Ground Zero

General Recommendation: An excellent game, I definitely recommend it. The branches are all fun to play and cover a wide variety of different scenarios.
Preview: How will your actions shape the landscape of the post-apocalyptic world?

=SPOILERS BELOW=

RATINGS:

General notes:
Despite covering a literal apocalypse, most of this game’s pathes are surprisingly intimate, following a personal struggle that only later becomes important to the survival of humanity. The epilogues help with this, showing how the decisions the narrator has made have affected both his own personal turf and the world at large.
This is a game about commitment. Once you’re on one of the major five pathes, you need to stick to the branch’s theme in order to survive.
Lastly, I want to note how expansive the world manages to feel. The inclusion of recurring elements across multiple pathes, particularly GZS, makes everything feel connected, and makes the narrator’s actions really seem significant. Many similar storygames would have a hard time tying together four different stories set in the same world, but this game walks the line, allowing each one to tell its own tale without feeling disjointed.

Specific notes:
-The intro works well at setting the scene, the tone, and adding a bit of characterization. The clicking through of TV channels shows that the world is in catastrophe, but it’s a very apathetic kind of catastrophe. People have lots of loud opinions, but no real power, and are unceremoniously glossed over. It also shows the main character’s more personal apathy about the rest of the world.
-“Mysterious epidemic in China”… ha ha ha.
-The GZS receptionist is delightfully irritating. For a character who appears only in a single scene, she’s very memorable, and her presence and attitudes cast a long shadow over the entire community shelter arc, and to a lesser extent, the special shelter arc. Her combination of cheerfulness and condesention strikes a delicate and very amusing balance.
-Though GZS obviously has its own agenda, we never learn much more about them. This works well, ultimately this isn’t GZS’s story. It also works well in setting the uneasy calm-before-the-storm tone of the community shelter branch.
-I appreciate the attention devoted to the endings where you die in the blast. It’d be easy enough to say “u ded lol”, but these endings make the story fuller.
-It can be tough to potray an antisocial character in a likeable way, but Ground Zero does this well, particularly in the shelter arc. Being a grouchy tech hermit with a gun is always fun. This character trait is both a unique strength and a weakness; it helps you by meaning you’re one of the few people who actually knows how to repair things, but it can also get you lynched if you don’t want to play ball.
-The way in which GZS selects its participants is taken to its logical conclusion. I like that the narrator becomes important to shelter politics because he actually read the instruction manual.
-Ron’s character is handled well; he’s a nice enough guy, but he just isn’t leadership material. He’s effectively used to set up the plot with Elliot and Nina.
-Fun detail that Todd and Charles knew exactly where the narrator was going. I like the way their characterization and increase in competence happens slowly. Leon is handled well too, his distrust of the narrator is logical, as is his increase in loyalty once the narrator gives him the pistol.
-Speaking of pistol-giving, that's a powerful moment. It cements the narrator's transition from loner to protector.
-There’s a good bit of interconnectedness between the branches, with Ashtown and the Combine showing up in multiple pathes, and many of the soldiers from the military group appearing in the wasteland path. Details like this really make the world feel fleshed out.
-The community shelter epilogue is hilarious, and brings the story full circle, which is always a good way to handle an ending.
-Arizona, lol.
-It’s interesting to see the way Nina’s character develops on different branches. The main branch is probably the best case scenario for her; she becomes a just and competent leader. On the other pathes, however, she’s alternatively weak or vengeful, suggesting that she really wasn’t that stable a person at all, and couldn’t handle her relationship issues. Luckily enough, this never comes to bite the protagonist in the rear, she’s worked out her issues by then. Still, I don’t respect her as much as I do some of the other characters.
-The “time will tell” and “Time tells that you’ve allied with a completely ruthless sociopathic mad man” is a nice transition, made me laugh.
-The special shelter arc is one beautiful clusterfuck. 6 misanthropes walk into a survival tin can made of duct tape and health & safety violations, one leaves.
-I find it amusing that the shelter kicks you out for not socializing enough.
-Six characters is just the right amount for this arc, any more and it might have gotten confusing, any less and there wouldn’t have been enough room for a real mystery.
-If you choose to indulge your paranoia and vendetta about shadow, it goes predictably. Dying alone and insane is a best case scenario here, and that’s only after fucking over everyone else. It’s a fitting outcome.
-This path has a wide variety of possible outcomes, more than any of the others. It reminds me a bit of paradise violated in its structure, while there is a clear main path and ending, the side branches have a lot of attention devoted to them and you can achieve a wide variety of good/neutral endings.
-The endings where you leave the shelter are intriguing, it would be interesting to see what happens next, but of course that’s outside the scope of the story.
-I thought the death endings in the special shelter branch were particularly well written.
-Eliza’s character is done well. Her presence in the beginning of the branch, and in this branch’s alternate pathes is subtle, but lays the groundwork for her eventual future role. Seeing her develop a personality beyond the programming was a pleasant and intriguing surprise.
