Zad Archery combines wave-based target shooting with incremental progression, where you collect loot from each wave to unlock upgrades and skills that amplify your power. The core loop rewards both active play and strategic investment in permanent enhancements. Players seeking a meditative but mechanically escalating archer game will find steady satisfaction here.
About this game
Shoot down waves of targets, collect their loot, and grow stronger through upgrades and skills in this endlessly expanding incremental game.
Players, last 37 days
Peak 2,481 · Low 0
Daily peak concurrent players, sampled once a night from Steam.
What players are saying
▼ Not recommended0 hrs
TL;DR: Zad Archery is a game with a highly scripted progression system that leaves very little room to strategize and optimize the "numbers going up" feeling in a short incremental game.
I'll start by saying I played the game for about 40 minutes and gave up after about 10 minutes with the fourth unlocked progression system; there were three more.
Short incremental games shine when they provide the players with at least a few playstyles, meaningful choices, and a motivation for mastery, so actually paying attention to details is rewarding. Zad Archery does none of these; there is a single playstyle, barely any meaningful choices, and very little room to master it.
By "barely," I mean next to nothing. The skill tree is incredibly scripted, and it offers very few choices at a time, leaving you with no meaningful choices to optimize your progression in the game. The best upgrade is blatant most of the time, making the skill tree boring.
One major UX problem is that you can't progress at a reasonable speed in this game without clicking rapidly with your mouse if you want to play actively. There should at least be a keybinding option for the main action, or a keyboard-based click (preferably the spacebar), because after about 20 minutes of playing, my hand started begging me to stop.
Another UX problem is that you can't switch between the menus with keyboard keys, so you need to navigate to the sidebar with your mouse every time to switch between multiple progression trees.
Overall, I suggest doing your mouse-holding hand and your wallet a favor and not picking this game up in its current state; if the progression systems actually provided a solid foundation to strategize, it could be a vastly better game.
Just a math sim, there is very little if anything that you can do to customize anything in the game of any real consequence, all choices are weighted to provide the same net progression. 100% on rails.
I honestly think some of the negativity surrounding this game is coming far too early.
I’ve played through the demo and now three hours into playing the game myself, and I haven’t seen everything yet, but that’s exactly the point. There is far more here than the first 30–40 minutes would some reviewers, would have you believe.
In a genre that has become increasingly stale, with so many incremental games revolving around starting over and over again every run, this feels like a breath of fresh air. You’re actually allowed to play and progress, taking things at your own pace and steadily building your character to level 40 at least and I'm only at 22.
And just when you think you’ve figured out what the game is offering, it opens up another layer.
There’s mining. Crafting. Upgrades. Spells. Skills and then further upgrades to those skills that expand what you can do beyond what initially appears to be the entire progression system.
I’m still unlocking things, which is why I’m deliberately not going to pretend I’ve seen everything the game has to offer.
What I will say is this:
Don’t read a handful of negative reviews from people who have barely scratched the surface and assume that’s the whole game.
Give it some time. Explore. Unlock things. Let the progression develop.
For me, this is already standing out in a genre where too many games have recently been letting players down.
If you’re on the fence because of the early negative reviews, play it for yourself for longer than 40 minutes before deciding.
This game deserves the chance to show you what it actually is.
UPDATE
- I've 100% the game now and thoroughly enjoyed the whole process, even purchased the extra dlc items to support the Developer.
I would say, that the max level of 50, kind of kills the game, which could have gone onward infinitely for those that wanted to play. I got all the skills, even the three that wanted 100 skill upgrades, which could have been an achievement.
Kudos to Dev... it was a fun game, well priced and even with points above, get's 110% recommendation from me.
Effects Amount now works per skill: lowering it hides whole skill casts instead of thinning their particles, and every skill is reduced by the same ratio. At 50% each skill shows every other cast; at 0 almost none show. Damage is never affected. Fixed skill power bonuses to Number of Hits, Pierce Count, Turns, Sniper Scope aims and Multishot arrows silently losing value after resets and refunds, which could also eat into the skill's base stats. Affected saves are repaired automatically on load. Other minor improvements and fixes
Changes Added an Effects Amount slider in Settings. Lower it to reduce visual effects for better performance; it never changes your damage. Mining: Ores are automatically collected when too much ore piles up on the ground. The currency display now wraps to a new line instead of hiding behind the health bar. Fixes Fixed dying right as the Run Portal died causing the next level to skip its monsters and Guardian. A Guardian you missed now shows up on your next level. If you already passed its level, it is counted as defeated and you receive its Guardian Currency. Fixed leftover skill effects from the previous level killing the new Run Portal and ending the level instantly. Portal Currency is now corrected on load: any amount lost to the skipped-level bug is restored.
Ok, so you guys are right. The game had issues with being kinda scripted and linear. Also, many people expected the game to last way longer.We hear you and agree with you. Today's mega update fixes all of these and many more.The past days since release were very hard for us. We worked almost non-stop, barely sleeping 4 to 5 hours a day. We really wanted players to enjoy Zad Archery, but the reception was way lower than what we expected. We really hope that with today's Mega Update, you will find the game much, much better.-Linear Progression Issue:We are introducing a completely new system to the game: the Symbol System.This system completely changes how you play the game compared to anyone else. You will unlock various powers and choose between them, creating broken builds to reach higher levels faster. You can choose from more than 50 symbols every few levels, which significantly changes how you progress. On top of that, we added Exalted Symbols, which are completely overpowered.In addition, we are making it possible to prefer a job, which doubles ALL the bonuses of that job and gives your character the look of that job. This creates many new strategies for the early game.These additions, along with minor tweaks, on top of Skill Powers, shaping weapon arsenal choices, items, mastery choices, and guardian perks, will make the game much more non-linear and allow for so many builds that no two players will progress the same way.-Endless:We are also introducing a new system to allow for endless farming and further delving into the game: the Ring System.The Ring System makes use of the Portal currency you gain after level 30 and introduces 9 new perks that significantly empower your character and work with all systems in the game.We also removed the Level 50 cap and changed/improved various mechanics to allow for extreme high levels.-Quality of Life:Also, one piece of feedback that we heard a lot is that the archer should proceed to the next level without waiting for y...
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