Zombies have always been a really unique kind of monster: a creature that used to be human, brought back to life, now hunting the people it used to be. It’s always interesting to see what kind of stories can be done with not just zombies at the forefront, but also other kinds of monsters. While I never watched shows like The Walking Dead, I did grow up playing zombies on Call of Duty, so the idea of zombies and what they can do has a small piece of my childhood.
When I first learned about Stupid Never Dies, a new action roguelite game that looked to be overflowing with charm and monsters, I was pretty excited to see how it would turn out. Recently, I’ve become a bigger fan of the genre thanks to fantastic games such as Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes. With this being the debut title of GPTRACK50 Inc., a studio that has talent who worked on incredible games like Devil May Cry, I was interested to see what they had in store. After my time with it, I saw a game that’s overflowing with style and, while fun, had some issues that made my experience somewhat muddled.
Against the World
The plot of Stupid Never Dies, while cheesy, was overall really fun, made better by its cast of characters. It starts as a really simple story of Davy, a zombie wanting to reawaken a frozen girl he found named Julia after developing a crush on her. In order to do so, he needs to defeat a mysterious enemy known as KOM, whose power has the potential to save her. He’s helped on his journey by a varied cast of friends that each provide upgrades for Davy to get stronger each time he dives underground for a new run.
The game’s humor is something I really enjoyed, with a lot of jokes coming at the expense of Davy for being a zombie or one of the other many side characters and their traits. Most jokes got a small laugh or chuckle from me. There were a few moments where it fell flat, but those were few and far between. What I did find a bit lacking was KOM themselves; while I like that they’re more of a big bad force of nature that looms over the game, I would’ve liked to see more of them, as by the time the final fight begins, it feels like I learned very little about them.
It’s hard to talk about the game without mentioning how incredibly stylish it is. Going for a punk rock-inspired aesthetic, with some moments looking like they were ripped out of a magazine and plastered all over the screen. This game wears its style on its sleeve and isn’t afraid to show it off, which was great, as it made for a unique look and feel. For the most part, it worked out perfectly, with only a few moments throughout the game feeling like it could’ve taken a step back.
The same can be said with the music; I loved pretty much everything heard throughout the game. Every time the music switched from exploration to combat or when a new boss theme started, it got me pumped to get into a fight. Even the overworld music when exploring the mall was great; I only wished the game allowed me to play any track while in the hub instead of sitting at the music select, but it isn’t a huge dealbreaker. Overall, this is definitely a soundtrack I’m going to listen to for quite a while.
Bite and Mash
Each new run in Stupid Never Dies starts with Davy making his way through a randomly selected layer, each having their own monster selection and hazard to overcome. Davy at first starts weak, with his punches and kicks doing very little to enemies but as he levels up gets stronger. With him also able to dodge attacks and parry them via the stupid parry system. Whenever an enemy flashes yellow, Davy has a chance to stupid parry them, causing them to stagger for a few seconds and get in a few hits. As well as charging up the bite meter at the bottom of the screen. This took me a second to get used to, as I’m not entirely the best at parrying in other games, but here the timing is very forgiving, and it’s very easy to master.
Whenever Davy has at least one of the two bite meters full, he’s able to take a bite out of an enemy and steal health back; this is the main way that healing is done during battle outside of certain upgrades and healing in rest stops. The bite meter can also be charged via normal attacks or by finding a bite orb throughout the dungeon, but the most reliable way is via stupid parries, which is also how Davy can unlock the main gameplay mechanic.
At first, it can seem like Davy is no match against the countless enemies thrown your way, but that’s when the main mechanic of the game starts to shine: style eating. Every so often, certain enemies that Davy defeats drop their lifeforce and when eaten allows Davy to transform into that type of monster. With each having a unique playstyle, at first I would’ve assumed you could just stick with one for the entirety of each run, but that’s when I realized each style is only available for 3 floors and disappears afterwards. The game encourages mixing and matching, and it made me really think a lot about my playstyle: should I pick up a new style I haven’t tried? Or risk keeping one of the two I currently have that only has one floor left before disappearing in hopes of finding a copy of it?