-This is the most subtle and quiet path, and as such, has the most subtle epilogue. Like the community shelter path, the epilogue comes full circle by connecting back to GZS. Ultimately the GZS representatives reach no firm conclusions about your life in the shelter, which works well symbollically with the tone of this path.
-I’m torn on the relationship between Becky and the narrator. She’s too young for their relationship to really feel legitimate; when the relationship emphasizes the narrator as a mentor and protector figure rather than a partner, it seems to have more depth to it. This may well be the point, Becky’s father issues are important to the plot, and the evolution of her relationship with the narrator parallels her development.
-Miranda’s an absolute psycopath. While the other villains in this story kind of make sense in context, she’s willing to brutally murder four other people just for the chance to… talk in private with Becky? Wild. Still, I guess there could be no more logical way to have a real villain on this path. There’s no legitimate reason any of the characters have to genuinely wish each other harm.
-It’s too bad that you can’t really save any of the characters in this path. Casey, Shadow, and Mark pretty much die no matter what you do.
-Chris’s avatar being in all the pictures is amusing. I know it's a coincidence since this was published in 2007, but it's still funny.
-Shooting Billy and Martha is just the start of things in the wasteland path. The extent to which the killing horrifies and shocks the narrator is a good way of setting up the contrast between who he currently is and who he later becomes.
-The theme of this path is one of brutality, and all of its endings serve to emphasize this. Choosing compassion towards the family who comes to the store ultimately helps no one.
-A constant question storygrame writers need to ask themselves is whether to prioritize player agency or narrative theme. EndMaster’s games tend to lean on the side of narrative theme, but none more so than the wasteland branch. As the player, you have pretty much zero say in the outcome of your actions, and any attempt to deviate from the story laid out is met with death. I usually find games of this nature annoying, but the writing here is good enough that it’s forgivable, and it’s made clear in the final scene that the lack of player choice is sort of the point of this path. I can respect the attention and care that went into crafting this story, even if it isn’t necessarily fun to play.
-Interestingly, the narrator of this branch feels like one of those one-off crazy people you’d run into as a brief obstacle in some other story.
-Nice that Vivica gets to kill the narrator in one ending.
-Ironic, but thematically fitting, that Johnathan’s shelter opens to you.
-Despite this being my least favorite path to play, the wasteland’s ending is excellent. It perfectly caps off the storyline, and raises intriguing questions about the world. It feels like a comment on the player rather than the narrator, who has played all the way through this path of debauchery merely because it was there.
-GZS strikes again with its anti-radiation drug. I think the fact that we never learn much about the real inner going-ons of the company only helps its impact on the story.
-I like the callback to the elevator designs on the city path.
-There’s something campy about the city path, in a fun way. The references to this help.
-It’s interesting the narrator starts out sort of out of the loop, and it takes time for him to integrate himself into the city’s political structure.
-I find it interesting that the narrator is thrust into a leadership role across all the pathes. He’s not that good of a leader, nor does he ever claim to be, but he’s just so surrounded by incompetence on all sides that people naturally put him in power. It’s an interesting take on the character.
-The messenger rat system is cool.
-Owen’s return is both well foreshadowed and narratively appropriate.
-Lisa serves her narrative role well. I don’t particularly like her, what with her mutant superiority and controlling nature over her son, but she drives the story in the right direction, and is used well to introduce conflict for the narrator. The political nature of her relationship with the narrator is an interesting contrast to his other relationships.
-The godly names of the mutants are an interesting styllistic choice.
-Marina choosing to save the narrator because he’s “different” seems a little contrived. Though I suppose he is the only one present who hasn’t completely given up on survival.
-There’s an interesting parallel between the Colonel’s distrust of both the GZS computers and the plot with the cybernetics.
-On the atomic alliance path, it’s interesting to see all the different groups that have sprung up. We learn more about the cyborgs, and meet a group of cultists.
-Marina feels a little underdeveloped. She initially seemed like a love interest that could hold her own against the narrator while still not being a jerk, but she never really got enough screen time to see what direction she was going in.
-Alex’s role on the atomic alliance path is interesting. He’s obviously extremely, unstable, but seems oddly well-meaning given what we know of his actions on other pathes. I like that his character is more than just a crazy mad scientist.
-Alex calling the narrator out on his maintaining control is also interesting. Though the narrator is honest in his lack of ambition, he does wind up in a leadership role time after time. He’s clearly not as antisocial or ambitionless as he likes to think of himself.
-I like Vivica. She has a cool head.
-The atomic alliance arc is probably my favorite. It’s the most optimistic, and it feels like the player has the most control over what happens.
-I missed the mini-path on the atomic alliance route on my first read-through, so this was a pleasant surprise. I liked the branching nature of this segment, allowing a variety of good bad and neutral endings.
-It was nice to see Marina’s character a little more fleshed out in this arc.
-I like that you can get a positive ending while still allowing

