Stupid Never Dies Hands-On Preview: Zombie Bites

Newcomer developers GPTTRACK50 Inc are clearly made up of fans of 2000s action titles, because their new title Stupid Never Dies is exactly that.

That isn’t a knock against the action title, far from it. When done right, throwback titles can be genuinely new experiences that feel fun and replayable. Based on my 2 hours with the early build we got (demo’s out now FYI), I clearly had fun going through the roguelite motions.

Night Of The Living-It-Up Dead

See, you play as a zombie named Davy who gets really powerful the more enemies he kills and eats. As per your standard third-person action game goes, Davy has Light and Heavy attacks, and can do special moves with their own cooldown times. The kicker is that he can eat enemy Cores that not only fill up his health but also make him transform to either a werewolf, a harpy, or even a vampire. Any Elite Boss Core you eat will net you this transformation; you can only have one at a time but it’s definitely a new style that can mostly get you through the game’s tougher challenges.

As for defense and dodging, that’s all mapped onto Davy’s default special move: the Stupid Parry. Pressing the Left Trigger makes Davy do a dodge that also acts as a parry; any attack that hits this “Dodge” absorbs damage. When you press an attack button after that, Davy does a powerful counter indicated by the flashy colours that pop up. Parrying harder “yellow” attacks will net him more absorbed damage and bigger cashouts. The catch is that if Davy doesn’t heal (via chomping enemies), he will go down quick.

My 2 hours of going through the deluge of colourful hell dimensions had me using Stupid Parry a lot just to get bigger damage, thus faster level-up opportunites and getting more buffs. I’m literally playing a glass cannon zombie who can occasionally transform into a speed demon werewolf when I play my cards right, but one wrong hit and I’m sent packing back to the mall where I recoup and start the run over again. It’s fast, frenetic, and pretty fun, with Davy being an unwieldly zombie by design since the game encourages you to transform and get buffed ASAP. The timer for the overall run also makes you speed up and not dally around.

World War Z

Just because the game has horror elements in it does not make Stupid Never Dies a horror or survival title. It’s the polar opposite: the game is colourful, has juvenile humour splashed all over its neon-esque aesthetic amidst the drab George Romero-like post-apocalyptic backdrop, and isn’t shy in making Davy’s movement and kit as fast and extravagant as possible.

The game’s cast isn’t morbid and dour. you have your mad cyborg doctor Doc Franken, were-chihuahua Acelino who fixes you up with equippable armours called Overtech, and zombie burger-serving lady Bessie who unlocks your Zombie skills with burger meat and stuff you find in your runs.

Its 2000s aesthetic and non-stop attempts at comedy may not be for everyone, but GPTTRACK50’s first-ever action title is freewheeling it with its replayable nature and fast action. I’m digging it so far, but that’s due to my bias in seeing PS2-era titles making a comeback. It remains to be seen if the full game can do the heavy lifting, but the demo coloured me impressed with its, well, colour choices and pizazz.

Stupid Never Dies will be out for PC and consoles later on October 2026.