Released at the beginning of the year, the Black Death-themed SLG Last Asylum: Plague quickly gained traction and continued to grow through an innovative combination of an unconventional theme, idle arcade gameplay, simulation management, and SLG systems. The game recorded approximately 5.1 million downloads and US$17 million in monthly revenue in July, equivalent to about RMB 114 million. Its cumulative revenue has reached approximately US$90.5 million, or about RMB 610 million, making it a new breakout hit for 37 Interactive Entertainment this year.

In mid-July, the company launched another new title, Shelter Days, in nearly 170 countries and regions. Although it remains in an early testing phase, with peak daily downloads and revenue below 30,000 and US$4,000, respectively, its hybrid direction merits attention. The game combines shelter management with match-3 gameplay and SLG systems, in a sense deconstructing and recombining experience that 37 Interactive Entertainment accumulated through Puzzles & Survival and Last Asylum.

For a publisher such as 37 Interactive Entertainment, which tests new products at a high frequency, however, the breakout hit, new ideas, hybrid direction, and promising title described above represent only part of its product activity this year.

Diandian Global recently observed that 37 Interactive Entertainment appears to be taking a 'retro' approach to theme and front-end experience, similar to Century Games' attempt to use Lordrush, which generated about US$1.5 million, or approximately RMB 10.1 million, over the past month, as a more realistic take on Kingshot. This strategy has already produced the company's second title of the year with breakout potential: Z Route: Redemption, hereinafter referred to as Z Route, which revives the framework of a zombie theme, a number-gate and shoot-the-barrel runner front end, and long-term SLG systems.

The game recorded consecutive revenue growth from May through July this year. Its monthly iOS revenue exceeded US$1 million for the first time in July, reaching US$1.848 million, or approximately RMB 12.4 million. After Google Play data was recently included in the statistics, its overall performance surged again. The title is now available in more than 160 countries and regions, generating around 100,000 daily downloads and approximately US$270,000, or RMB 1.82 million, in daily revenue. If this pace continues, monthly revenue could exceed US$7 million, or nearly RMB 50 million, in September.

So, what kind of product is Z Route? What testing process has it undergone, and how has it performed in the market? How does it use a retro number-gate runner to attract users while keeping the experience from feeling outdated? Diandian Global examines these questions one by one below.

01

More Than a Year of Testing, Followed by Delisting, Renaming, and Renewed Scaling

Monthly Revenue More Than Doubles for Consecutive Months as Z Route Establishes a Clear Growth Curve

Judging from its testing timeline, Z Route is not a new project that appeared out of nowhere. It has undergone a lengthy process of build adjustments and strategic validation.

Public information and Diandian data records show that the game first launched on Google Play in selected regional markets in early to mid-June 2025 under the name Death Route Survivor. It went through multiple rounds of testing centered on a post-apocalyptic zombie setting, road-based progression, numerical bonuses, and an SLG back end. That same year, 37 Interactive Entertainment also listed the title among its overseas pipeline products in its interim report.

The build was removed from stores in mid-to-late October. In early November, the project returned to Google Play in a small number of regional markets under the new name Z Route: Redemption and continued testing, though it did not yet generate meaningful market data that could be tracked during this phase.

The turning point came in early to mid-May this year, when the game began increasing advertising spend and launched on the App Store. Trackable market data gradually began to emerge at the same time, initially only on iOS. Trackable Google Play data did not appear until mid-to-late August.

Looking at specific market performance, the game generated fewer than 1,000 daily downloads in early May, when trackable data first appeared, but surpassed 10,000 by mid-month. It recorded approximately 607,000 downloads for May as a whole. Downloads rose 41.5% month on month to 859,000 in June, then declined 8.1% to 790,000 in July, although the overall scale of new-user acquisition had begun to stabilize. Google Play produced trackable download data for the first time on August 21, contributing 59,000 downloads that day and lifting total daily downloads to 87,000.

Compared with downloads, the game's revenue growth has been more consistent and pronounced. Revenue was only US$147,000, or approximately RMB 980,000, in May, before surging 460.6% month on month to US$824,000, or RMB 5.52 million, in June. It then increased another 124.3% to US$1.848 million, or RMB 12.4 million, in July. After Google Play data began to be tracked in mid-to-late August, daily revenue quickly exceeded US$250,000 and has continued to grow. During the first 21 days of August, the game generated US$2.259 million, or approximately RMB 15.14 million, in global revenue, already 22.3% higher than its total for the full month of July.

To date, the game has accumulated approximately 3.1 million downloads worldwide. Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom rank as its three largest markets by downloads, accounting for 31.52%, 24.09%, and 5.1%, respectively. Cumulative revenue stands at approximately US$5.1 million, or RMB 34.12 million, with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany ranking as the top three contributors at 62.35%, 6.73%, and 5.5%, respectively.

Overall, Z Route has progressed through testing of an earlier version, inclusion in the company's product pipeline, delisting and renaming, and renewed scaling. It is no longer merely a small-scale validation product. The next question is whether it can sustain its current monetization efficiency.

02

A 'Retro' Zombie Theme

Built on the Proven Last War-Style Framework

Turning to the game itself, Z Route adopts a post-apocalyptic zombie and road-survival setting. With the world overrun by zombies and devastated environments, players must lead survivors along the road, eliminate enemies, rescue companions, and gradually restore a base capable of supporting long-term survival.

The story primarily revolves around the survivors and their base, providing narrative justification for recruiting heroes, repairing the hospital, rescuing survivors, and completing milestone missions.

Visually, the game uses a portrait-oriented, stylized 3D depiction of the apocalypse. Characters and zombies in promotional materials lean toward realism, while the actual game increases the brightness of its colors and effects, making gunfire, explosions, skills, and the impact of zombies falling more immediate. Notably, the game extensively reuses 3D models and advertising creatives previously developed for Puzzles & Survival, directly reducing development and testing costs.

