When Stupid Never Dies was first announced, I will admit I was pretty intrigued. Developed by GPTRACK50, which is led by former Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, and published by SEGA, the title was originally revealed during The Game Awards in 2025 as an "opening act" of sorts. Its trailer showcased a zombie who looked as though he had just stepped out of the '90s, alongside a young woman who looked ready to take a shot at him. However, rather than remaining a standard reveal trailer, it quickly evolved into a punk music video with a catchy song that instantly burned itself into my memory. At the time, I was not fully sure what the game would actually be, but I knew I wanted to learn more.
Well, after nearly a year's worth of trailers and updates, Stupid Never Dies is finally here, and GPTRACK50 gave me the opportunity to play the game ahead of its release. Having followed it since its announcement, its unique blend of gameplay and punk-rock-inspired aesthetics continued to draw me toward the title; however, at the same time, I was not completely sold. To be completely upfront, I am not the biggest fan of titles that feature roguelike gameplay. There have been a handful of games that caught me by surprise over the years, but I am still very apprehensive the moment I learn a project is going down that route. Sure, Stupid Never Dies is not a roguelike in the traditional sense, but it does incorporate many elements from the genre, which made me question if it would really be for me. Despite those doubts, I dove into the game with an open mind, and what I found was unexpected—though it took a little time to get there.
The Story:
The story of Stupid Never Dies is simple, dumb fun. It begins by explaining how monsters were introduced to the world; yet humanity, being humanity, didn’t care and fought back, imprisoning them as if they were nothing more than wild, rabid animals. From there, life went on as usual—until one day everything changed when a being known as KOM appeared. KOM rallied the monsters and went to war with humanity, bringing about the apocalypse before escaping to the layers below the planet's surface. What was left behind was a ruined world where the vast majority of the human population had been wiped out. Of course, not all monsters agreed to join KOM on his crusade, including the “not-so-smart” zombie, Davy.
Rather than joining the other zombies, Davy locked himself away inside a mall to avoid the conflict. While exploring, he discovered the frozen remains of a woman inside a freezer. For Davy, it was love at first sight, and from that moment on, he vowed never to eat another human again. Day after day, Davy speaks to this mysterious girl and imagines their life together—until the arrival of the half-robotic Dr. Frank.
After eating a mysterious phoenix egg Dr. Frank brought with him, Davy gains the special power to “Style Eat,” the exact same ability KOM possesses. This allows Davy to consume other beings to gain their powers and knowledge, meaning he could surpass KOM and save the world if he wished to. Of course, saving the world is not on Davy’s agenda, nor does he care to change the state of the planet, but Dr. Frank uses harsh reality to convince him otherwise. He is completely upfront with Davy: the girl he loves is already dead, and the moment the mall's power fails, she will thaw out and decay. However, if Davy were to Style Eat KOM, he would gain the knowledge needed to revive her so the two could be “together forever.” Driven by this new motivation, Davy agrees to help Dr. Frank and his associates, flushing himself down the toilet to enter the lower layers.
Stupid Never Dies isn’t the deepest narrative around, but it is genuinely a lot of fun, and the voice actors for the zombie characters fully commit to their roles. While on the surface they speak with slow, slurred voices, in the monster world they can move and speak normally. I’ll admit I didn’t always sit around to let the full voice lines play out during these moments, but I commend the cast for going the extra mile. The characters themselves grew on me quickly, but the frozen girl—who we learn is named Julia—is the most compelling of the bunch. While Davy fell in love with her based solely on appearance, players get to learn about her past life through messages, videos, and social media posts. We begin to care for her as a character and want to see Davy save her, even as he pushes forward with his single-track mind. Each return trip from the lower layers develops this plot further, providing enough motivation to keep going. Eventually, things shift, which keeps the story from feeling stale.
Surprisingly, the game is broken into three major story arcs. The initial narrative focuses on saving Julia, while the second half takes a different route entirely. Once the credits roll, however, you still aren't finished, as a post-game story becomes available. For many players, this is where the “true game” begins—primarily from a gameplay perspective.
Diving into the Dungeon:
Stupid Never Dies is an action RPG with roguelike elements, but it isn’t a typical roguelike.
