‘Stupid Never Dies’ preview: eat enemies, take their powers, save the girl

One of the highlights of the Future Games Show was “Stupid Never Dies,” the debut title from GPTRACK50, a NetEase studio led by Hiroyuki Kobayashi, a Capcom veteran with credits on legendary titles like “Dino Crisis,” “Resident Evil,” “Dragon’s Dogma,” and “Mega Man 11,” among plenty of others.

His team’s first new game is “Stupid Never Dies,” and I was lucky enough to attend an online preview event for the game, hosted by Marketing Producer Keijiro Ishikawa and Kobayashi himself. What follows is what I learned, which should explain why “Stupid Never Dies” is one of my most highly anticipated games of 2026.

“Stupid Never Dies” is a pop-punk hack-and-slash action fantasy in which players take on the role of the ultimate underdog of a typical zombie story: a single (and ready to mingle) zombie, named Davy. He represents the lowest rung of the monster hierarchy that has taken over the world. The other, more powerful, monsters look down on him. He’s dismissed as a loser, but he gets invigorated when he meets a girl, Julia. The only problem is, she’s frozen solid in an abandoned freezer in a defunct shopping mall. But that doesn’t matter to Davy, who suffers from that adolescent curse that we never truly grow out of: love at first sight.

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In order to rescue Julia (and ask her out on a date), Davy embarks on a quest to overthrow the new order of monsters and bring human life back to the fallen world. To that end, he allies with the off-kilter Dr. Frank, the “supreme intellect of humanity,” and learns how to use his special zombie powers to take on colossal monsters in a wild, wacky story that embraces defiant, pop-punk sensibilities at every turn. If the trailers thus far are any indication, Davy is going to be a tremendously endearing protagonist, and if the average player is anything like me, they’ll want to see how Davy’s admittedly one-sided love story plays out over the course of the game. The things we do to get a date, right? But I digress.

Davy can punch above his weight class, so to speak, thanks to the “Style Eat” system. Davy is a zombie, and zombies, by their nature, eat their enemies. At the start, Davy can only fight in Zombie Style, but upon eating the ‘core’ of an enemy, he can absorb their fight style and transform his appearance. In addition to his default Zombie Style, Davy can acquire ten different Styles, including Werewolf (for speed and wall jumps), Harpy (for flight and ranged attacks), Vampire (to control a swarm of bats and suck blood from enemies), Snow Fairy (for ice-based powers), and Lich (to control skeleton minions and the ability to wield a mighty scythe). Davy can equip two styles at a time, as well as his default Zombie form.

The game’s hack-and-slash combat style is affectionately dubbed “Funky Zombie Action,” incorporating the “Style Eat” system as well as “Body Hacking,” which allows Davy to modify his head, left arm, right arm, and legs with enhancements. These modifications are being mostly kept secret so far, but they did show us a Missile Pod weapon and a Massive Edge sword. On top of all that, in the heat of battle, players can activate “Davy Burst,” which enhances his stats thanks to the power of his delusions of grandeur. Hey, a little wishful thinking can go a long way, and when you’re on an impossible quest to save the world, you have to believe in yourself if you want a chance to succeed, right?

“Stupid Never Dies” is being developed by a core team of around 30 people, many of whom are veterans from the “Resident Evil” and “Dragon’s Dogma” franchises. Of course, they’re also working with numerous partners outside of the main team. All told, about 150 people have their fingerprints on “Stupid Never Dies.” The game is shaping up to be something unique. The melee-focused combat looks frantic and exciting, though the Style Eat and Body Hacking systems add versatility and utility beyond old-fashioned button-mashing. Through it all, though, what really has me hooked is the story and visual style. I love the idea of a teenage coming-of-age story told from the point-of-view of a zombie in a world where humans have been wiped out by monsters,. The pop-punk aesthetics are utterly delightful, to the point where I imagine even someone like Suda 51 would approve. The game just oozes style, among other things… It is a zombie story, after all. There’s always lots of oozing in those.

There is no concrete release date yet, but “Stupid Never Dies” is currently on track to release in 2026.