Former Capcom developers try something truly different with Stupid Never Dies. We will show you exactly how different it is.

Stupid Never Dies is a new story-driven action zombie game from former Capcom developers who worked on games such as Resident Evil, Dragon's Dogma and Devil May Cry, now operating under their own Japanese studio, GPTRACK50. We were given access to a two-hour demo in which the game showcases its combat system combined with rogue-lite mechanics.

Davy, an ordinary zombie and the weakest of all monsters, happens to find a nice-looking magical egg in a shopping mall. He eats it, only to immediately discover that it belongs to Dr. Frank. Dr. Frank is a brilliant but obsessed scientist who guides Davy on his journey while pursuing ambitions of his own. At first sight, Davy falls in love with Julia, a university student who froze in a cryogenic chamber during the Great War. The war was fought between humanity and monsters from another world. To save Julia and bring her back to life, Davy must first defeat the king of the monsters, also known as KOM, reclaim humanity's lost knowledge and survive in the deadly depths of the underworld. Davy must fight his way to him through dungeons that he can enter by flushing himself down a special toilet.

In the dungeons, Davy regains the agility he had when he was human, and with his basic attacks he can punch monsters, kick them away or deflect their attacks. But that's only the beginning. In the dungeons, he can learn new special attacks and moves. At first, he can defeat weaker monsters, eat them and steal their strength. If you eat a lizard creature, you'll be able to vomit on enemies. If you eat a skeleton, you'll be able to throw its bones. The first rogue-lite elements also appear in the dungeons, such as choosing bonuses from three different cards. After completing a dungeon floor, you can buy additional bonus stats from vendors or heal yourself. In the shopping mall, which serves as Davy's refuge, he can have his body modified to make himself stronger and unlock new perks that increase his combat stats.

Specific monsters such as the werewolf, harpy, lich and others unlock entirely different fighting styles for Davy when he eats their cores. At first, Davy has only one available slot for switching between these styles. More slots open up later, allowing him to save multiple styles at once. Each style is somewhat different. As a werewolf, you attack quickly and have better mobility for evading attacks. The harpy uses ranged attacks and can also stir up the air with its wings and feathers when diving at enemies in a straight line. The lich style gives you the power to command hordes of skeletons. Enemies killed with its scythe turn into skeletons, and when it senses that an enemy has little health left, it can teleport to them.

It's clear that the veterans are trying to create something new, and the mechanic of gaining enemies' abilities and forms by eating them is interesting. However, the combat, and especially aerial combat, still has significant shortcomings. Enemies are difficult to hit in the air, and sometimes it is even harder to reach them.

The visual style is interesting and would fit the story quite well if the game didn't try to develop it through unnecessarily long and awkward dialogue and cutscenes. This is exactly the kind of game that should primarily present itself through its gameplay. If at least an hour of those two hours of gameplay was filled with stupid lines and awkward humor, I probably wouldn't be exaggerating. Stupid Never Dies has come up with a unique idea, but the combat definitely needs more work, and the developers should consider whether such a plot really needs to be developed through endless dialogue and cutscenes.