Each run through the subterranean dungeon beneath the Earth begins on a randomly selected first floor drawn from a variety of potential "regions." Each region type features its own set of enemies, monsters to contend with, bosses to fight, and distinct room layouts to navigate. Both the enemies and Davy start at level 1—with their physical character level also set to 1—and grow stronger as Davy progresses deeper into the dungeon. Naturally, Davy levels up by defeating enemies, which boosts his core stats, but this progression loop is not quite as straightforward as it initially seems. When returning to the surface—whether by clearing a set of floors or because Davy met an untimely death—all accumulated experience is banked and converted into a permanent multiplier. This multiplier is where Davy’s true scaling lies, making future runs significantly easier. While it might initially take five kills to reach level 2 on your very first attempt, before long a single kill will skyrocket you to level 10 or beyond. Eventually, Davy will be racing toward level 100 long before reaching the bottom of the dungeon. At that point, character levels themselves become mostly irrelevant, though you still need to slay enough enemies to match the scaling of upcoming challenges—namely, the bosses.
During a dungeon run, Davy moves at full speed and has access to two default attack types: a light attack and a heavy attack. He can also jump, perform aerial combos, and dodge into enemies to counter their strikes, though his base form remains somewhat limited. Additional abilities can be attached by modifying his body with parts randomly dropped as dungeon rewards, but these skills carry cooldowns and cannot be spammed continuously. The same applies to his signature bite ability, which has limited charges that regenerate as you fight enemies or pick up items. While the bite attack deals damage, its primary function is healing Davy and allowing him to assume new forms. Biting standard enemies simply restores health (unless they are skeletons), but biting an Elite Enemy whose core is exposed or left behind grants Davy the ability to transform into that specific monster. These transformations are temporary and last for a set number of floors, though you can store up to two saved forms at any given time. Strategic players can save transformations for ideal scenarios, but the floor limit introduces a "use it or lose it" dynamic. Unless you strongly dislike your current transformation or your stored options are extremely situational, there is little reason to keep Davy in his default form—especially since Elite Enemies litter the dungeon, ensuring a steady supply of new transformations.
As for the transformations themselves, each feels distinct. The werewolf is a rapid, ground-based attacker, whereas the golem is a massive, slow-moving powerhouse capable of dealing devastating damage. There are also specialized transformations that introduce entirely unique mechanics, such as the ability to convert enemies into personal minions. Most players will quickly find their own favorites, but all forms are useful and are often provided right when they are needed most. Finally, Davy can activate a "Davy Burst," which grants a massive surge of power and can turn the tide in dire situations. Because it is highly limited and requires a dedicated meter to charge, it is best saved for boss encounters, where it can easily make the difference between victory and defeat.
In addition to transformations, Davy receives stat upgrades in classic roguelike fashion. Upon defeating key enemies or opening hidden treasure chests, players are presented with a choice of three passive abilities, along with the option to reroll the selection. These range from straightforward stat boosts like health increases to highly specific, situational perks that allow you to specialize your build. This system forms the core of Davy’s combat synergy, though the pool of available upgrades is fairly limited early in the game.
Once Davy clears a floor, several options become available. He lands in a staging area where he can spend points on temporary buffs for the next floor, heal up, swap between preset equipment loadouts, or practice combos in a training zone. All collected loot is safely banked here, allowing players to exit the game without losing progress or press forward into the next set of floors. When advancing, you can choose to skip floors based on displayed clear rewards, though skipping introduces trade-offs. Skipping too far ahead puts you against much stronger enemies—a minor issue once Davy's EXP bonus is sufficiently high—while moving too slowly risks running out of time. Every run operates on an active timer that can only be extended by picking up time bonuses or clearing specific floors. If the clock hits zero, Davy’s health rapidly deteriorates; while you can technically sustain yourself by biting enemies, it will only prolong the inevitable for so long.
When Davy finally reaches the end of a dungeon tier, a boss fight awaits. These encounters feel reminiscent of MMORPG raid mechanics, requiring players to recognize and adapt to distinct attack patterns. For example, one boss spews fire across the ground before blasting a gust of wind toward you; the objective is to hide behind fallen boulders to block the blast, or face instant death. Area-of-effect (AoE) indicators also telegraph incoming attacks, making quick positioning vital. Slaying bosses is primarily about mastering the dodge-and-punish rhythm, though high-level stats allow you to brute-force certain encounters depending on your current build and active abilities.
