{"id":888302,"date":"2026-10-20T01:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/888302\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T01:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:14:14","slug":"stupid-never-dies-is-easily-the-worst-game-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/888302\/","title":{"rendered":"Stupid Never Dies Is Easily the Worst Game of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you went back in time and asked my teenage self to picture what video games would look like in 20 years, my vision would likely resemble Stupid Never Dies<\/a>. In many ways, it feels like the logical evolution of the games I loved as a kid: a colorful brawler with snazzy visuals, a juvenile sense of humor custom-made for a teen boy, and, of course, zombies. But after spending 26 miserable hours with Stupid Never Dies, I\u2019m so glad that video games have mostly moved past my dumbest desires.<\/p>\n

Dated doesn\u2019t begin to describe the debut action RPG from GPTRACK50, a new studio founded by former Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi. Style points only count for so much in a downright regressive action game that\u2019s saddled with a supremely uncomfortable story, a repetitive faux-roguelike hook, and unresponsive combat that wastes some good RPG depth. It\u2019s the kind of game I might have loved as a kid with a low bar for quality, and one that I\u2019d have to make a lot of excuses for loving as an adult who knows better.<\/p>\n

Cold bodies<\/p>\n

Stupid Never Dies aims to crack the underexplored concept of a video game romcom. It takes place in a dystopian future where a zombie outbreak left humanity vulnerable to a wider monster uprising. Werewolves and vampires inherited the Earth, pushing zombies to the bottom of the social totem pole. You play as Davy, an undead peon who joins the war against the King of Monsters alongside a resistance group holed up in a mall. But Davy\u2019s real motivation is love. In a story that takes clear notes from zombie romance comedy Warm Bodies, Davy is out to win the affection of a human woman who he has yet to meet.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the cute blonde-haired girl is dead. Or, she\u2019s at least frozen solid inside the backroom of a mall restaurant.<\/p>\n

\"Julia
\n Image: GPTRACK50 Inc.<\/p>\n

The premise is so tone-deaf that you have to wonder if it was designed to drum up low-hanging controversy in our current culture war era. It confidently stumbles into a trope first identified by writer Gail Simone<\/a> in 1999: fridging. The term refers to media\u2019s long history of subjecting female characters to harm and trauma as a means to create high-stakes motivation for a male hero. (The term has its roots in an infamous Green Lantern comic, in which Kyle Rayner discovers his mutilated girlfriend dead inside a refrigerator.) Plenty of games have fallen into the exhaustively documented \u201cwoman in refrigerators<\/a>\u201d trap over the medium\u2019s lifetime, but none as brazenly \u2014 and literally \u2014 as Stupid Never Dies.<\/p>\n

Julia, who we come to learn is the human popsicle\u2019s name, has the dishonor of being an object of affection and a damsel at once. Davy\u2019s goal is to find a way to save her life so that the two can fall in love and live happily ever after. That already creepy story is supported by even creepier systems. Davy can offer gifts to the body, which are displayed on the shelves around her like a murderer\u2019s shrine, in order to fill a heart meter and earn skill points. Leveling up that meter also earns you a photo of Julia, with Davy\u2019s head glued into the frame. While Julia\u2019s dead body can\u2019t speak, you can learn all about her by scrolling through her old social media posts and liking photos of her in her cheerleading uniform.<\/p>\n

A misguided narrative that desperately could have used another set of eyes.<\/p>\n

It sounds like a game built for serial killers, but it\u2019s all meant to be cutely morbid \u2014 a sincere teen comedy draped in a Hot Topic t-shirt. Davy is portrayed as an awkward mall rat, dressed in a baggy hoodie and crooked baseball cap, with a heart of gold under all that gray flesh. We\u2019re supposed to chuckle at the impossibility of his obsession, but still root for the lovesick puppy dog enough to fight through his battles and get the girl. It\u2019s a terrible motivator. Stupid Never Dies lands as a one-sided love story with a manic pixie corpse that\u2019s downright violating to engage with. (Even when Julia gets a bit more agency later on, she\u2019s still played as a one-dimensional side-character to be saved.) It\u2019s so grotesque that laying out my problems with a story this transparently dehumanizing feels like a trap; any outrage is bound to turn a certain kind of reactionary into an uncritical fan on insincere principle.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not exactly surprising that the premise is so thoughtless considering the thematic territory GPTRACK50 wades into, ass-first. As its title suggests, Stupid Never Dies is a celebration of, well, stupidity. It advocates for a world where everyone can turn their brains off and act on instinct \u2014 fitting for a mindless action game, perhaps. I imagine that will connect with a certain audience, one who can put the story out of their mind enough to ooh and aah at Stupid Never Dies\u2019 stylistic flourishes. Magazine collage aesthetics do a lot of work to inject some blood into regular old UI elements, making everything feel as lively and colorful as No More Heroes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A
\n Image: GPTRACK50 Inc.<\/p>\n