Grammar: Generally good.
Mastery of Language:
There are less issues with sentence structure in this story than in Paradise Violated, which is appreciated. There are still a few here and there, but there’s a definite improvement.

Branching:
This game follows the traditional style of having several major pathes and sticking to them pretty tightly. It has some more branching in areas than some of his later works, and positive or neutral non-epilogue endings can still be achieved at regular points.

Player Options/fair choice:
Could be better, but not without sacrificing some of the narrative elements. It’s fine.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
Lil 16 year old Gryphon stumbled innocently into the wasteland path on the first playthrough and was forever scarred by the experience. I went back and read all the other pathes and then had a much better time.

CONCLUSION: Fun and innovative, this game takes an oft-done concept and brings lots of new ideas to it.

Ground Zero is one of the stories that I read the first time I found this site and the one that impressed me the most at the time. It might even be considered the reason I kept returning to this site every few months rather than forgetting about it after closing the tab. However, I did not read it again until now. I have to say, it's left an impression on me once more.

The story is very engaging throughout. The events leading up to the nuclear attack are not revealed in detail, but they don't need to be. Why date the story with the villainous country of the week when the results are the same? The main character's life is drastically changed forever.
Every choice will lead you to a different path (save in one spot in the community shelter path in which there are two ways to get the same path). Even choices that may initially appear to be something that will lead to an early death ending often lead to an entirely new path. Depending on the path you choose, you can become a very different person in more ways than one, but the main character himself's basic personality is always consistent.
There was one ending in particular that stuck out in my memory, and I see why again now. The ending when you leave the shelter with Eliza has no epilogue, and it likely did not end happily, but I suppose I am more of a sucker for that kind of emotionally touching ending than I thought. I also liked the poisoned ending and movie ending, as unofficial endings go. No ending left me unsatisfied and feeling ripped-off, but they all left me eagerly clicking the back button in order to read more wonderful endings.
Nothing is perfect, not even Ground Zero. A quick proofreading to remove some repeated phrases and such would have given this story more polish, but the errors are infrequent and never interfered with readability.
Ground Zero is a wonderful and entertaining post-apocalyptic adventure and a very valuable addition to CYS. For anyone looking for an epic story different from the usual fantasy, an excellent example of branching, a post-nuclear apocalyptic tale, or just an exciting and beautifully written story that will keep him engaged for quite a while, I recommend this storygame.
If you're one of those suckers who reads reviews before he reads stories, stop. Don't read anymore reviews. This is time you could spend reading Ground Zero.

