Big robot battles are a staple of science fiction. Whether you’re talking anime like Gundam, movies like Pacific Rim or tabletop games like Battletech, there’s nothing like watching a big mech walk onto the battlefield. For fans of smaller, feistier mechs, Zeo Genesis might deliver the action you crave.
Best Hobby launched a crowdfunding campaign on April 29th, 2025 to bring a new fighter into the arena. Zeo Genesis is a two player skirmish game made for short battles between one to four mechs, called Zeoforms, and their support crews on the ground. I got a chance to play a demo of the game at Adepticon run by Best Hobby’s Daniel Block.
What Is Zeo Genesis?
The setting features a humanity that’s made it to the stars. Unfortunately, the main method of space travel called a slipway collapses, the hundred worlds of humanity start to war with one another. Two main factions arise in opposition: the Hegemony, which believes that all humanity should live under one set of rules and the Accord, who believes that each planetary system should choose the way they want to live.
This skirmish game centers around zeo unit combat. Each unit features a main robot piloted by a human and a handful of support troops on the battlefield. The main game box comes with several building to be used as terrain to highlight the fast paced urban combat on colony worlds.
Play focuses on alternating turns between individual pieces. The game models more of a run and gun style of anime inspired combat where the zeo units can jump onto buildings, dash into melee and retreat to ranged combat in the same turn. This game should appeal to fans of any media where the robots move like people but hit like tanks.
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Zeo Genesis Impressions
Three actions per turn really nailed the feel of cinematic combat. The zeo robots are the stars of the show here and my game felt like a climactic action scene at the end of an episode. Being able to leap onto a rooftop, smash an enemy zeo and then watch them fall off of the building to the ground defeated felt very satisfying.
The game is built to last around 30 minutes per zeo squad involved. I’ve seen a lot of games focus on shorter, more instense experiences recently which I like. It’s a lot easier to play two or three games of something like this then spending an entire day setting up something bigger.
Zeo Genesis On Gamefound
The current crowdfunding program reached its goal in less than 40 minutes. Backers can get a traditional boxed set plus expansions. They can also get STL files if they have access to 3d printers to make their own miniatures
With the current uncertainty in the tabletop industry due to tariffs, Best Hobby is taking steps to make sure the game comes out regardless of the state of commerce in the next few months. The company owns a plastics manufacturing plant here in the United States. Block told me he started looking into manufacturing during the days of the supply chain disruptions due to COVID and now it looks like it was a very smart move to protect against future disruptions as well.
Zeo Genesis is on Gamefound from now until May 21st, 2025. The game is expected to deliver to backers in Q4 for 2025.