Returning to the Hub:
After finishing a run through the dungeon, Davy is brought back to the mall where he began his adventure, and players gain access to multiple facilities. Dr. Frank logs the enemies you have fought and discovered; his assistant, Acelino, processes and upgrades equipment you have collected, allowing Davy to equip parts using the “Body Hack” system; Bessie runs a shop that unlocks new randomly drawn abilities; a zombie clown rewards you based on your achievements; and both Julia and an ice cream shop offer ways to purchase permanent buffs and upgrades. There is also a shop that lets you customize your TickTock Teddie—the timekeeper Davy carries into the dungeon—and listen to the game’s killer soundtrack. Additional areas and facilities open up as time goes on, with new content constantly being drip-fed across the entire campaign. It is not until the end of the “main” story that all features are fully unlocked, but once they are, players are free to customize Davy as they wish and are given plenty of tools to make reaching the bottom of the dungeon achievable.
The other primary purpose of the hub is advancing the story. Speaking with each character reveals more about their backgrounds and the world, with the previously mentioned moments involving Julia serving as a major highlight. While visiting everyone initially seems like it might become tedious—especially given how slowly Davy moves on the surface—he is thankfully provided with a robot vacuum cleaner to ride quite early on. Additionally, Davy can instantly fast-travel to key facilities within the mall simply by aiming toward them and pressing the prompt displayed on screen. This makes traversal significantly faster, allowing players to hit every essential stop and jump straight back into the action.
Style Takes the Lead Before the Gameplay Kicks In:
With all of this being said, Stupid Never Dies isn’t a game that hits the ground running. In fact, it moves almost as slowly as Davy himself.
The game takes its time introducing mechanics, and the initial dives into the layers below feel very basic—repeating the same structure over and over. During this opening phase, it is truly the style and music that help carry the experience, backed by visual effects that make it feel like you are playing inside a punk rock music video. It kept me intrigued enough to want to keep going, even though at that point I found myself wanting more story and fewer dives into a "generic" dungeon. However, things changed after a while, which is when I found myself completely hooked.
Once most of the core mechanics are introduced and Davy’s experience bonus reaches a higher tier, every flush down the toilet leads to raw beat 'em up fun. Between constant transformations, crazy strong abilities, and the unique perks that come from Body Hacks, there are so many ways a run can play out. Upon reaching the bottom of a layer, you get a nice little breather to advance the narrative before throwing yourself back into the fray once again. It feels like natural progression—a stark contrast to what the opening hours might lead you to believe—and the pacing flies by. I often found myself checking the real-world clock to see if I had time to squeeze in just one more run, while other times I had to convince myself to call it a night—even though you can suspend a run mid-gameplay... I just didn't want to stop.
That said, there is one moment near the end of the main campaign that drags a bit, where I found I had to pace myself. Rather than powering straight through like I did with everything before, I switched to doing only two runs a day until I pushed past that slump. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was the only point where progression felt like it hit a minor roadblock—one that lifted immediately once I cleared it. Even the post-game avoided that dragging feeling thanks to how its new levels are sectioned off. It all circles back to the rewarding loop of the original story, and it feels great. After spending roughly 20 hours doing "the same thing," you would think I’d be ready to move on, but instead I was eager to tackle the next challenges waiting for me.
Eventually, I know burnout will set in, but Stupid Never Dies isn’t a game meant to be rushed straight through. Feel free to take breaks when you need to and enjoy the ride at your own pace.
Should you play it?
Stupid Never Dies is a game that will not resonate with everyone, but it fully accomplishes what it set out to do. It is a relatively simple beat 'em up with RPG and roguelike elements that offers endless replayability, easily pulling you back in for "just one more run" thanks to its bite-sized five- to twenty-minute session length. Players can easily become hooked on its core loop, which delivers progression that feels both satisfying and rewarding. The story and great cast of characters help motivate you to keep jumping back in; by the time the main plot reached its conclusion, I did not want to say goodbye to them—and thankfully, I didn't have to. While I cannot say I enjoyed every single transformation Davy can assume, there were a handful of favorites that became my go-to choices whenever the opportunity arose, and playing as them was a total blast.
I also found the boss encounters unique enough to keep repeated fights from feeling stale, though unless a boss floor offered a particularly valuable reward, I typically opted to skip them to reach the bottom layers faster. This freedom of choice—which extends to nearly every system in the game—helped keep the experience fresh, even though my initial impressions led me to believe otherwise. There is no denying that the game takes some time to fully click, but once you clear that initial hurdle, you are in for a great time.
Overall, Stupid Never Dies is a solid debut title for GPTRACK50. Injected with '90s punk rock DNA, the game features an addictive gameplay loop, engaging characters, and unique transformation mechanics. It is pure, dumb fun that makes it easy to jump back in time and time again.
VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on PlayStation 5
Review Copy was Provided
Available On: PlayStation 5 and PC
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