Zero-K
Released Apr 2018
With 100+ truly unique units, Zero-K is an RTS of freedom and creativity, tempered by a decade of refinement. Sculpt land into a castle and throw invaders off it with a Jugglenaut. Explore a massive campaign, solo or co-op. Hop online for epic 32 player battles or fast paced 1v1, on 100s of maps.
93% positive · 4,406 reviews
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
High confidence
Active Development
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
High confidence
Active Development
Where to get it
Free on Steam
Evaluation
Zero-K is a free-to-play real-time strategy game that has been actively developed since its Steam launch on April 27, 2018, built and maintained by a volunteer team. The development cadence is prolific: 50 developer news posts scanned include 9 major content releases, 6 announcements, 2 developer status posts, 12 feature patches, and 13 bug fix patches.
In a developer statement from November 2023, the team described Zero-K's origins as a volunteer-built mod spanning 15+ years and confirmed that "3-4 major updates per year are planned with no plans to stop development." This explicit commitment remains the clearest signal of the game's ongoing trajectory.
Recent activity continues to back this up. A major update — v1.14.5.3 "Eggs and Wires" — shipped on May 28, 2026, introducing commander eggs, visual energy grid wires, a new attrition graph, and a wave of balance and graphical improvements. This followed an earlier major release in December 2024 (v1.12.12.0 "Shield Tech") that added a new Tech-K game mode. An ongoing live playtest of the Planetwars mode was active as of May 2026. Feature patches continued to ship on July 11, 2026 (v1.14.7.0 - Guard and Pulsing Balls) and August 2, 2026 (v1.14.8.0 - Unit Icons and Magpie Nerf), just 17 days before today's assessment date.
The three DLC items listed on the store are optional donation tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold at $10/$25/$50) with no gameplay content attached — all were released on launch day in 2018. There are no unreleased DLC items and no paid gameplay advantages of any kind.
With major updates arriving multiple times per year, feature patches shipping as recently as August 2, 2026, an explicit developer commitment to ongoing development, and an active new game mode being tested, Zero-K is clearly in sustained, ongoing development with no sign of slowing down.
Evidence
Feature patch v1.14.8.0 shipped with UI improvements, unit icon resolution increases, and balance changes — the most recent developer communication as of the assessment date.
Major update v1.14.5.3 'Eggs and Wires' shipped, adding commander eggs, visual energy grid wires, a new attrition graph, and extensive balance and graphical changes.
Content
3 of 3 released · no outstanding content
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
Zero-K Team
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows, Linux
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Unsupported
Players
Single-player · Multiplayer · Co-op · PvP
About this game
Commander wanted! Construct giant robots, build an army of a thousand Fleas. Move mountains if needed. Bury the enemy at all cost!
- Traditional real time strategy with physically simulated units and projectiles.
- 100+ varied units with abilities including terrain manipulation, cloaking and jumpjets.
- 70+ mission galaxy-spanning campaign to be enjoyed solo or co-op with friends.
- Challenging, (non-cheating) skirmish AI and survival mode.
- Multiplayer 1v1 - 16v16, FFA, coop. ladders, replays, spectators and tournaments.
- Really free, no paid advantages, no unfair multiplayer.
Fully Utilized Physics
Simulated unit and projectile physics is used to a level rarely found in a strategy game.
- Use small nimble units to dodge slow moving projectiles.
- Hide behind hills that block weapon fire, line of sight and radar.
- Toss units across the map with gravity guns.
- Transport a battleship to a hilltop - for greater views and gun range.
Manipulate the Terrain
The terrain itself is an ever-changing part of the battlefield.
- Wreck the battlefield with craters that bog down enemy tanks.
- Dig canals to bring your navy inland for a submarine-in-a-desert strike.
- Build ramps, bridges, entire fortress if you wish.
- Burn your portrait into continental crust using the planetary energy chisel.
Singleplayer Campaign and Challenging AI
Enjoy many hours of single player and coop fun with our campaign, wide selection of non-cheating AIs and a survival mode against an alien horde.
- Explore the galaxy and discover technologies in our singleplayer campaign.
- Face a challenging AI that is neither brain-dead nor a clairvoyant cheater.
- Have some coop fun with friends, surviving waves of chicken-monsters.
- Cloaking? Resurrection? Tough choices customizing your commander.
Casual and Competitive Multiplayer
Zero-K was built for multiplayer from the start, this is where you can end up being hooked for a decade.
- Enjoying epic scale combat? Join our 16v16 team battles!
- Looking for a common goal? Fight AIs or waves of chicken-monsters.
- Prefer dancing on a razor's edge? Play 1v1 in ladder and tournaments.
- Comebacks, betrayals, emotions always running high in FFA.
- Want to fight for a bigger cause? Join PlanetWars, a competitive online campaign with web-game strategic elements, diplomacy and backstabbing (currently on hiatus pending an overhaul).
Power to the People
We are RTS players at heart, we work for nobody. We gave ourselves the tools we always wanted to have in a game.
- Do what you want. No limits to camera, queue or level of control.
- Paint a shape, any shape, and units will move to assume your formation.
- Construction priorities let your builders work more efficiently.
- Don't want to be tied down managing every unit movement? Order units to smartly kite, strafe or zig zag bullets.
Plenty of Stuff to Explore (and Explode)
Zero-K is a long term project and it shows, millions hours of proper multiplayer testing and dozens of people contributing ever expanding content.
- Learn to use all of our 100+ units and play on hundreds of maps.
- Invent the next mad team-tactics to shock enemies and make allies laugh.
- Combine cloaking, teleports, shields, jumpjets, EMP, napalm, gravity guns, black hole launchers, mind control and self-replication.
- Tiny flea swarm that clings to walls?
- Jumping "cans" with steam-spike?
- Buoys that hide under water to ambush ships?
- Mechs that spew fire and enjoy being tossed from air transports?
- Carrier with cute helicopters?
- Jumping Jugglenaut with dual wielding gravity guns?
- Meet them in Zero-K!
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Aug 19, 2026
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