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Fight for your freedom in a sprawling fantasy world caught between the living and the fallen. Hone your skills in a retro epic featuring puzzle platforming, metroidvania exploration and crunchy soulslike combat.
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Zexion on Steam
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Seek out new weapons and equipment to delve deeper into the dangerous world of Cypher-X72! Be warned, you aren't the only one seeking the forbidden technology known as Zexion! It will take cunning and valor to succeed in this action-packed sci-fi adventure!
Zexion is a metroidvania, sci-fi and difficult game
developed and published by Gallant Leaf.
Released on March 21st 2025 is available on Windows, Linux, Steam Deck and Steam Machine
in 8 languages: English, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Portuguese - Brazil and Spanish - Latin America.
It has received 551 reviews of which 496 were positive and 55 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.4 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Zexion into these genres:
Metroidvania
Sci-fi
Difficult
Pixel Graphics
Adventure
Action-Adventure
Action
Side Scroller
Exploration
2D
Combat
Robots
Aliens
Replay Value
Atmospheric
Futuristic
Nonlinear
Multiple Endings
Horror
Retro
Here is the detailed breakdown of supported languages for Zexion:
| UI | Subtitle | Audio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | |||
| German | |||
| French | |||
| Italian | |||
| Simplified Chinese | |||
| Japanese | |||
| Portuguese - Brazil | |||
| Spanish - Latin America |
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Zexion through various videos and screenshots.
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: 64-bit. If you can view this page, you're probably good.
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 support required
- Storage: 50 MB available space
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu 20.04 or later or SteamOS. Others may work as well.
- Processor: 64-bit. If you can view this page, you're probably good.
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 support required
- Storage: 50 MB available space
Steam Price & Best Deals
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
It's hard to describe Zexion because one may call it a homage or spiritual successor to the Metroid franchise, but it is twice as long as the game that most resembles, Super Metroid, despite looking like if the original Metroid released on the PC-Engine. It is definitely a game that channels the spirit of the Nintendo franchise, there is no doubt in that, but the fact that one has to make some explanations and put some distance between the games reflects that, if nothing else, there is nuance in Zexion, and it is definitely not an uninspired carbon copy without ideas of its own. And it's on those ideas and the things it brings into the table where the game truly shines beyond its Metroid-esque appearance. Zexion is a confident game, from the difficulty curve (which is to say, it's a hard game), to the exploration, including what is perhaps its most special aspect: its sense of spectacle. It's easy to think that a 8-bit esque 2D game can't compete with AAAs in terms of pacing, set pieces and sheer excitement, but Zexion will make you reconsider if visual fidelity really is that important to make you thrilled. I've been gaming for most of my life (I'm in the middle of my thirties) and I've experienced very few boss battles as cool, spectacular and surprising Zexion's. It's not a matter of how many phases they have, is how they move from one location to another, it's the constant twists, how they turn from frantic combat to exhilarating chase sequence. It's a game made with heart, conviction and inmense amounts of love towards the classic 2D action language. That sense of spectacle and desire to make the player engaged and excited goes beyond the boss battles. The quality of the visual storytelling and how it takes advantage of the limitations of classic 2D also goes well beyond one might expect. What makes me love games such as Rondo of Blood, Mega Man X or Super Metroid is precisely how they use the visual aspects to create vignettes, recurring characters and small scenes that make the games feel full of soul despite being mostly text-less. It's how the arrival at Zebes makes you feel in Super Metroid, revisiting the aftermath of the first game, or the unique animation when Samus can't stand up against the Mother Brain. Zexion takes those qualities and brings them up to 11, putting them front and center of the experience instead of being cool but anecdotal side-dishes. I don't think Zexion would have gotten the attention it deserved even if Silksong didn't release last year, but I didn't feel like finishing that game, while I'm excited to play Zexion again even after finishing it. This game is an absolute gem. Don't skip it.