I've made it no secret on this site in my earlier years that I absolutely love this story. But back then I didn't look at things critically, if I liked something then it was perfect and anyone who shit on it was a fuckwit, so last night I decided to read through the four (well, five counting an unofficial one) major paths and see if my nostalgia held up. I've gotta say, it does.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS A BUNCH OF SPOILERS

Let's start with the writing and the story. I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic games, and this doesn't disappoint with its tale of the story of one man and his life after nuclear detonation. Depending on just a single choice (which branches out into another choice depending on what you choose, but still), you can take five different paths to five wildly different endings, and all the other endings on the way. Par the course, there's a few typos and grammar mistakes, but those don't really affect the overall quality of the story.

Aside from the minor errors, the writing is top notch and has a unique flare in its visceral style. EndMaster knows how to write extremely well without sounding like a snobby scholar-type, but rather like a regular old Joe that just so happened to major in creative writing. I especially liked the hints to the other paths you could've taken, IE mentions of the Combine in the public shelter, mutant, and Wasteland Bastard paths, when one path has you join what would eventually become the Combine (and being able to squash the Combine before they have the chance to become the tyrants they are), while the unofficial 'Wasteland Bastard' path ends with you finding a way into an unused private shelter when, if you read through a small branch early on in the path, you would've discovered it belonged to a family you meet (whereas you killed them before they could tell you in the main path).

I touched on it above but didn't really dig too deep into it, but this story has so many branches it puts a redwood to shame. Tons of choices, tons of branches, (be they quick 'you chose the wrong choice, time to die' or 'continue your story for quite a bit longer') and I enjoyed the fact that not all the choices that lead to an end game link on the next page are deaths and give a sense of the adventure continuing after that. One thing I will say is that I was disappointed in the lack of a 'road warrior' path, that is being an unaffiliated wandering adventurer, and the lack of a path which allowed you to join the cyborg faction whose name escapes me at the moment. Still, the paths provided were pretty damn sweet, so these are more things I would've liked to see than things that the game needs.

And now, gushing time.

Dude, wasn't it sweet when you just shoot that bastard Elliot in the public shelter path? Just be like, "fuck you motherfucker, you ain't gonna do some dystopia shit on my watch!"
Man, it was so fucking cool when you throw Owen off the roof when you meet him again in the mutant path, haha, that's what you get for going insane because I threw you out of your shelter you fucktard!
Wasn't it the bomb when you killed that bastard Alex in the soldier path? I made the mistake of forgiving you once shitlicker, I ain't forgiving you again!

And now here are my favorite paths:

3. Private Shelter path (I'm a sucker for human-robot/AI romances, and this one didn't disappoint. Plus it proves End can still do a compelling story without including a shitload of characters. The branch where you interact with the other people in the shelters also proved to be an interesting little character-driven thriller, which mostly took place across computer screens, which is also a telling achievement of his storytelling ability)
2. Soldier path (IMHO the 'best' path for the story, as you squash the Combine and the cyborg peeps without them getting the chance to get too bad, you restore a sense of order and government to the wasteland, and the epilogue featuring your descendant telling a story about your exploits in a bar was perfect)
1. Wasteland Bastard (Oh. My. God. This is the cruelest, most demented, and sickening path in the story... And I LOVE IT. You REALLY get to feel like a depraved bastard in this path, and then you have it all catch up to you and, depending on your interpretation, kill yourself out of guilt or be killed by a mutant bounty hunter. In the end it shows that you, the player, did this just to see how fucked up you could get, and that's exactly the same reason the protagonist did it)

-----

So, in the end, is it the flawless masterwork I thought it was? No. But overall, this story, though flawed, is still a masterpiece of interactive fiction and my favorite story out of all of EndMaster's works. Forever and always, this will be an 8/8 for me.

Hah yup, that's my kid and grandkids... So proud.

SSS+++ content.

One of Endmaster's best with four (and a half) independent yet interlocking storylines that create a vivid picture of an apocalypse

Cringe writing

it sucks tbh

This was beautiful

Damn man, you made me cry!