use the appropriate tech tree. There are tanks, bots, walkers, planes, helicopters, boats, and submarines available to you.
Pro Flat tech tree
All units are available from the start of the game. There are no unit upgrades and you don't need to build certain buildings to reach the next level of unit.
Pro Awesome graphical effects
Despite it is an open source engine, the graphics are fantastic.
Pro Cross-platform game
There are versions for Linux and Windows. The easiest way to play in Linux is using Lutris platform.
Pro Plenty of things to do in-game, including combat, crafting, and exploring
The game includes combat, a crafting system, a housing system, lots of items, and varied landscapes to explore. Taken together, there’s plenty to keep you busy.
Pro Fair F2P model where no single person has a false advantage over anyone else
The game’s free-to-play model allows anyone to play free of charge; those who are willing to spend $5 get access to a separate server that grants double experience. So while it is not pay-to-win, spending some money will increase how quickly you can advance in the game.
Pro Active developer who listens to their community
Unturned is developed by Nelson Sexton. He is very active and always listens to feedback from the player community. He is constantly updating the beta; check the community hub for more info.
Pro Selection of weapons allows anyone to find something they enjoy using
The game includes a number of guns and melee weapons, giving the player plenty of choice as to how they would like to attack.
Pro Works great on low-end hardware
The game runs well on older hardware because it does not have very advanced graphics. This makes it compatible with many low spec systems.
Pro Easily mod or add custom maps through Steam Workshop
With Steam Workshop support players can create your own custom maps and mods as well as use others, thus giving the player never ending amounts of extras for the game.
Pro PvP winds up being very tense as the resources in the game are very limited
Scarce resources lead players to compete ruthlessly. This creates a scenario where it is all of nothing, show no weakness, give no benefit.
Pro Fun and intuitive crafting system allows the player to explore tons of combinations of items
The crafting system can be used to easily and intuitively make hundreds of items. Combine two sheets of metal to make a saw, combine two sticks and a nail to make an arrow. Basically you can play around and test what kind of combination make what items, which is fun in and of itself.
Pro Well made maps where each is designed with purpose
Unturned is slightly different from other open world survival games, because it doesn't use randomly generated worlds. This actually is a pro, because the existing maps are very well made, well thought out, and overall having better design choices for worlds than say, Minecraft, Terraria, or 7 Days to Die.
Cons
Con Bad visual design
Obviously this is an open soruce project so nobody expects AAA level gfx but this one looks exceptionaly bad. Some of the weapon effects are hideous to look at. Simple things like UI buttons and color scheme seem to be visually out of sync with the way unit models and the map terrrain look.
It seems like a mishmash of visual styles which is probably a result of many different contributors of varreying skill levels.
There definately are visually consistent and pelasant ot look at open source games so The visual design of the game needs to have some sort of strcut guidline or rely primarily on the taste of a single individual from the ZK team.
Con Flat balance
The economy is very close to a Total Annihilation economy (despite all the changes they introduced) but the unit balance resembles games with harder unit counters like Warcraft and Starcraft. In Blizard games, there are different ways to limit what unit type or kind you can build at any stage of the game, like tech structures which the opponnet can scout.
In Zero - K this is not the case since there are no tech buildigns focusing the player on a certain unit type which can be scouted. You can make all units at all times. The gameplay design feels amateur and not thought through From the broadest perspective. It also manages to miss the advantages of the Spring engine and mixes the need to micromanage units that counter each other with big Area of Effect Weapons.
Con Childish community
Many of the community-run servers are managed by immature administrators who can make the game unbearable.
Con Way too easy
You can literally leash (mmo term) a zombie and kill it without taking damage. How can you take this game seriously?
Con Poor graphics
Overall graphics of the game have been improved greatly over time, but still it looks like Minecraft.
Con In early access
The game is not yet officially completed, which means that it may still contain bugs, and that features may change or be removed before final publishing.