Stupid Never Dies Strips Out the Dodge Button and Lock-On, as Ex-CAPCOM Team

What the report says

Zombies and video games seem to be a match made in heaven, or rather hell, as even during the early days of gaming, the undead have been at the core of some of the best games ever released. From CAPCOM'sGhosts 'n Goblins to the Resident Evil and Dead Rising series, SEGA'sHouse of the Dead, Valve'sLeft 4 Dead, Deep Silver'sDead Island, and Naughty Dog'sThe Last of Us, players have had the opportunity to deal with the undead so many times that it has become almost second nature for many.With GPTRACK50, however, I expect very few players to be ready for the madness the game will deliver this October on PC and PlayStation 5.

The studio, headed by former CAPCOM producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, is preparing something so unhinged that it is very difficult for any fan of quirky games in the vein of those produced by Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture not to be immediately charmed by it.After falling helplessly in love with Julia, a college student he finds frozen inside a mall freezer who died during a war that destroyed humanity, the zombie Davy vows to bring her back to life. However, the zombie sits at the lowest rung of the monster hierarchy established at the end of the war, so he will need the help of the human scientist Dr.

Frank to do so, and survive the miasma-filled dungeon he needs to explore to achieve his goals.Taking advantage of Davy's status as the weakest monster, GPTRACK50 built a very interesting action RPG experience with marked roguelike elements. While each run through this dungeon, accessed by getting flushed down a toilet (!), whose different biomes are meant to represent different real-world locations and time periods, is procedurally generated, progression has a precise curve, as Davy requires progressively fewer experience points to level up after each run. With a vast selection of passive skills that play off each other well, each run means that the player is making some progress, in one way or another.What sets Stupid Never Dies' gameplay apart are some interesting choices.

Key details

One of them is Davy's ability to consume certain enemies to turn into them with the Style Eat mechanics. The forms I experienced during my hands-on session at gamescom 2026 were extremely diverse, ranging from the agile Werewolf to the gigantic Golem to the air-combat-focused Harpy. Although Stupid Never Dies is not a combo-based action game, it is possible to switch between these forms on the fly, making for a very dynamic experience that becomes very fun once the player gets used to this mechanic.In addition, Stupid Never Dies doesn't feature a dedicated dodge button or guard, which further makes the game stand out from other similar titles.

Instead, Davy can perform a sort of forward step that also acts as a parry with a relatively generous window, which can lead to a powerful counter-attack if successful. As enemies attack Davy relentlessly at all times, this counter can be a true lifesaver.The sheer number of enemies on screen most of the time also led to another unusual design choice in a modern action RPG. Stupid Never Dies does not feature a lock-on, which, at first, didn't feel great. As Director Eiichiro Sasaki told me, the entire combat system was designed around the lack of lock-on, as adding it would have taken something away from the intensity of the experience.

Ultimately, it doesn't take long to get accustomed to it, as the game's camera provides a generally good view of the battlefield, helping the player avoid most enemy attacks while maintaining aggression.Having had less than one hour to play Stupid Never Dies during Gamescom 2026, I unfortunately didn't have enough time to delve deeper into some of the game's mechanics, such as those that let the player equip different body parts to Davy, but even so, the intense action and the surprisingly dynamic combat mechanics, combined with roguelike mechanics, made me very interested in the final game.

More from the announcement

Hopefully, Stupid Never Dies will not be drowned out by the many high-profile games launching next month.