The Game Census
Zero-K cover art

Zero-K

Zero-K Team · 2018-04-27

Steam

IndieSimulationStrategyFree To Play

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative

Releases: Oct 01, 2010 (Mac), Oct 01, 2010 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Oct 01, 2010 (Linux)

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.

123
playing now
94%
positive of 4.4k reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
500,000–1,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Free
steam price (US)

123 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 02:00 UTC (census sample)

Zero-K is a free multi-platform open source real-time strategy video game. Initially based on content from Total Annihilation on the open source Spring Engine, it was forked and all proprietary content replaced, and evolved into a completely new game with unique features. Among the games powered by the Spring Engine, Zero-K makes extensive use of Lua scripting for interface and gameplay changes/enhancements, as well as unique real-time strategy concepts such as a flat technology tree.

Health check

Healthy
  • · 123 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 283 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~35/week).
  • · Review velocity down 1% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 10% of 17,990 Indie games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-28

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
22022020182026Week of 2018-04-01: 220 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 214 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 64 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 59 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 75 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 118 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 74 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 50 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 65 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 65 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 73 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 71 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 50 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 50 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 42 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 60 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 53 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 42 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 51 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 51 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

157382026-08-06 22:00 — 106 players2026-08-07 06:00 — 43 players2026-08-07 14:00 — 68 players2026-08-07 22:00 — 135 players2026-08-08 06:00 — 95 players2026-08-08 14:00 — 100 players2026-08-08 22:00 — 124 players2026-08-09 06:00 — 70 players2026-08-09 14:00 — 95 players2026-08-09 22:00 — 157 players2026-08-10 06:00 — 61 players2026-08-10 14:00 — 75 players2026-08-10 22:00 — 102 players2026-08-11 06:00 — 56 players2026-08-11 14:00 — 64 players2026-08-12 22:00 — 107 players2026-08-14 05:00 — 63 players2026-08-15 13:00 — 92 players2026-08-16 21:00 — 127 players2026-08-18 05:00 — 54 players2026-08-19 12:00 — 52 players2026-08-20 20:00 — 96 players2026-08-22 03:00 — 99 players2026-08-23 11:00 — 82 players2026-08-24 18:00 — 106 players2026-08-26 02:00 — 86 players2026-08-27 11:00 — 38 players2026-08-28 18:00 — 122 players2026-08-30 02:00 — 123 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Attention

2852026-05-31 — 26 pageviews2026-06-03 — 9 pageviews2026-06-06 — 12 pageviews2026-06-09 — 19 pageviews2026-06-12 — 20 pageviews2026-06-15 — 12 pageviews2026-06-18 — 15 pageviews2026-06-21 — 16 pageviews2026-06-24 — 10 pageviews2026-06-27 — 20 pageviews2026-06-30 — 10 pageviews2026-07-03 — 16 pageviews2026-07-06 — 18 pageviews2026-07-09 — 9 pageviews2026-07-12 — 11 pageviews2026-07-15 — 15 pageviews2026-07-18 — 12 pageviews2026-07-21 — 13 pageviews2026-07-24 — 15 pageviews2026-07-27 — 15 pageviews2026-07-30 — 5 pageviews2026-08-02 — 13 pageviews2026-08-05 — 20 pageviews2026-08-08 — 11 pageviews2026-08-11 — 17 pageviews2026-08-14 — 14 pageviews2026-08-17 — 7 pageviews2026-08-20 — 16 pageviews2026-08-23 — 16 pageviews2026-08-26 — 15 pageviews2026-08-28 — 23 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsLinuxSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPOnline PvPCo-opOnline Co-opCross-Platform MultiplayerSteam CloudFamily Sharing3 DLC

Player tags

RTSCo-opIndieRobotsSci-fiStrategyReal-TimeSimulationMultiplayerFree to Play

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

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