This was honestly one of my favorite parts of the game, as it never got me too used to a specific style, making for gameplay that I never got tired of. What also helps is that certain styles also let Davy use status ailments; in his base zombie form, he’s able to fire vomit that poisons, but in other forms like snow fairy, he’s able to freeze enemies in place, perfect for areas where large crowds are starting to form. The game also has certain areas locked behind specific styles, like a wall jump needing the werewolf style or a walled-off area needing the cyclops style. With some decent rewards usually locked behind these areas, it was yet another thing that made me choose my styles carefully.
Davy also has other ways to get stronger, such as with upgrade receipts. Every few level-ups, one is printed out and can range from status buffs like stronger attacks or gaining more rerolls, and even leveling up the rarity of receipts. These upgrades are only for each current run and disappear whenever Davy returns to the surface. But recipes can be upgraded in the hub world via one of the many storefronts, with Bessie, a friendly zombie, running a restaurant where it occurs. Alongside her are more storefronts that offer upgrades, with the more important one being the tattoo parlor.
As runs progress, Davy is able to find parts to upgrade himself, with the tattoo parlor letting you customize them. Parts come in different rarities, with common being the first ones unlocked from the start. Their upgrades can range from increasing the chance of critical attacks to gaining unique skills for his zombie style that his other forms aren’t able to use. Later on, you can change specific upgrades on rarer parts, but this comes in really late in the game and would’ve been more useful earlier.
The Rotten Pieces
While I really enjoyed Stupid Never Dies, there were a few things that I wish were done better; for starters, the game doesn’t have a lock-on option. During my playthrough, there were dozens of times when I’d either miss an attack completely or lose sight of an enemy due to their speed. It became very frustrating and made some moments where I was trying to keep a combo going come to a screeching halt. While the game doesn’t become unplayable, it does become frustrating as some floors are big enough that I have to waste time looking for a specific enemy I accidentally ran past. There are moments where not having lock-on works, such as when Davy gets inflicted with a debuff or during boss fights, as those arenas are usually small, but overall it does make the game more difficult in ways not wanted.
Another issue, albeit a much less minor one, I had was with the clock; every time Davy starts a new run, a clock on the top right of the screen starts counting down. Once it reaches zero, he starts to lose the ability to heal and slowly decays, with the game forcing you to end the run and return to the surface or die and lose your items. While I did dislike this gameplay feature at first, it can be upgraded with the right materials. Time can also be earned back via floors marked with timers at the end or after reaching a specific layer number. While it was frustrating at first, once I got used to it, it made me more conscientious about my runs. Should I dive into a layer with better loot while risking my timer dipping into the red, or head to one that would guarantee me more time to explore? It especially helps that time is paused in between rest stops, allowing me a second to relax and plan my strategy rather than feel like I’m rushed.
While those two issues were manageable, there was one moment during my playthrough that annoyed me greatly. Near the end game, certain events during a cutscene occur that make me feel like the next step is to head for the final boss; it really got me excited, but that excitement was immediately killed as the game forced me into doing a long and tedious rematch of all previous bosses. While bosses can be rematched in between runs if their layer happens to appear as an option when at a rest stop, this was mandatory, and not only that, each boss required a separate run.
Hearing all this made me throw up my hands in frustration, as runs at that point started taking around 15 to 20 minutes to do. While there was another similar type of requirement earlier in the game, which had me diving into specific floors for items, this was right at the end of the game and felt like padding. This made the next two or three hours a slog of running in and out of the dungeon, made even worse when I happened to die during a boss fight or on my way to one.
Ready for the Next Dive
Stupid Never Dies is a fun roguelite game that needed a few more things fixed to really make it shine; it’s a game overflowing with passion and wrapped in an art style and music that make it stand out on its own. I rarely got bored due to how chaotic the gameplay can be, as well as how fun it was to mix and match via style eating, and all the upgrades I earned every time I leveled up. The story was also a highlight of the game, with almost every character bringing something fresh and fun and only a few jokes falling flat.
However, major issues did bring the game down, such as the lack of a lock-on trigger, which made me miss attacks a lot of the time. As well as padding near the end of the game that felt placed there to extend gameplay rather than properly tell a story. It wasn’t enough to make me dislike the game, but it did lower my enjoyment just enough that I wish any future games would address it. If you’re interested in the game, I’d say check it out whenever it goes on sale. I’m interested to see what GPTRACK50 Inc. does next; for a debut title, this was great. Whether it’s a new series or another adventure with Davy and his friends, I’m on board.
Disclaimer: Sega provided a PlayStation 5 copy of Stupid Never Dies for Review Purposes.
