The story is set in the space around Jupiter and follows a young colonist named Leo Stenbuck, one of the few survivors from his colony after it was attacked by the military force BAHRAM.

Zone of the Enders is a hack and slash and third-person shooter game in which the player takes the role of Leo Stenbuck, a child who becomes the pilot of the advanced mecha, or Frame, known as Jehuty.

As the player progresses, Jehuty's arsenal grows and its abilities expand by obtaining programs alongside their respective code.

A military force known as BAHRAM sends its primary offensive unit to attack Antilia, a Jupiter colony, in an attempt to secure two advanced machines known as Orbital Frames.

[5] One of the few colony survivors, a young boy named Leo Stenbuck, witnesses a falling Laborious Extra-Orbital Vehicle (LEV) killing his friends.

Using this suit and its built-in intelligence, A.D.A, he fends off the BAHRAM forces led by officer Viola who seeks to claim Jehuty on the orders of their leader, Nohman.

[7] Battling through Antilia, Leo rescues civilians, including Celvice Klein, a friend; he defends the colony from destruction, defeating the BAHRAM forces and their commanders one by one.

[9] Later, Atlantis pilot Rock Thunderheart meets Leo in person, revealing that BAHRAM forces are still determined to obtain Jehuty and are threatening to destroy the colony.

Zone of the Enders entered development for the PlayStation and PC, but in actuality Konami had no intentions of releasing them for those platforms.

Director and scenario writer Noriaki Okamura wanted to write a serious story featuring people with complicated lives; its main theme examines the purpose and nature of life, as reflected in Leo's hardships during the game.

[26][27] The Japanese edition premium package contains an original video animation titled ZOE: 2167 IDOLO; produced by Sunrise, it is set five years before the events on the game.

[28] They were originally sold packaged with a preview demo of the then-upcoming Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

[31] Chester "Chet" Barber of NextGen called it "a great action game that any gamer will surely enjoy.

[3][38] GamePro found it superior to the PlayStation 2's other mecha game available contemporarily, Armored Core 2 thanks to its responsive controls and quick combat.

[41] The story has been disliked by reviewers with Smith finding the main characters inferior to the ones from other mecha series such as Mobile Suit Gundam whereas Snackdawg of GameZone disliked the story as he stated that despite its dark parts such as the deaths of Leo's friends, his father and his friend being shot, it instead made everyone "simply seems whiny".

[41] The combat was also considered too easy due to poor enemy AI, lack of variety, and an excessive number of tactical options,[38] and the game has been found to be too short without an increase in challenge on higher difficulty settings.

[38] The versus mode was better received, with Shane Satterfield of GameSpot praising its competitiveness and its accentuation of the singleplayer campaign's strengths with Klepek giving similar responses.

[48] It was the sixth best selling game in North America during March 2001;[49] sales were boosted by the inclusion of a demo for the highly-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 2.

[53] Although there were no plans for a sequel to the original game,[16] in May 2002, Konami announced Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner; it was released for the PlayStation 2 in February 2003.

[54] To bridge the two games, Konami published an intersequel following Leo's activities with Atlantis and witnessing his growth as a pilot.

[56] A sequel to The 2nd Runner was announced in May 2012 as "The Enders Project," but was cancelled a year later due to difficulty with the HD ports.