Two months after playing Hollow Knight Silksong, I randomly stumbled upon Zexion while doing some game searching on Backloggd. One thing that should be noted about me is that whenever a game gets described as frustrating multiple times by reviewers, my interest in it soars immediately, so without looking at any videos (Not like there’s a lot to begin with) I bought the game and got down to business. At the same time though, I was kinda wondering if the inevitable Silksong comparisons were going to break my view of Zexion as I played it. That ended up turning out to be a completely unfounded worry, as in a grand twist of fate, I came out of the experience with the opinion that I loved Zexion even more. I feel like a typical review wouldn’t really do this game justice so I’ve decided to list off a few things that I either found really interesting or made me as invested as I got. - A lot of reviewers have talked about the way Zexion executes its storytelling. The game stays mostly textless and instead opts for using set pieces, characterization through animation, and the environment to get the flow of the story across to the player, and that was absolutely something I appreciated during my first playthrough. But what makes this even better is that, outside of some rare situations, the player never loses control of Natu. Even during events where you can’t do much but watch, you are still in complete control, which goes a long way in creating a sense of immersion that even some games with 10x the graphical fidelity struggle to consistently reach. - Adding a twin-stick control scheme to such a retro looking game was definitely an interesting decision, but it really works well here despite long it takes to get used to. I especially love how Natu is still restricted to 8-way shooting, meaning that you have to position yourself in ways so that your targets aren’t in the deadzones of your shot angles. If anything, my only issue with this is that it should be emphasized more. Going twin-stick isn’t just some cute alternate control scheme that you can maybe test out sometime, the game is literally balanced around it, both in terms of enemy and weapon design. For any future players, I beg of you, get accustomed to that right stick + LB jump immediately, you’ll thank me later. - The protagonist, Natu, gets several weapons over the course of the journey. While the quantity of weapons isn’t nearly as large as something like Axiom Verge’s arsenal, or even particularly close, this actually works to Zexion’s benefit. I felt as attached to my weapons as I would a JRPG party, not only because there is a good reason to use and experiment with each of them, but also because the several shot upgrades scattered across the map allow them to evolve in power and utility across the whole game. Right when you think one is starting to fall behind in usefulness, a new item will immediately put it back into relevance. I especially liked how one weapon basically switched roles later into the game that was kinda neat. - Speaking of upgrades, there is one movement upgrade that I won’t reveal at this moment but I will happily call it one of the best mobility tools in any metroidvania ever, I’m talking Environmental Station Alpha Hookshot or Ori Bash levels of sick. All I’ll reveal is that it’s more than an air dash. - It feels pretty weird to be playing a game styled heavily after Metroid, a series that often stays pretty linear outside of specific sequence breaking moments (Aside from Metroid 1 and Super to some extent due to the wall jump), take on a nonlinear approach to it’s progression. This is a game where if you’re stuck on a challenge you can usually just leave to find a new trail to walk on and get stronger that way, and its really cool how most progression walls have more than one way of getting past them, making future playthroughs much more interesting when it comes to experimenting with different routes (Also makes the randomizer extra fun). It helps that the world itself is so immaculately designed and connected that the lack of fast travel until the endgame never becomes a problem. - For my final point, I want to bring up Zexion’s most distinguishing trait that sets it apart from Metroid the most, that being the protagonist’s own position in the world. The oppressiveness of the environment, alongside the violent aggressiveness of most enemies and bosses, makes it very clear that Natu is not the alpha here like Samus would be in the same situation. It’s like the world and the invading forces truly don’t give a damn about who you are. This underdog energy just makes it all the more satisfying to break past the challenge and make the antagonists realize that they aren’t just dealing with a small rodent, but an actual threat to their plans. I could probably gush even further about other aspects of Zexion but I think spoilers would start getting involved so I’ll hold myself back. The quality on display here is truly remarkable, enough to stand amongst some of the greats of the subgenre as a matter of fact. My recommendation could not be any stronger, especially since whether you love it or hate it, I guarantee that some type of strong emotion will be brought out.
What a game, honestly. The beginning's a bit rough and sometimes the music in early areas veers a bit too ambient and feels like it's lacking something...but I'd still rate this a 9/10 for sure. This easily belongs in the same ranks as Axiom Verge and AM2R for me. Some random thoughts while I was playing: - Borderless fullscreen doesn't seem to work properly, which is probably my biggest criticism of the game. However it's been implemented causes Windows to try to force exclusive fullscreen instead, which is annoying. Unfortunately my version of Borderless Gaming doesn't seem to help either--it creates a borderless window but the game itself gets snapped to the corner instead of being centered. I ended up just playing the whole thing in windowed mode in the end. - The addition of assist options greatly broadens my recommendation of the game to people who aren't fans of slamming their heads in car doors (I don't get it personally, it feels great) but it feels like the game could call more attention to that? I don't see a mention of it on the store page...and I do see some negative reviews about the extreme difficulty. Moreover, I got through about 75% of the game before noticing the assist options hidden in the option menu. Maybe I've just slammed my head in too many car doors. - The controls take some time to wrap your head around. They grow on you, so I'm not sure this is really a criticism, but BOY does it feel cursed to play a game that looks like this with two analog sticks instead of the directional pad. I'm not sure why I can even jump with the face buttons by default when holding the controller like that just hamstrings you. - Some of the later bosses are taking absolutely oceanic amounts of piss with how many phases they have, but the mid-fight checkpoint system (and assist options, if you want them) make it not much of an issue in practice. - It is absolutely criminal this game doesn't have more fans. Now that CrossCode's popular I can finally retire from being a CrossCode shill and move on to shilling this game instead.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Zexion is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam.
No, Zexion is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 19.50€ on Steam.
Yes, Zexion received 496 positive votes out of a total of 551 achieving a rating of 8.40.
😎
Zexion was developed and published by Gallant Leaf.
Yes, Zexion is playable and fully supported on Windows.
No, Zexion is not playable on MacOS.
Yes, Zexion is playable and fully supported on Linux.
Yes, Zexion is playable and fully supported on Steam Deck.
Yes, Zexion is playable and fully supported on Steam Machine.
No, Zexion does not support VR.
Zexion is a single-player game.
Yes, there is a DLC available for Zexion. Explore additional content available for Zexion on Steam.
No, Zexion does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, Zexion does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Zexion is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Zexion.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 16 October 2026 09:10 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 14 October 2026 21:12 UTC |
| Steam price | 17 October 2026 03:22 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 16 October 2026 15:54 UTC |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Zexion, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Zexion
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Zexion concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Zexion compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
3
Developer
Gallant Leaf
Publisher
Gallant Leaf
Release
21 Mar 2025
Platforms