Though I can appreciate the gleeful craft in isolation, the mold always seeps through the wallpaper. I\u2019m always left gritting my teeth every time Davy swoons over Julia\u2019s lifeless body. It\u2019s a relief anytime the love story takes a backseat to inane lore about mashing monsters. That an eye-rolling fantasy race war seems palatable by comparison speaks to how little there is to cling onto in a misguided narrative that desperately could have used another set of eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I didn\u2019t have to think so hard,\u201d a character tells Davy late in the story, the closest Stupid Never Dies gets to laying out a hare-brained thesis. Yeah buddy, me too, but there\u2019s a reason I fight that desire every day so as not to make an ass of myself.<\/p>\n

A faux roguelike<\/p>\n

To anyone who is tempted to show up for Stupid Never Dies out of an obligation to stick it to a sensitive critic, know that stupid prizes await you. Even if you strip away the gross story, the best you can hope for is a slog of a game. While it looks like the kind of linear action game Capcom might have dished out in its 2000s heyday, Stupid Never Dies stretches itself out as thin as it can, with a roguelike structure<\/a> that does little but add more hours to the runtime. The idea is that Davy needs to jump into a multilayered dungeon (via toilet travel) and fight through ever-changing floors to vanquish The King of Monsters\u2019 henchmen and pick up resources that can help revive Julia. Between attempts, Davy gradually unlocks permanent boosts back at the mall.<\/p>\n

It makes for a repetitive dungeon crawler, though one that\u2019s at least possible to find a rhythm in. Floors shuffle between a few themes (a twisted European town, an icy tundra lined with canons, a jungle split into floating platforms), tossing you into straightforward arenas filled with skeletons, harpies, fishmen, and more. Brawl through the hordes, gather run-specific upgrades, create a build powerful enough to survive to the objective, repeat. It\u2019s a basic enough idea that\u2019s let down by repeated level layouts, but you can get some typical genre enjoyment out of piecing together an overpowered build.<\/p>\n

\"Davy
\n Image: GPTRACK50 Inc.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re also on a ticking timer that both forces you to move quickly and ensures that a run doesn\u2019t usually go over 20 minutes, even when you\u2019re picking up items that replenish time. The clock management adds a welcome element of risk, as you need to decide between skipping a few floors to save time or fighting through a few more to level up and gather additional upgrades en route to a boss. It can also be a major pain in the ass when you fight to reach a boss only for time to run out mid-fight and put you in a vulnerable state that spells death.<\/p>\n

At least there\u2019s some RPG depth to it all. There are tons of upgrades to unlock, represented by meal tickets that will appear in runs. There\u2019s a looter-shooter gear system where you can pick up armor of various rarities that grant passive perks and stat boosts. Plus, every failed run ups the amount of experience you gain from defeating an enemy. By the end of the game, killing a few enemies on the first floor would boost me all the way to level 25 and allow me to skip a ton of floors, ensuring that runs didn\u2019t drag on as I was tasked with going deeper into the dungeon. Stupid Never Dies does a lot to make sure that you always feel like you\u2019re gaining a ton of stuff, even in a failed run.<\/p>\n