In terms of gameplay, Z Route closely resembles Last War in its product structure from the front end through the long-term systems. Their differences lie mainly in presentation and emotional tone. Z Route makes the action chain of running, shooting, dodging, and charging more continuous, and its entry experience feels more like an apocalyptic escape sequence. Last War, by contrast, is lighter and brighter, resembling a more purely number-gate-driven, cartoon-style war game.

During the opening phase, players mainly complete tutorials through road stages, choosing blue zones that add units, weapons, and numerical bonuses while avoiding obstacles and zombie hordes. The squad gradually expands from a handful of survivors into a wider formation, while the number of firearms and density of projectiles increase in parallel. Numerical progression is translated directly into visible growth in headcount and firepower. As the stages advance, weapons, enemy types, and boss mechanics on the road begin to shape players' choices together. Some stages also feature multiple bosses and special weather conditions.

At around the six-minute mark, base systems begin to unlock. Players must repair facilities such as defensive lines, training grounds, hospitals, barracks, and taverns, spending resources and waiting for construction to finish. Base level determines which buildings can be unlocked and the maximum hero level, while repairing certain facilities also triggers base-defense battles. Road stages supply resources, and the base consumes them while unlocking new avenues for progression, creating a clear gameplay loop between the two.

The game then uses a conspicuous combat defeat to direct players back to the progression systems. By around the 12-minute mark, the hero system is largely fully unlocked. Heroes come in rarities such as SR, SSR, and UR and are divided into classes including Warrior, Assault, and Tactical. As players progress, the squad expands from a small number of members to five heroes. Different heroes' area damage, explosions, fire attacks, and crowd-control abilities directly affect the efficiency of clearing zombies and defeating bosses.

This design serves as a bridge between numerical systems: the base produces resources, resources strengthen heroes, and stronger heroes make road battles faster and more satisfying. At this point, the gameplay loop stabilizes into 'base missions, hero upgrades, road stages, and story-driven rescues.'

After Stage 13, the radar and scanning system appears. Players can use a fan-shaped scan to locate nearby survivors, resource points, and rescue events, connecting road progression with objectives on a broader map. From Stage 23 onward, the world map, wilderness resource points, and troop-training buildings unlock in succession. Alliances, Alliance Research, VIP, mission lists, field objectives, march deployment, and other systems are subsequently introduced, gradually shifting the product from number-gate road stages into a complete SLG loop.

Overall, Z Route uses a casual SLG framework that has already been thoroughly validated by the market, and the product is relatively polished. It handles early pacing, the sequence of system unlocks, and combat feedback smoothly, while establishing a degree of distinctiveness through its more realistic zombie presentation and continuous road stages.

03

Still Some Distance From Becoming a New Leader in Number-Gate SLGs

But Z Route Has Already Secured a Place in the Race

Number-gate gameplay has long been one of the most fiercely contested segments in casual SLGs.

Since Last War broke out, a large number of new games have experimented with lightweight mechanics such as number gates, barrel shooting, and runner shooting. Yet Last War and Last Z remain the only leading titles to have achieved stable revenue at scale.

After launching in June 2023, Last War rapidly entered a growth phase, with revenue remaining at a high level from 2024 onward. Diandian data shows that between April 2024 and April of this year, its monthly revenue generally remained between US$100 million and US$150 million, peaking at US$148 million, or approximately RMB 990 million, in February 2025. Full-year revenue reached approximately US$1.274 billion, or RMB 8.54 billion, in 2024 and increased further to US$1.504 billion, or RMB 10.08 billion, in 2025. Revenue began to decline after May this year, but the game still generated US$62.033 million, or approximately RMB 416 million, in July.

Compared with Last War's long-standing position at a high level, Last Z entered the top tier later.

After expanding into more markets in December 2024, the game's monthly revenue rose consecutively from US$1.889 million, or approximately RMB 12.66 million, to US$50.761 million, or approximately RMB 340 million, in January of this year, marking 13 consecutive months of month-on-month growth. Its full-year revenue in 2025 was approximately US$290 million, or RMB 1.946 billion. Although revenue began to decline after February this year, the title still generated US$30.477 million, or approximately RMB 204 million, worldwide in July.

By comparison, Z Route remains significantly smaller, but it has already shown the potential to challenge the existing market structure.

From a product perspective, its early experience is sufficiently direct, with tightly paced road battles and clear feedback from numerical growth and increased firepower. Its integration of base, hero, and SLG content is also relatively complete, avoiding a total disconnect between the front-end gameplay and the long-term systems. After nearly a year of testing and adjustment, the current version is polished enough to support further scaling.

The continuous growth recorded since May also sends a positive signal. For a product still in the early stages of scaling, this means it has passed basic validation for both new-user acquisition and monetization, earning an opportunity to expand further in the market.

The barriers to success in number-gate SLGs, however, extend beyond product development. The gameplay is easy to understand and well suited to short-form video advertising, but it also faces problems such as homogeneous creatives, creative fatigue, and intense competition for paid users. As advertising scales, customer-acquisition costs may rise rapidly. Whether casual users attracted by ads can transition smoothly into long-term hero, base, and alliance content will also have a direct impact on return on ad spend.

Z Route's current surge therefore deserves attention, but it is not yet sufficient to establish the game as the third leading title in the category. The key issues to watch next are whether Android user acquisition can be sustained, whether acquisition costs remain controllable, and whether the SLG back end can convert short-term traffic into stable retention and recurring spending. Only if all three conditions are met will Z Route have a chance to break the long-standing dominance of Last War and Last Z at the top of the market.