DaRmaZat First announced in December 2025 at The Game Awards, Stupid Never Dies is the debut title from GPTRACK50, a studio led by former Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi and made up of veteran action game creators. The fast-paced, single-player 3D action RPG throws you into a bizarre fantasy world where Davy, the weakest zombie imaginable, must devour monsters, steal their powers, and grow stronger to achieve his rather unusual goal. With its dungeon-based runs, over-the-top combat, and deliberately ridiculous brand of humor, this is a game that makes no secret of the fact that it wants you to leave your common sense at the door.
Davy is one of the last undead beings on Earth after the supremely evil KOM and his monsters have eaten almost everything on the planet, or, when that was not possible, turned its inhabitants into zombies like Davy himself. During one of his aimless walks in circles through the city mall, he suddenly comes across Julia in a freezer room, a beautiful girl who has frozen to death. As the weak teenage zombie he is, he naturally falls head over heels in love with her. Purely one-sided love at first sight, of course, because the girl cannot exactly talk to him in her current state. Nevertheless, he is convinced that she must be the love of his life and that he will do absolutely anything to start a relationship with her. If only he can bring her back to life first.
Shortly afterwards, Dr. Frank Steiner shows up, a half-robot, half-human scientist accompanied by his equally bizarre assistants. There’s Acelino the yapper, Goyle, a talking gargoyle statue, and Bessie, a female zombie who works at a burger stand where the meat is anything but fresh. Steiner promises that he can help Davy, then flushes him through a toilet bowl into another dimension, the so-called dungeon. There, Davy must fight all sorts of fantasy monsters, or eat them in true zombie style to eliminate them, as they are all minions of KOM. Before all this, Davy had eaten Frank’s magical Phoenix Egg, granting him extraordinary powers that Steiner is all too eager to put to use. If you can destroy KOM and seize his OverTechnology, perhaps you can revive the girl and give everyone their happy ending. That, in a nutshell, is the utterly bonkers plot.
To my own surprise, the gameplay itself features quite a few roguelike mechanics. The dungeons, although extremely linear and literally consisting of corridors that you select in advance and work your way through floor by floor, take you to different locations each time. You have to clear them against the clock, and at the end of every dungeon, you face the boss known as the Gatekeeper. Only after clearing a dungeon of its enemies does your character’s growth speed increase. By eating enemies’ cores, you also seize their abilities, presented as selectable cards, during that particular run, which the game calls a Dive. Getting defeated during a Dive does not mean a complete failure, either, as you still take your EXP back to the City Mall, which also serves as your base and is where Dr. Steiner and his various companions hang out.
Certain companions also help you upgrade your Zombie Skills. Bessie, for instance, always shows up in a scripted sequence to pick you up once a run is over. This is not a roguelike in the style of Hades, where you can choose to push further and further into the same run. Instead, progression is more narratively structured and scripted, keeping a tighter grip on the pace. You can also obtain OverTechnology (OT) skills from Acelino using the parts you manage to scavenge during your dungeon visits. These allow you to combine new active skills into presets of your own. During combat-free areas in the dungeon, known as Landing Areas, you can also call on both companions for their services.
Personally, I found Stupid Never Dies‘ combat rules quite complex, with timed parries called Stupid Parry, plenty of button functions to remember, and all sorts of Burst, Stagger, and Knock Down tricks that often depend on the type of opponent you are facing. Even biting an enemy to perform a one-off instant skill attack becomes much harder against Elites. Playing with a controller is definitely the best way to experience this game, as there are plenty of fighting techniques to master and different combat styles to handle, each with its own sync levels. Since you take over the special skills of the enemies you defeat by gobbling them up with the so-called Style Eat ability, these skills are not limited to combat. Some even help with navigation, allowing you to reach previously inaccessible areas of the dungeon. Naturally, you also get some rather crazy animations by transforming into the specific enemy you have defeated, which is undoubtedly the coolest aspect of the entire game.
All these stolen skills do, of course, come with fairly lengthy cooldowns at their default levels. Truth be told, the combat mechanics are quite deep, but the game throws a little too much at you right from the start. During the first few dungeons, you are bombarded with information to such an extent that it becomes overwhelming, rather than feeling like you are gradually developing your own playstyle. It also becomes noticeable after a few hours that both the skill cards and the dungeon levels themselves start to repeat. This is therefore a game best played in short bursts, doing a Dive or two whenever you have some spare time, so that everything continues to feel relatively fresh. As a third point of criticism, I really missed a dodge function and, above all, an enemy lock-on feature in this fast-paced, chaotic combat, especially when dealing with flying enemies in this 3D environment.
As should be clear by now, Stupid Never Dies is a game that rarely takes itself seriously. This is apparent in practically everything. The plot, setting, characters, bosses, and all their conversations are utterly bonkers. Not all of the humor will land with everyone, though. To begin with, you need to be able to switch your brain off to enjoy this kind of game. The art style is pretty impressive, too, and reminds me somewhat of Borderlands, but I also suspect it will not be for people who are sensitive to fast-moving visuals, especially with those trippy, psychedelic-like colors and extremely bright flashing lights featured throughout the game.
Made in Unreal Engine 5, the game deliberately steers clear of photorealism in favor of a very appealing comic-book style. Performance is impeccable, and the game supports TSR, FSR, and DLSS upscaling. Frame generation is absent, however. The package is rounded off by a pretty cool soundtrack that has already been making the rounds, as its neo-pop-punk sound was one of the more striking aspects of the game’s PR campaign.
Final Thoughts
Stupid Never Dies is a completely bonkers action game that gradually reveals considerably more roguelike mechanics than I expected, thanks to its dungeon-based runs. However, despite all the mechanics and rules to keep track of, the lightning-fast combat feels somewhat basic and eventually becomes repetitive. As for the rest, the plot, which serves more as a way to establish the atmosphere than something to take seriously, the pop-rock soundtrack, the madcap humor, and the brightly colored, flashing visuals are all a matter of personal taste. But one thing you certainly can’t accuse this action title of is lacking a distinct personality. Ultimately, Stupid Never Dies is still quite an enjoyable game, especially for anyone who likes to switch their brain off every once in a while.
Additional Information
Release Date: October 22, 2026
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: GPTrack50 Inc.
Publisher: GPTrack50 Inc.
Relevant Links: Available on Steam.
