Zero-K

Zero-K

Zero-K Team · April 27, 2018 · Strategy, Free to Play, RTS, Indie, Multiplayer

Zero-K is free to play — no purchase needed. We track it so you know if that ever changes.

PC
Very Positive94% · 4,39893playing now
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →

Trailers & screenshots

Watch the Zero-K trailer →

Zero-K price

Zero-K is free to play — there is no purchase price, on Steam or anywhere else we track. We keep watching it, so if it ever stops being free the price history on this page will show when that happened and what it changed to.

About Zero-K

✦ AI summary

Command giant robots and manipulate terrain itself in this physics-driven RTS where you can dig canals, build mountains, and fling battleships across the map. With 100+ wildly creative units, a sprawling campaign, and truly free multiplayer from 1v1 to 16v16, Zero-K delivers complex strategy without a pay-to-win model or cheating AI.

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!

Zero-K — game info

Platforms
Windows, Linux / SteamOS
Steam Deck
Unsupported
Player modes
Single-player, Online PvP, Online co-op, Cross-platform multiplayer
PC Game Pass
Not included
More games like this:Linux gamesCrossplay games

DLC & expansions

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

✦ AI summary

Zero-K is a free and actively supported RTS that offers unique mechanics like terraforming, flexible unit queuing, and a progression system without traditional tiers, earning praise from players who appreciate its depth and complex strategic options. However, some players criticize the game for poor performance in menus and gameplay, clunky UI design, and balance issues with early rushing, while others find it a solid if unconventional entry in the Total Annihilation lineage.

Recommended Oct 1, 2026
its free and good like c&c but a bit less. still not bad tho
Recommended Sep 30, 2026
Good fun, especially for a free game. Honestly can't find a reason to NOT recommend it. 8/10 -2026
Recommended Sep 29, 2026
Spam Pickets. Then spam power. Then spam Nimbus. Profit. 10/10
Recommended Sep 27, 2026
Spider bots... my goats
Recommended Sep 27, 2026
Advanced mechanics
Recommended Sep 25, 2026
conch

Community reviews

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