When I saw Torn Banner Studios attached to this title, I got excited. I mean, they crafted Chivalry 2, a battlefield meets medieval game I had a blast playing with friends. So, when No More Room in Hell 2 dropped into early access, I was eager to see what magic they would bring to the zombie survival scene – there’s a lot here to like! But it’s also clear that this early access phase has some real stumbling blocks, and the game feels more work-in-progress than EA games normally would feel.
No More Room in Hell 2 doesn’t just throw players into a zombie-infested world. It sets you and up to seven friends up with a daunting task—survive in a world where the undead aren’t just aimless walkers but are relentless and persistent. When the game is working in its favor, it’s tense. Starting off on the outskirts of a large map, players make their way to a central Power Plant, the ultimate goal. Along the way, you’re tasked with fixing infrastructure, scavenging for resources, and finding your way through several biomes with unique challenges, landmarks, and enemies.
The concept of permadeath is also crucial here. If your responder bites the dust, that character’s skills and progress are lost. That makes each mission feel high-stakes, especially when you’re low on supplies or separated from your group. In theory, it’s a recipe for a thrilling co-op experience, but the game’s mechanics and design choices don’t always support it well.
Seek for the Light
I’ll give it to No More Room in Hell 2: for early access, the atmosphere is fantastic. From dark corridors to eerie outdoor environments, the Unreal Engine 5 power shows, even with some kinks in the visuals. You get the sense that Torn Banner aimed to create a bleak, immersive world, and on that front, they’ve done a great job. Each of the biomes feels distinct, adding some variety as you move from one area to another. The visual design captures that oppressive, dread-filled tone you’d want from a zombie apocalypse. The open-world puzzles, though simple, add a nice touch to the otherwise standard zombie shooter formula. Sure, they aren’t mind-bending or particularly complex, but they’re there to provide a little extra flavor. They’re the kind of addition you’d hope will evolve as the game moves closer to a full release.
No More Room in Hell 2 has the right idea with its mix of survival and extraction mechanics, but the execution doesn’t quite hit the mark yet. At its best, the game is a tense, team-based experience where you’re constantly on edge, managing resources, coordinating with friends, and fighting off zombies. But at its worst, it’s bogged down by performance issues, unbalanced mechanics, and bugs that pull you right out of the experience.
For one, there’s the HUD and notification system. The CRC notifications and large icons meant to guide players end up making the game feel less like an exploration-based survival game and more like a GPS-guided trek through a corpse-riddled theme park. It’s a shame because, without them, the game’s visual cues and atmospheric design would do a solid job leading players around. Then, there’s the permadeath mechanic, which could be amazing but falls short due to some of the issues with combat and AI. Having your character permanently gone after they die is a fantastic concept, adding real weight to each encounter. However, when you’re fighting zombies that occasionally ignore you, slide around the map, or rubber-band back and forth, that permadeath mechanic starts feeling more like an unfair punishment than a reward for skillful play.
A Slog
This is where No More Room in Hell 2 really stumbles. The game has performance issues even on high-end setups, with frequent FPS drops, stuttering, and bugs galore. Turning off volumetrics and switching on DLSS helps to smooth things out, but it’s clear the game has a way to go in terms of optimization. And for a game with an emphasis on teamwork and precision, these performance issues are tough to ignore. In terms of bugs, you’ve got the whole package: zombies that ignore players, hit registration that feels wonky 60% of the time, and even random T-posing enemies. Combat, especially melee, can feel like a coin toss on whether your hits will actually land, which is a huge downside in a game that emphasizes survival and resource conservation. You’d expect bullets to be precious in a zombie apocalypse, but when they feel ineffective or unreliable, it only adds to the frustration.
No More Room in Hell 2 aims to be challenging, and it definitely is, but not always for the right reasons. The zombies are tanky, with red-eyed zombies in particular, feeling like bullet sponges. It’s one thing to make enemies tough, but when they soak up damage to the point of feeling artificially difficult, it can wears me down. Add to this the limited resources—especially medkits and ammo—and you’re often left in situations that feel unfair rather than challenging.
The random zombie respawns can also disrupt the flow, especially in the beginning solo phase. It’s meant to add to the sense of danger, but it can feel more like an annoyance, especially if you’re trying to regroup, organize inventory, or simply take a breather. No More Room in Hell 2 wants to be a brutal survival experience, and it mostly succeeds, but some of these design choices feel like they’re cranking up difficulty for difficulty’s sake rather than adding to the thrill.
REVIEW SCORE: 6/10
No More Room in Hell 2 has potential, and Torn Banner is talented enough that it could pull this off by full release. The atmosphere is fantastic, the concept has legs, and when it works, it’s genuinely fun. However, it’s very much in early access, with all the jank and lack of polish that entails. The interface could use some rethinking, the bugs need ironing out, and the mechanics could use a little more balance. As much as I love Torn Banner for what they brought with Chivalry 2, No More Room in Hell 2 isn’t there yet. It’s worth keeping an eye on, and with time, it could become a fantastic entry in the co-op survival genre.