\"Davy
\n Image: GPTRACK50 Inc.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t change the fact that actually doing those runs is a drag. Despite having all the signifiers of a roguelike \u2014 right down to choosing one of three upgrades \u2014 it never convincingly feels like one. It always comes off as a typical action game where every mission is arbitrarily stretched into a run you have to complete until you can move on with the story. That becomes especially exhausting every time the story seems like it’s winding down, only to invent a new excuse for you to complete more runs. (That includes a momentum-killing \u201cboss rush\u201d near the end that forces you to complete five separate runs.) It will take you 30 hours to see the ending, but you\u2019ll feel like you\u2019ve done it all after five.<\/p>\n

Sluggish action<\/p>\n

Stupid Never Dies might have been able to overcome some of its structural flaws if it was powered by strong action, but combat isn\u2019t its strong suit either. Despite the fact that Davy is supposed to enter a superpowered state when entering the dungeon, he still lurches like a zombie. His basic attack animations, including a kick and a health-restoring chomp, are all so slow that it feels like they\u2019re happening on a two-second delay from when you hit the button. It’s almost as if it’s mimicking a FromSoftware game that forces you to commit to heavy attacks, but in the context of a fast action game where you\u2019re supposed to be plowing through enemies. It\u2019s a total mismatch.<\/p>\n

The feel is completely off across the board. There\u2019s no lock-on, for instance, which means that you\u2019re left flailing in the direction of enemies and hoping you connect once your attack animation ends. Certain enemies, like mermen that pop in and out of the ground, are especially hard to wrangle due to that omission. Your imprecision and sluggish movement make them a pain in the ass to deal with as they quickly tunnel around you, especially because the clock is ticking down every time you miss.<\/p>\n

\"Davy
\n Image: GPTRACK50 Inc.<\/p>\n

Trying to fight in midair feels like sinking in molasses; you\u2019ll be lucky to get off three punches as you fall back to the ground. That\u2019s a problem, considering that you\u2019ll often fight flying harpies who tend to move away by the time you\u2019re airborne and winding up a punch. You also don\u2019t have much in the way of evasive tactics, despite the fact that you\u2019ll often need to move away from telegraphed boss attacks that can\u2019t be blocked \u2014 expect to just tank the hit most of the time.<\/p>\n

The only decent mechanic in the defensive playbook is the stupidly-named Stupid Parry. Rather than deflecting an attack, you can lurch headfirst into one and let out a counter-attack. It\u2019s still risky considering that you\u2019ll still take some damage, but it at least feels thematically appropriate for a game about being an idiot.<\/p>\n

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The real missed opportunity comes from Stupid Never Dies\u2019 monster-chomping system. Like an undead Kirby, Davy can absorb a monster\u2019s power by finishing them off with a bite or eating their exposed core. The latter allows him to transform into that monster, with its own set of attacks, a few times before the ability runs out. It\u2019s a sound idea that lets you constantly switch up your moves. One minute you\u2019re a werewolf slashing through enemies, the next you\u2019re a Will-o’-the-wisp spitting out fire. Unfortunately, all of those movesets are similarly slow, and it\u2019s a missed opportunity for Stupid Never Dies to create a needed contrast between the lowly zombie and the powerful monsters holding them down. You\u2019re better off sticking in zombie form than turning into a giant golem who will take dozens of hits before being able to unleash a single attack.<\/p>\n

Aside from some stylish visual flair, almost nothing lands in Stupid Never Dies. The time-stretching roguelike structure only amplifies every flaw in a game full of them. But even with some post-launch tweaks that could address low-hanging issues, Stupid Never Dies is a foundationally irredeemable game. Even the most fun combat system on Earth would still feel awful when placed in the context of an ugly story that could not be less suited for our current cultural moment. I could spend a lot of time dissecting the nitty-gritty systems that make a combat system feel competent or not, but it wouldn\u2019t begin to describe the intangible discomfort of playing Stupid Never Dies.<\/p>\n

\u201cRot happens,\u201d a title card sometimes tells me when I die during a run. Yep, it sure does.<\/p>\n

Stupid Never Dies will be released Oct. 21 on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC. The game was reviewed on PS5 Pro using a prerelease download code provided by GPTRACK50 Inc. You can find additional information about Polygon\u2019s ethics policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n \"A<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tLet’s push the ‘roguelike’ definition as far as we can
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Buckle up, we’re fighting the dictionary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you went back in time and asked my teenage self to picture what video games would look…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-888302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}